In latest Pig Progress – sunflowers and sow feed

The article ‘Piglets can thrive on sunflower meal’, by Dr Manfred Weber, zooms in on a novel technology developed initially for poultry production in Croatia. The method involves a special processing of sunflower meal as well as rapeseed cake, making it an adequate replacement for soymeal in feed for grower pigs. Page 28

Sow nutrition, piglets benefit

Improving pig health through proper sow nutrition is a field of study for which there has been a lot of interest lately. British pig and poultry feed manufacturer ABN, together with neonate nutrition company AB Neo dived into this theme and pulled together an informative article on the effect of maternal nutrition on piglet viability, as Steve Jagger, ABN and Prof Helen Miller, the University of Leeds show. Page 26

The nutritional benefit of a quality source of colostrum cannot be underestimated.

Zearalenone and pig reproduction

The mycotoxin zearalenone (ZEN) is well known to affect pig reproduction. Now how does that exactly work and in what ways do the different forms of ZEN affect the reproductive process? Dr Timothy Jenkins of Biomin explains. Page 24

If one thinks of an oestrogen receptor as a baseball glove, its role is to catch oestrogen molecules and pass the signal on to the cells to react.

Residual feed efficiency & stress

More feed-related contents as a group of researchers at Iowa State University delved into the question whether pigs with low residual feed intake can be shown to be more capable of dealing with stress. There does seem to be a relationship, as the team explains. Page 8

Keeping an eye on PRRS

Disease can also cause problems in a pig barn, producers that have been faced with Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) will be able to confirm. Poul Henning Rathkjen and Bernd Grosse Liesner, Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health, discuss how PRRS virus might also lead to variability in the pig herd. Page 14

In fact, variability is the key word in PRRS economics.

Cuba opening up?

With the United States seeking more contact with Cuba, regular correspondent Dr John Strak also thought it would be worth his while to discover what the country’s pig industry looks like. In this month’s Country Focus he unveils what he discovered. Page 12

Entrance of the Frank País Swine Company, in the province of Matanzas, in western Cuba. Note the slogan on the gate, saying: “Unity equals productivity.”

Pig industry in Italy: fun or not?

This month’s pig farm visit takes you to Italy, to a producer who on paper is doing a great job. The only downside is: he’s not very motivated to move on. Take a look at what he has and why he rather would be playing golf. Page 20

Columns on light and tail docking

Tail docking is the theme of this month’s column by Dr Monique Pairis-Garcia, The Ohio State University. How does the US pig industry view this matter? Page 34

John Gadd takes you to the wonderful world of proper lighting in a sow barn again and tells how to figure out the exact amounts of lux needed. Page 17

For these and more articles see our digital section – Pig Progress 2016 – 7