Pumping Pits - You Need a Safety Plan
Planning ahead can help save time and lives when it comes to manure pit safety, according to Ohio State University (OSU) Extension safety experts.

Loading and Unloading Pigs
By BPEX. Loading and unloading can be the most stressful part of the journey for pigs. Handling and moving animals appropriately will make the process easier, minimise stress levels for pigs and stockman and reduce the risk of injury.

Research Paves the Way for Improved Animal Health and Productivity
Understanding how inherited characteristics relate to specific genomes will eventually allow researchers to develop tools that can be used to guide animal breeding, selection and management decisions, writes Laura McGinnis and colleagues at the ARS.

Is There an Optimum Production System?
This paper by Michael C. Brumm of Brumm Swine Consultancy is from a presentation given to the London Swine Conference in Ontario.

Profitable Antibiotic-Free Pork Production
By Darwin Kohler, DVM; James Schneider, PhD and Chad Bierman, MS, Babcock Genetics, Inc., Rochester, Minnesota, as published in the North Carolina University, Swine News Volume 31 No 6.

Pew Commission Finds Industrial Scale Farm Animal Production Poses "Unacceptable" Risks
The current industrial farm animal production (IFAP) system often poses unacceptable risks to public health, the environment and the welfare of the animals themselves, according to an extensive 2½-year examination conducted by the Pew Commission on Industrial...

Multi-Sire, Multi-Mating - A Multitude of Sins
By Jane Jordan, ThePigSite Editor. In Denmark organic pork production is based on applying natural principles to animal husbandry techniques and management practices where and whenever possible. However, research at Aarhus University has shown that relying...

CAFOs Uncovered - The Untold Costs of Confined Animal Feeding Operations
The Union of Concerned Scientists looks into the costs of confined animal feeding operations.

Nebraska Swine Report 2008
By the University of Nebraska - This page links all of the Nebraska Swine Report 2008 articles.

Intramuscular Myths: Fat has Little Influence on Eating Quality
Studies by PJ Rincker, J Killefer, M Ellis, MS Brewer and FK McKeith of the Department of Animal Science and Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Illinois, scotch claims that intramuscular fat content governs the taste, tenderness...

Management Practices To Reduce Expensive Feed Wastage
By J. Carr - Murdoch University, Department of Production Animal Health and Medicine, Portec, P.O. Box 331, Belmont, Australia WA 6984. The Pig Journal Proceedings Supplement 1, due out April 2008.

Managing Credit and Cash Flow During Low Prices
John Bancroft - Market Strategies Program Lead/OMAFRA. With the current low prices and the poor price outlook for the next few months, developing an acceptable cash flow will be challenging.

News Reports from the National Farmers Union Conference in London 18 - 19 February
This week the UK's National Farmers Union (NFU) celebrated its centenary by holding a two day conference in London. But rather than dwelling on the last one hundred years of farming practise the conference, 'Growing for Another Century', peered into the...

Hog Operations Increasingly Large and More Specialized
By William D. McBride and Nigel Key. This finding is drawn from The Changing Economics of US Hog Production, by USDA Economic Research Service, December 2007. Structural change in U.S. hog production during the past two decades has had profound effects...

Nebraska Swine Report 2008
By the University of Nebraska - This page links all of the Nebraska Swine Report 2008 articles.

Revisit Management and Gain Bottom Line Benefits
From the Prairie Swine Centre in Saskatchewan. Ideally, all farms should be using many of the following ideas, but if not, now is the time to revisit and re-evaluate them to see if there are hidden profits waiting to be discovered. The changes can be...

Three Tricks to Improve Profits in Hog Production
By Steve Dritz, Kansas State University. The following paper is taken from a presentation to the Shakespeare Swine Conference in Ontario.

Sow Herd Management
By Ed Barrie - Swine Sow-Nursery Specialist/OMAFRA. Individual sow nutrition is one of the aspects of maximizing sow herd performance in terms of pigs produced per litter, and in the quality of the pigs produced.

New Pig Housing for Polish Family Farm
Looking at the situation in the Polish agriculture, it is likely that only few farmers will decide to make new investments to increase production.

Hog Tattooing
At the 6th Annual Red Deer Swine Technology Workshop in 2004, Charlie Jamieson, from the Western Hog Exchange, reviewed the processes that will ensure readable tattoos on your pigs.

How to Exceed Production Targets
Dr. Jose Henrique Piva, Technical Services Director for PIC. Producers would like to believe their herd performance is always above average, but in reality, that may not be the case. This eight-point action list may help you get closer to exceeding production...

Managing the Sow and Gilt Estrous Cycle
By Jerry May, Extension Educator, Pork AoE Team and Ron Bates, State Swine Specialist, Michigan State University. At times, managers of sow farms of all sizes are challenged by the availability of sows and/or gilts in standing heat.

Raising Pigs on a Small Scale
By Kenneth L. Durrance, Extension Swine Specialist, and Cynthia A. Maxson, Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. This publication is designed for the small holder / producer. It contains general...