Articles - Management

Placement of the straw is important to give the sow access on days where she is confined and when she is loose.

Europe is preparing to eliminate farrowing crates in the next few years... Are farmers ready? Will this benefit the sows? What about the piglets?

Do you know the most effective, practically applicable, and economically feasible measures to reduce ammonia emissions? Proper application of these measures would meet the requirements set forth in the regulations.

Needle-free vaccination has many advantages over conventional vaccination, but it is not as comfortable to do. This trick gives us a solution.

Low birth weight increases mortality during the lactation period and affects the productive life of piglets until slaughter. This article attempts to answer the question: Is pre-weaning mortality related to a birth weight threshold?

To have good gilt performance, producers and vets must value those gilts and invest accordingly. Dr. Clayton Johnson from Carthage Veterinary Services shares some tips about gilt productive development.

HoCoTec is a production system that takes on the challenge of serving as an open center for learning and experimentation.

We can place the weakest piglets from each litter to dry out and warm up in this incubator while we tend to the next sows.

A much higher percentage of piglets prefer milk supplement over creep feed. Here are the results of the latest studies on this subject.

Why is it important to take sow temperatures after farrowing? How does feed intake affect litter size?

Here's how to make a modular gate that is adjustable in length and can easily be installed in all the aisles of the sow farm.

Preventing the entry and spread of diseases should be an objective on any swine farm, so adequately designing biosecurity aspects is key. In this article, we continue to discuss biosecurity measures with two experts: Lara Ruiz and José Casanovas.

A review of the strategies used to reduce boar taint by country and the detection systems available in slaughterhouses.

We went to visit an Italian farm where the sows are free housed in the farrowing room. We asked some questions to better understand the system.

Does co-mingling during lactation benefit piglets in the long term? See how socialisation influences pigs behaviour and physiology.

What factors can help with managing piglets without in-feed antibiotics and ZnO?

How to improve the characteristics of a chain as environmental enrichment. The secret is pigs being able to play together.

New regulations allow farmers to administer general anaesthesia to piglets via inhalation of isoflurane. This is how the German swine industry is adapting so far.

Is it best to separate gilts from sows? Which biosecurity measures are most important? In this article, four renowned veterinarians discuss their recommendations.

To conclude this series of articles, swine reproduction and artificial insemination specialist Javier Gil explains the importance of proper post-service management in terms of when to move sows and how to feed them.

Changes at weaning can have significant detrimental impacts on the piglet's gastrointestinal tract structure and function. Sexual dimorphism, weaning weight, and weaning age play a role.

Key biosecurity messages to move dead pigs out of the clean area of the farm to the deadstock management area prior to their treatment: external deadstock container, incinerator or hydrolysis container.

Pros and cons of rendering carcass disposal systems, alkaline hydrolysis, anaerobic digestion, gasification, and homogenization.