Bernie Peet

Overfeed There is always a tendency to overfeed the 
better — and more expensive — diets

Reading Time: 3 minutes In my last article, I talked about the importance of stimulating feed intake very soon after weaning in order to get nursery pigs off to a good start. This has implications for growth performance, but it also impacts health, especially gut health. The pig faces two digestive challenges at this time. First, the change of […] Read more

peet on pigs Ensuring that watering and ventilation 
systems are working properly is important

Reading Time: 3 minutes The onset of hot weather after a long period of wet and cool conditions means that it’s time to think about the comfort of pigs during the summer. Two aspects of management are the most vital to consider if the impact of hot weather on performance is to be minimized — environment and water availability. […] Read more


PEET ON PIGS The top 25 per cent of producers in Denmark already produce around 30 pigs weaned per sow but the goal is now 35

Reading Time: 3 minutes The recently published 2011 Annual Report of the Danish Pig Research Centre starts with a cry of woe on behalf of the country’s producers, who have suffered five straight years of losses. In the preface — entitled “Is there any hope?” — Lindhardt Nielsen, chairman of the Danish Agriculture and Food Council’s Pig Production Board, […] Read more

PEET ON PIGS Using top 15 per cent of boars in AI program could add 
nearly $550,000 per year in profits in a 10,000-sow production system

Reading Time: 3 minutes While artificial insemination (AI) in pigs has become almost universal in the worldwide swine industry, it has a number of disadvantages, according to Michael Dyck from the University of Alberta. Changes to the way in which boars are used and AI techniques utilized can capture the increased genetic potential of higher-index boars and add significant […] Read more

Effects Litter sizes, sow housing and stress can affect how 
sows’ and boars’ reproductive organs develop

Reading Time: 3 minutes The North American pork industry is increasingly focusing on sow lifetime performance as a key goal for the breeding herd rather than pigs weaned per sow. After all, if high replacement rates and moderate lifetime productivity can be improved, the cost of producing piglets will be reduced. This was the theme of the recent Swine […] Read more

Economics Cost of $40,000 can potentially be paid off within 
six months on a moderate-size beef or hog operation

Reading Time: 3 minutes The technique of Near Infrared Reflectance Spectrometry (NIRS) analysis is set to change the way livestock producers evaluate feed ingredients and have their rations formulated. Because this technology provides a rapid assessment of a wide range of nutritional parameters, such as energy value, dry matter and protein, the economic value of ingredients such as cereals […] Read more

Start now With a phase-out of sow stalls almost inevitable, 
producers need to start evaluating different systems

Reading Time: 4 minutes When the new Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Pigs is published in draft form this summer, it will very likely include a requirement that sow stalls be phased out over a period of time. Producers will be able to house sows in stalls for a period after breeding, in order to […] Read more

Reading Time: 3 minutes The demand from pork processors for heavier carcasses has created a number of challenges for hog producers which need to be addressed in order to ensure that increasing the weight at which pigs are marketed is profitable. This was the message to producers from Dr. Eduardo Beltranena, with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, at the […] Read more