Better Pork is published bimonthly. After each edition is published, we share two feature articles online. Each magazine includes much more content. If you enjoy reading the Better Pork articles below, be sure to subscribe to the magazine!
by Jackie Clark
Hog farmers have persevered through uncertain and difficult times in the industry. Economic downturns, volatile markets and increasing input prices can shift the cost of producing pigs close to, or even higher than, their market value.
by Kate Ayers
As stakeholders throughout the swine industry continue their quest to optimize production and balance sheets, farmers should closely examine their gilt development programs.
by Jackie Clark
In the spring, a team of researchers – including University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign scientists and industry partners – approached a professor in the university’s animal sciences department to collaborate on a project intended to help address the COVID-19 crisis.
by Kate Ayers
Many people happily welcome the summer sun and heat because they think of time spent outdoors swimming, playing and lounging. While farmers also embrace the sun and heat to support field crop and forage development, the summer also brings some livestock management challenges. For hog farmers, seasonal infertility can be a costly consequence of higher temperatures outside and inside barns.
by Jackie Clark
Swine producers across Canada do the hard, daily work of raising pigs. Farmers care for sows throughout gestation and farrowing, monitor the health of piglets, and feed hogs until they are ready to ship to market.
by Kate Ayers
When an automobile manufacturer dedicates extra time and effort to ensure its vehicles are safe and of high quality, customers are often willing to pay a little more for this attention to detail. Shouldn’t a similar premium pricing model apply to the Canadian pork production marketplace?
by Jackie Clark
A pathogen that is familiar in the horse world now seems to have entered swine herds in North America, with deadly consequences. The bacterial strain is called Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus, or Strep zoo for short.
by Kate Ayers
The Canadian swine sector’s production level is projected to increase by 2.3 per cent per year in the next decade, a Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC) fact sheet says.
To ensure this growth, the industry needs the right people to get the work done. And barn managers with proficient skills and qualifications can lead the industry to new heights.
Swine industry stakeholders around the world are working to tackle a big issue: finding a way to consistently improve pigs’ disease resiliency.
by Kate Ayers
Canadian swine producers strive to take optimal care of their livestock and the environment, protecting them for the next generations.