Commentary: Wean pig and swine facility insights
This market update is a new PorkNetwork weekly column reporting trends in weaner pig prices and swine facility availability. All information contained in this update is for the week ended March 29, 2013.
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Brumm Speaks Out: Manure from confinement livestock units
Earlier this month I attended the Minnkota Agri Builders Conference in Sioux Falls. This multi-state group has been meeting for over 20 years under the guidance of Dr. Larry Jacobson from the University of Minnesota and Dr. Steve Pohl from South Dakota State University.
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Brumm Speaks Out: What is your summer management strategy?
While it may still be winter in the US, now is the time to begin implementing summer management strategies. The pigs you are placing into finishers this week will be going to market in June.
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Brumm Speaks Out: Extreme cold complicates facility heating
Yesterday I was at a new nursery site that went into use last summer. With the extreme cold weather, the owner was having difficulty keeping temperatures stable in the pig zone.
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Odor mitigation strategies improve neighbor relations
Clean pigs and clean buildings with effective ventilation systems play a vital role in minimizing odors. Prevailing winds, tree buffers and biofilters should also be considered to help odor mitigation efforts on swine operations.
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New or expanding livestock operations must assess water needs
Producers who plan to start or expand a livestock operation need to think about water before moving forward. There are three main uses of water in a livestock operation: drinking water, cooling systems and washing of equipment and buildings.
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On-farm energy development gives growers a lot to think about
With 25 percent of the nation’s energy coming from on-farm sources by 2025, farmers and ranchers need to be engaged in the discussion regarding the many issues.
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Brumm Speaks Out: Mis-using the potential of tandem bins
At the two Passion for Pigs seminar locations in Iowa in December, Bob Baarsch from Herdstar.com did a presentation on the impact of out-of-feed events on herd health and performance.
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Brumm Speaks Out: A preventable, unfortunate situation
Last week I had the unpleasant experience (once again) of talking with a contract grower who was faced with a bill for pig death loss due to a ventilation failure. It’s not a lot of fun talking through the sequence of events and having to tell them that the evidence points to negligence on their part and my opinion is that they should pay the bill.
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Avoid roof collapses from snow on agricultural buildings
It looks like 2012-13 could be a year for some areas of the Midwest to get hit by heavy snow and ice storms, which can leave large amounts of snow and ice on roofs of agricultural buildings.
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Land prices not in a bubble
Rick Huber, risk analyst for Farm Credit Services of America, in the most recent Doane Agricultural Report, provides his way of analyzing whether farmland prices are in a bubble.
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