Local feeds can help limit hog climate impact

Local feeds can help limit hog climate impact

Researchers work to figure out fibre, amino acid, fat profiles to expand hog feed options

Consumer-driven trends related to climate change and animal welfare were underlying themes when attendees at the recent London Swine Conference heard about alternative and novel feed ingredients from nutrition specialist Martin Nyachoti. Using locally sourced feeds in swine diets, such as food processing byproducts or rejected crops, could save money and lower the carbon footprint […] Read more

North Carolina has one of the densest hog farm populations in the United States.

North Carolina residents sue over right-to-farm law

The lawsuit cites concerns with large hog farms protected by the legislation

Thomson Reuters Foundation – Residents of North Carolina are having their lives disrupted by large pig farms, they said in a lawsuit filed recently. Communities in eastern North Carolina, the United States’ second-largest pork producer and one of the densest hog farming areas in the world, have for years complained about the smell and pollution […] Read more

Lasse Jakobsen is Protekta’s business development manager.

Innovative European products can bring livestock production advantages

Local distributor among Ontario’s fastest growing companies

Canadian hog farmers looking to improve their biosecurity in the face of rising global concerns about African swine fever have a new weapon in their arsenal. Stalosan is a dry environmental additive that can be used in livestock facilities to lower the spread of pathogens and is ideal in situations where liquid footbaths can’t be […] Read more

Workers in protective suits are seen near a truck at a plant of pork processor Henan Shuanghui Investment & Development, following a discovery of pigs infected by the African swine fever in Zhengzhou, Henan Aug. 17, 2018.

Kitchen scraps eliminated for pigs in China

China's ag ministry blames feeding food waste to pigs for African swine fever spread

Reuters – China’s Agriculture Ministry says it will ban the feeding of kitchen waste to pigs after linking the practice to the majority of the early cases of African swine fever. The statement from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs is the government’s first comment on how the deadly disease has spread in the […] Read more

U.S. pork producers, such as this barn in Iowa, are taking the threat of African swine fever seriously.

A look at U.S. steps to prevent African swine fever

The U.S. industry is being proactive, learning lessons from previous imported animal diseases

Reuters – U.S. hog farmers are ramping up safety procedures and leaving animal-feed ingredients imported from China in storage in an attempt to keep out a highly contagious swine disease that is moving through Asia and Europe. U.S. government officials said in interviews they are also increasing their ability to test for the disease, African […] Read more


Maple Leaf Foods says they are over half done their conversions to open sow housing.

Maple Leaf Foods says group sow housing switch moving quickly

Maple Leaf Foods says it is on track to be the first large-scale producer to completely shift to open sow housing

Glacier FarmMedia – Maple Leaf Foods expects to complete its change to open sow housing with years to spare. The company has completed more than half of its transition, according to Dr. Greg Douglas, vice-president of animal care. Along the way the company has learned a lot about housing and managing sows in groups. Why […] Read more

Vitamins are a key tool to building good leg and foot health that can help sows carry fetuses to full term.

Sow reproductive issues may be traced to unexpected causes

Poor feet and legs is one of the major causes not always observed as a reproductive problem

Vitamin inadequacies are being ignored in swine management because of misunderstandings in sow-culling reports, some nutritional experts think. “Producers check (off) what they see last,” said Iowa State University nutritional researcher Ken Stalder at the World Pork Expo. “The primary reason often doesn’t get recorded in their reporting systems.” Many North American sow herds have […] Read more