11 tips for managing pregnant sows in group housing
With major pork buyers like McDonald's, Hormel and Safeway announcing plans to move toward gestation stall-free suppliers, Minnesota hog farmers may be exploring group housing options.
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Gestation-sow stalls black listed again
Another quick-serve food company has come out against gestation-sow stalls. On Monday, Fresh Enterprises, LLC, which owns Baja Fresh, La Salsa Mexican Grill and Canyon’s Burger restaurants, announced that it “supports industry efforts to move away from gestation crates.”
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Oscar Mayer joins the anti-gestation-stall list
Oscar Mayer officials announced on Friday that the company will give its pork suppliers 10 years to eliminate gestation-sow stalls within their pork production systems and adopt alternative housing.
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CKE Restaurants set a 2022 no-gestation-stall deadline
Two more quick-serve restaurants have sent the message that they will work to phase out suppliers whose pork can be traced back to gestation-sow stalls. Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s are under the umbrella of CKE Restaurants.
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Researcher optimistic on battle against PRRS
While porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is still costing the U.S. pork industry about $1.8 million per day, there are reasons to be optimistic about the future, says Derald Holtkamp, DVM, Iowa State University. He cites regional PRRS virus elimination programs and herd closure and rollover methodology as positive steps in eliminating the virus.
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Sow productivity takes a dip
One of the surprising numbers in USDA’s June Hogs & Pigs Report was found in the pigs per litter category for the second quarter. While pork producers saved 0.6 percent more pigs per litter, previous trends had that number near 1.5 percent and beyond.
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Gestation-stall debate is not clear cut
Pork producers and consumers alike are increasingly talking about gestation-sow housing since some major U.S. grocers and restaurant chains, including McDonald’s, have cited plans to stop buying pork that can be traced back to gestation stalls. However, lost in the conversation is why pork producers began using stalls in the first place.
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United States hog inventory up 1 percent
In the quarterly Hogs & Pigs Report, USDA indicates that the U.S. inventory of all hogs and pigs on June 1, 2012 was 65.8 million head. That's up 1 percent from June 1, 2011, and up 1 percent from March 1, 2012.
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Help sows attain their productivity potential
Dr. Gawain Willis, director of nutritional services, Land O’Lakes Purina Feed, points out that improvements in sow genetics over the past five years have resulted in a total increase of around 2.5 pigs per sow per year, or about a half pig per year.
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Sow nutrition program launches Facebook page
The social media page offers tips on proper sow nutrition and management as well as industry insights for swine producers working toward the goal of 30 pigs per sow per year.
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Rhode Island bans sow gestation crates
The law passed with broad support and was signed by Gov. Lincoln Chafee earlier this week. Also passed by the state were laws eliminating crates for veal calf production as well as routine tail docking of cows.
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