sow feeding Articles
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A Guide to Optimizing Sow Feed Intake
Creating the optimal environment for farrowing sows can help to minimize the challenges producers face when it comes to maintaining proper body condition and raising healthy piglets, as sow well-being will always be a constant concern within our industry. Improvements to sow feeding are a clear opportunity for improvement to body condition, overall health, increased productivity and overall herd ...
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Electronic sow feeding system
In 2013, the company Börde Porc GmbH & Co. KG set up a modern sow management farm in one of the most fertile plains of Germany, the so-called "Magdeburg Börde". The new houses provide space for around 2,400 productive sows and 600 gilts. Once again, Big Dutchman was allowed to prove its capability by providing the required sow equipment. To date, Börde Porc's location ...
By Big Dutchman
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Farrowing feeding for sow production: What to consider to improve profitability and productivity
Feeding a Farrowing Sow: What Should we Consider? From feeder costs to feed palatability, here are some of the hot topics to think about when you are choosing the right sow feeding system for your farrowing rooms. Farrowing Feeding Methods Farrowing sows play an essential role in pig production since sow and litter performance can influence the swine industry’s next outcomes. Considering ...
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Swine Feeding System for Group-Housed Sows: Do Producers Need to Train Their Animals?
A major concern for many producers who are evaluating the use of electronic sow feeding (ESF) in gestation barns is the impact on labor/staff and how a system that utilizes technology may increase either the time needed to manage group housing, or the quality of staff required to manage group housing, or both. As is the case with conventional European ESF’s, there is indeed a training ...
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A Budget Friendly Farrowing Feeding Solution
Focus: The New Gestal Swine Feeding System Optimizing Farrowing Sow Feeding at a Budget Price Pork producers are trying to improve the way they work. They wish to make effective decisions, increase cost savings, and improve sow performance and profitability. They also have to deal with challenges such as labor management. Since the owners of Jyga Technologies are pork producers too, they face ...
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Discovering the Links Between Boar Management and Fertility
A late 2019 report on boar fertility indicated that “Boars, like sows, must be treated with compassion and dignity, to maintain a positive and economic well-being for the animal and producer.” This is something many UK pig farmers are well aware of, and yet it pays to lean in and listen to a bit more about the latest discoveries of links between boar management and their fertility. ...
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Carthage System Upgrades Feeding Technology to Gestal
High Power Pork LLC., a 6000-head Carthage System sow farm, has recently undergone conversion from a conventional European-style electronic sow feeding system to the Gestal 3G free-access feeding system and is therefore announcing a group-housing retrofit with Jyga Technologies, manufacturer of Gestal. Since its establishment in 2010, the farm has used pen housing. The original open pen system ...
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Swine Production Tips and Feeding Strategies to Dodge Temperature Variations : Beating the Heat in Farrowing!
The effects of heat stress on lactating sows has been studied by several research institutions worldwide. We can look at primiparous (first parity) or multi-parous sows but the results are similar (Williams, 2009) For this discussion, let us look at farrowing room environment conditions of 68°F (desired) vs. 77°F (hot). The period that should be most scrutinized is the ambient ...
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Prospering pig farmer in Catalonia very happy with liquid feeding system - Case Study
Catalonia, one of the autonomous communities of Spain in the north-east of the country, has much to offer. Its beautiful beaches and the capital Barcelona are visited by many tourists every year. What most of them do not know: The Catalans are very successful pig producers. This is not only proven by the many farms breeding the Iberian pig in the region around the city of Lleida. A large ...
By Big Dutchman
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Feed Blending in Farrowing: An Optimal Feeding Solution
The Next Frontier in Lactating Sow Nutrition Advances in research regarding the nutrient requirements of the lactating sow have academics and producers alike realizing the need for feeding precisely to the needs of the herd, which can vary considerably from published values. For example, in the Swine NRC (Nutrient Requirements of Swine, published by National Research Council in 2012) gilt and ...
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Producer’s Profile: Henry Creek Farm
Owners: Doug, Kim & Olin Claassen Potwin, Kansas, USA Farm’s Features: 1,400 sows farm, 4 week batch farrowing 8,000 finishings places, 220 farrowing places and 15 open-housing gestation pens Diversified production including 600 to 700 feeder cattle, 3000 acres in croplands and 800 acres in pasture. They have their own feed mill. They utilize their own corn and soybeans to ...
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The Importance of Feed Intake in Lactation on a Sow’s Productivity
Feeding Systems in Farrowing: The Questions of a Producer Alain and Donald Lefebvre are the owners of Ferme Aldo. In 1999, they decided to do a research on feed intake at their farm. Although this was some years ago, the results are still relevant to swine production today. The findings of the study, generated using Gestal feeders, from the ALDO farm were conclusive: maximizing feed intake ...
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How to retrofit a farm wisely while following a reasonable budget
In Gestation: Animal Welfare and Regulations Consumers and defense groups have put pressure on the government, such as in Europe, Canada or California, and on producers’ associations for the implementation of regulation towards the improvement of livestock welfare. In swine production, the most significant change that was put in place is the change from individual gestation to sow group ...
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Precision Feeding: a Modern Swine Feeding Solution
Precision feeding as a modern solution for swine feeding to individual requirements and capturing the most value in your farm operation The Banff Pork Seminar is a technology transfer meeting for the pork industry that has been held in Banff, Alberta, Canada since 1972. The conference program is coordinated by the Department of Agricultural, Food & Nutritional Science, University of ...
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Scrutinize herd retention by rethinking gilt development
Not everyone will agree with my arguments in this article. However, I’m tired of hearing complaints about current sow mortality rates and general agreement that additional research is needed in gilt development; yet remain disappointed in the lack of tangible, practical strategies that producers can take home and implement at the ‘slat level’ to make meaningful changes in their ...
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Automated Feeders Offer Explorations into New Management Practices to Improve Stillborn Rates
A 5,000-Head Commercial Sow-Farm Research Introduction In modern sow farms, piglet mortality is the leading restraint in producers not reaching their maximum production potential. According to the last US national database evaluation performed by Dr. Stalder in 2018, the US had an industry average of ~26% pre-weaning mortality, with nearly 10% of those attributed to stillborn (Stalder, 2018). ...
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Top 12 Questions about the Transition to Group Housing : Questions and Answers by our Experts
Your decision is made. You want to go for group-housing in gestation. Whatever the reason is for doing this transition; compliance with governmental regulations in your country for the welfare of your sows, you must have a lot of questions regarding this major change. We can assure you that you are not alone in this situation. Every sow-farm owner that has done the transition went through this ...
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A higher birthweight due to preventive actions!
The majority of pig breeders knows the yearly production cycle. A productive first half of the year turning into a period with possible heat stress followed by seasonal infertility in September to end with less viable piglets in October and November. Breaking this cycle completely is impossible due to the fact that some of the causes are deeply wired into the genetic code of the pig. Although, ...
By Ardol BV
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It Takes Guts
If there’s one thing we know about pigs, it’s their love for food. A lot of food. We even use the terms such as “eat like a pig” or “pigging out.” Since swine are always on the lookout for their next meal, make sure the feed you’re putting in front of them will have a positive impact on their health and life-stage needs. Today, pork producers face ...
By Diamond V
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