Swine it #115: Implementing technology and maximizing sow productivity - Dr. Ken Stalder
Part of Series:
As research continues to develop new ways to improve the swine industry, our farms have to find ways to feasibly implement these new developments. Some new technologies look good on paper, but are not feasible due to the cost of the extra labor. In todayโs talk, Dr. Ken Stalder discusses different ways of defining sow productivity, the necessary training required to implement new technologies, and how to identify which technologies will be the most beneficial to implement on the farm.
"๐๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ข๐จ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ฃ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ." - ๐๐ฟ. ๐๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฆ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ป:
1. Defining sow productivity
2. How to size multiplication correctly
3. Tips about the economics
4. Gilt selection
5. Following offspring
6. Balance between technology and labor
7. Whatโs important and whatโs not
8. Balancing technology skills and husbandry skills
9. Training people
10. Key points
๐ ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ด๐๐ฒ๐๐: Dr. Ken Stalder is a swine genetics professor at Iowa State University. He earned his B.S from Iowa State University before attending Western Kentucky University to acquire his M.S. He then returned to Iowa State University in 1995 to earn his Ph.D. in animal breeding and genetics. Immediately after receiving his Ph.D., Ken started as an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee until 2003 when he accepted a position as a professor at his alma mater, specializing in swine genetics and extension. Kenโs work has led to an increased focus on sow longevity within the swine industry. With the help of his colleagues, Dr. Stalder developed spreadsheets to determine how long a sow has to remain in the breeding herd to โpay for herselfโ and he developed posters highlighting ideal traits for replacement gilts. These tools are widely used across the globe today. Dr. Stalder has published over 500 articles (including over 145 journal articles). Ken has mentored 18 graduate students (13 M.S., 5 Ph.D.) and served on the committee for 45 others (34 M.S., 11 Ph.D.).