Pork Quality
National Pork Retail Benchmarking Study
May 1, 2014By David Newman
The primary objective of this project was to benchmark fresh pork quality at the retail store level. A great deal of variation in pork quality exists in the retail marketplace, leaving consumers with...
Animal Well-being
Identifying best operating procedures for CO2 gas euthanasia of suckling and nursery age pigs – effects of stocking density
April 29, 2014By Larry Sadler|Suzanne Millman
Gas euthanasia methods are commonly chosen when large groups of animals need to be humanely and efficiently put to death, such as during disease outbreaks. Nevertheless, previous research by our...
Pork Safety - Pre-Harvest
Salmonella serovar distribution and persistence in finisher sites
April 28, 2014By Julie Funk
There is a paucity of data explaining the persistence ofSalmonella serovars on swine...
Animal Science - Swine Nutrition
A longitudinal assessment of the impact PRRSV has on grow-finisher pig tissue accretion and digestibility in commercial production
April 23, 2014By Nicholas Gabler
This research examined the impact PRRSV infection had on grow-finisher gilt performance, apparent total tract digestibility and tissue accretion rates. Thirty littermate pairs of Choice Genetic...
Animal Science - Swine Nutrition
The effects of PRRSV infection in commercial pigs on growth performance, energy and nutrient digestibility
April 23, 2014By Nicholas Gabler
The research herein is an extension of the PRRS Host Genetics Consortium (PHGC), which is a national effort to identify genomic markers and host response pathways in response to PRRSV infection. The...
Animal Science - Swine Nutrition
Defining the energy content (DE, ME, and NE) of drought-stressed corn and identifying risk factors that lower energy
April 21, 2014By John Patience
Record-breaking heat and lack of rainfall during the 2012 growing season resulted in drastically reduced corn yield and the prospects of a very poor quality corn crop. Unfortunately, there was...
Development and validation of isolation and diagnostic testing detection for PEDv
April 2, 2014By James E. Collins
Since the introduction of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) in the Unites States, millions of piglets have died. Key items are needed to be address to further initial PEDV research, such as...
Swine Health - General Disease
The Use of Probiotics as an Aid in the Control of Clostridium difficile Associated Disease in Neonatal Pigs
April 1, 2014By Alejandro Ramirez
In the last 10 years, Clostridium difficile has been implicated as a major cause of neonatal diarrhea in pigs. C. difficile infection (CDI) affects piglets ranging in age from 1-7 days. Clinical...
Pork Quality
Influence of commercial deep chilling processes on early postmortem events in muscle that affect ultimate fresh pork tenderness and processing quality
March 17, 2014By Steven Lonergan
Recent observations and evidence have supported the conclusion that rapid chilling (deep chilling) of pork carcasses in commercial processing plants has the potential to decrease pork tenderness....
Epidemiologic investigation on propensity for lateral spread of PED virus
March 15, 2014By Robert B. Morrison
The objectives of this study were to determine lateral transmission patterns of PEDv in the US. For objective 1, evaluation of harvest plants as points or nodes of PEDv transmission. To...
