BREEDING
Successes and failures in pig health management: '84 – '04
Breeding entrepreneurs have changed production system norms with multi-site management but it has not provided all the answers for a high health status. Recent rapid advances in vaccines and marker genes offer some compensation, but there is still the battle against new devastating diseases.

HOUSING
Free access stalls for gestating sows
Johan Hermann Haschenhermes introduced free gestation stalls with a unique self-catch system at his sow farm in Langen, Germany. Better herd health, productivity and labour efficiency were decisive for Johan to implement this system.

COLUMN
What the textbooks don't tell you about….
Stimulating gilts.

COUNTRY
Portuguese stay positive an pragmatic
In spite of higher production costs due to more expensive raw materials and feed, Portuguese pig producers have decided to face the crisis. The biggest farmers are becoming more integrated in strong groups, investing in the best technologies.

MARKET
Large differences in global production costs
It is not easy to compare costs price across the global pig industry, but the Dutch Agricultural Economics Institute and the Rabobank have made an attempt; the international competitive position of the international competitive position of the Netherlands, Poland, Brazil, China, USA and Canada was compared.

BREEDING
DNA advances offer big payoffs
Pig breeders and producers can do more than just weigh pigs and select the fastest growing one or count pigs at birth and select those gilts from large litters. Molecular genomic 9DNA) analyses have revolutionised how swine geneticists examine the genetic differences that exist within commercial pigs.

 
Oktober 4, 2004