Swine Extension

Reprinted as posted on Swine in Minnesota blog, October 28, 2022. Adopted from Bob Morrision’s Swine Health Monitoring Project Friday rubric. Researchers Carissa Odland, Roy Edler, Noelle Noyes, Scott Dee and Joel Nerum summarize the findings of a 149-day study on antimicrobial use during PRRS infections. Key Points:Antimicrobial protocols of differing intensities of exposure were compared with a control group with minimal antimicrobial exposure and animals were followed for 149 days. Fecal samples revealed most E. coli isolates were resistant to between one and 11 antimicrobials with 19 different observed resistance profiles, while most Enterococcus isolates were resistant to between two and nine antimicrobials and 27 resistance patterns were observed. Few significant differences between groups or over time were observed. Continue reading to learn how Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) may impact both animal health, through loss of antimicrobial efficacy to treat animal pathogens, and hum...

Amigos de la industria porcina, queremos invitarlos a participar en nuestra 2da Conferencia Porcina Allen D. Leman en Español que se realizara de manera virtual los dias 16 y 17 de Noviembre de 2022. El costo de la inscripción es de $150 USD para profesionales y $50 USD para estudiantes de pregrado y posgrado. La agenda y los detalles de registro se pueden encontrar en el sitio web de la conferencia . Allen D. Leman Swine Conference in Spanish Friends of the pork industry, we would like to invite you to participate in our 2nd Allen D. Leman Swine Conference in Spanish, which will be held virtually on November 16 and 17, 2022. The registration fee is $150 USD for professionals and $50 USD for undergraduate and graduate students. The agenda and registration details can be found on the conference website.

By Melissa Wilson, Extension manure management specialist and Chryseis Modderman, Extension manure management educator Writer Carol Bishop Hipps spoke of fall as “the mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter.” How could she forget to include “manure-slinging” in her list of fall descriptors? Since the manure application season is upon us, it’s time to consider best management practices. When it comes to fertilizer, everyone promotes the “4Rs” for nutrient stewardship - the Right Source, Right Rate, Right Time, and Right Place. These also apply to manure! Proper manure management will help you get the most fertilizer value for next year’s crops and avoid runoff and leaching that could pollute waters. Continue reading about the “4Rs” for nutrient stewardship.

By Diane DeWitte, UMN Extension swine educator Origninally printed in The LAND as September 16, 2022 Swine & U column Much of my Extension swine work since 2018 has included and revolved around biosecurity education and foreign animal disease preparedness. 2018 was the year when, in August, the swine world learned of the outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) in China. ASF is a swine hemorrhagic disease which originated in wild pigs in Africa. Over the past 50 years it has broken out in portions of Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. In the 1970s and 1980s it was identified and later eradicated in Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic (DR). ASF is not a human health problem, but it is lethal to pigs. In late July 2021, ASF was confirmed in the northwest part of the Dominican Republic. A month later, it was positively identified in pigs in Haiti. Haiti and the Dominican Republic are the two countries on the island of Hispañola, and their shared border is highly porous. Suddenly we ...

The 18th annual Soil Management Summit (SMS), formly known as the Conservation Tillage Conference (CTC) will be held in St. Cloud, MN on December 15 - 16 at the Park Event Center. Conference highlights include hearing from long-time no-till, reduced tillage, and cover crop farmers share their experiences. Topics include soil health, soil compaction, planter set-up, fertility and weed management. Visit the conference website for more information and to register.

By Emily Krekelberg, UMN Farm Safety & Health Extension educatorOriginally printed in The LAND as October 28, 2022 Swine & U column Nonfatal injuries, including both lost-time and no lost-time accidents, occur to about a third of the farm population annually. It has been estimated that 80% of farm accidents result from carelessness or failure to deal with hazards safely. Many accidents are avoidable and having a culture of safety can help you avoid them on your farm. When talking about creating a culture of safety on a farm, there are six components to keep in mind: Hiring and training. Setting an example. Giving and getting feedback. Making it a group effort. Measuring and rewarding success. Having a plan “just in case.” Keep in mind that this isn’t just for “big farms” with scores of employees, it’s for any farm with any number of people working on it. Hiring and training employees Try to hire employees who take safety seriously and emphasize how important it is to you throug...

PQA+ Advisors are the folks who work directly with producers to educate them on the PQA+ program and will help producers obtain PQA+ certification and PQA+ site status at their respective production sites. A PQA+ Advisor training is planned for NEW advisors or those that let their PQA+ Advisor status lapse for: Monday, November 21: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., via Zoom. This PQA+ Advisor training session is for NEW advisors or those PQA+ Advisors that let their status lapse and are unable to renew online. Individuals wishing to attend the training session must meet the qualifications to become a certified PQA+ Advisor. Qualifications include: Be a veterinarian, Extension specialist, or ag educator (for the purposes of PQA Plus, the definition of an ag educator is a person who spends full time in adult education or at least 50% time in production training) Have a D.V.M. or B.S. in Animal Science (or equivalent) Have two years of recent documentable swine production experience Certification is fre...

There is one more in-person Pork Quality Assurance Plus (PQA+) and Transport Quality Assurance (TQA) certification session left in our 2022 schedule and the 2023 schedule is not ready yet. Currently we plan to schedule less frequent certification sessions. Upcoming certification sessions include the following dates and locations: December 8 - Stewartville, MN - American Legion Post 164, 1100 2nd Ave NW. PQA+ certification is scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon and TQA from 1 to 4 p.m. at all locations unless noted otherwise. Information for all PQA+ and TQA certification sessions scheduled for 2022 can be found on UMN Extension webpage under courses and events and searching for ‘PQA’ or ‘TQA’. Information can also be found on MN Pork Board's website ( www.mnpork.com ). Pre-registration is required by contacting Colleen at Minnesota Pork Board at colleen@mnpork.com or call 1-800-537-7675. PQA+ and TQA certification can be completed online in a self-paced course too. Your UMN Swine ...

Congratulations to the following swine faculty and educators from the wwine Extension team who have had their work published recently. Li, C., Culhane, M. R. , Schroeder, D. C., Cheeran, M. C. J., Pantoja, L. G., Jansen, M. L., & Torremorell, M . (2022). Vaccination decreases the risk of influenza A virus reassortment but no genetic variation in pigs. ELIFE, 11, e78618. Doi: 10.7554/eLife.78618.