Animal Well-being
Evaluation of sows at harvest to determine the incidence of abnormalities that could lead to culling of breeding herd females
August 22, 2006By Ken Stalder
Poor sow longevity in commercial pork production systems can lead to economic inefficiency and animal welfare concerns (Stalder et al., 2004). In the United States, reported annual breeding female...
Pork Safety - Pre-Harvest
Determination of the Diagnostic Sensitivity and Specificity of a Reference Method for Salmonella sp. Detection in Swine Fecal Samples of Known Infection Status
August 18, 2006By Brenda Love
Salmonella enterica is a bacterium that causes disease in many animals, including swine and human beings. This organism can be transmitted from swine to human beings through direct contact, or...
Swine Health - PRRS
PCR-on-a-Chip for the Identification and Control of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus
August 17, 2006By Sheila Grant PhD
We have been working on the development of a micro-fluidic DNA assay with the goal to quickly identify the introduction of PRRSv in pig herds in order to eliminate the transmission and spread of the...
Animal Science
Development of Condition Scoring Guide – using live animals
August 6, 2006By Locke Karriker
The objectives of the study were to develop educational materials to assist pork producers and animal caretakers in the evaluation of sow body condition, to estimate the amount of feed and...
Swine Health - PRRS
Implementation of a PRRSV Strain Database
August 1, 2006By Kay S. Faaberg
A PRRSV ORF5 database, accessible worldwide, was created for swine producers, practitioners and researchers (http://prrsv.ahc.umn.edu/). This database was established to fulfill one objective of the...
Animal Science - Swine Nutrition
Critical Review of Functional Animal Proteins
July 26, 2006By James Pettigrew
Spray-dried plasma and immune egg products provide dramatic benefits when added to diets of young weaned pigs. Spray-dried plasma increases growth rate and resistance to enteric infection, while...
Swine Health - PRRS
Development of a Broadly Protective PRRS Vaccine
July 25, 2006By Gregory Tobin|Peter Nara
This project is designed to study a completely new approach to developing a new vaccine against PRRS for the pork industry. It is based on a new understanding of how the AIDS virus causes disease in...
Swine Health - PRRS
Analysis of prevalent winds in areas with suspicious cases of PRRSV lateral transmission between farms
July 25, 2006By Robert Morrison
This report summarizes the analysis of prevalent winds in 16 pairs of neighboring PRRS virus-infected and PRRS virus-negative pig sites. Eight pairs were selected because airborne transmission was...
Environment - Manure Storage / Application
Evaluation of the effects of diet formulation method and inclusion of DDGS and phytase on manure phosphorus excretion of grow-finish pigs and on the concentration and forms of P in manure amended soil
July 20, 2006By G.C. Shurson
• Formulating diets with phytase reduces the concentration of total P in the manure compared to a conventional diet by as much as 30%. • Using DDGS in the diet results in no significant...
Pork Safety - Pre-Harvest
Use of sodium chlorate to eliminate gram-negative pathogens in live hogs: Dose titration study to determine safe tissue residues
July 20, 2006By David J. Smith
Each year thousands of US consumers become ill because they have eaten food products that are contaminated with pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella or E. coli O157:H7. Intense efforts have been...
