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Articles by Jeff Wiegert
Does the modern sow produce enough colostrum?
By Mark Knauer, North Carolina State University and Jeff Wiegert, Texas A&M University It is well known that piglet colostrum intake at birth is largely related to piglet survival during lactation. Further, increased colostrum consumption has also been reported to enhance nursery survival. Given the importance of colostrum, have geneticists forgotten about it? The answer is perhaps yes and no.
Feeding for that first drop
By Jeff Wiegert and Mark Knauer, North Carolina State University Genetic selection for greater litter size, without emphasis on piglet quality, has reduced piglet birth weight (Lund et al., 2002). Light-birth-weight piglets are slower-growing and a greater mortality risk before reaching market weight (Fix et al., 2010a; Fix et al., 2010b).
Does mixing pigs influence farm throughput?
National Pork Board Keeping litters intact throughout the nursery phase may be challenging, but future design strategies may be implemented to capture value from not mixing pigs at key points in the pigs’ life cycle. Mar 07, 2019 By Mark Knauer and Jeff Wiegert, North Carolina State University Stressors have been clearly shown to impact pig performance (Hyun et al., 1998). Mixing pigs at nursery and finisher placement is common practice in modern commercial production systems.
Evaporative cool cell pads have mixed results on finishing barn environment
By Jeff Wiegert, Sanjay Shah and Mark Knauer, North Carolina State UniversityPork producers understand summer heat stress impacts finishing pig growth rate, yet significant reductions in summer market weights continue to be observed. A logical starting point to improve summer throughput is to identify cost-effective management strategies that improve barn environment. Evaporative cool cell pads are large pads mounted on barns that cool the air entering the facility.
Sow functional teat number impacts piglet performance
By Jeff Wiegert, Audrey Earnhardt and Mark Knauer, North Carolina State UniversityTeat number is a commonly used metric to evaluate underline quality at replacement gilt selection. A minimum number of teats is typically suggested for entry into the breeding herd, yet this criterion may be forgiven when demand for gilts is high. The objective of the present study was to characterize the importance of sow functional teat number on piglet colostrum intake and litter throughput.
What’s in a definition? Appropriately calculating PSY
By Mark Knauer and Jeff Wiegert, North Carolina State UniversityChanging how pigs per sow per year is calculated may help your farm focus on a more profitable goal. The trait PSY is made up of two component traits: litters per sow per year and pigs per litter. By simply accounting for gilt development days in the LSY part of the equation, you can increase the correlation between PSY and profit. Why is this?
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