Teaching Breeding and Gestation Herd Management via the Internet

An Internet course covering Breeding and Gestation Herd Management was pilot tested in cooperation with the National Pork Producers Council in the spring of 2000 and 2001. A total of 117 participants enrolled, 77 participants completed the course and 72 evaluations were returned. Eighty-one percent of producers responded that they strongly agreed or agreed that the course provided them with an opportunity to improve job skills. However, specific gains in knowledge differed by the participant’s years of experience, job description and farm size and type with participants with less experience and from more general swine farms gaining more knowledge. Fifty-four percent of the producers indicated plans to make changes in production practices based on knowledge gained from the course.