With summer in full swing, I thought I’d share this article from Pig Health Today. It talks about how heat stress affects pigs and your profits. Aside from reduced performance, it can compromise pigs’ gastrointestinal system and cause them to reduce their feed intake and it also leads to higher mortality rates.
Let’s talk about financial losses. Did you know that heat stress can affect your profits, too? Every year, U.S. swine producers lose about $900 million because of this problem. This is about twice the amount lost due to the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus. Steven Pollmann, PhD, who is a livestock consultant and also the former president of western operations for Murphy-Brown LLC, says that producers lose an estimate of $50 to $60 per animal each year because of heat stress.
While scientists are looking for solutions to address this problem, Pollman urges producers to implement strategies to tackle heat stress. “Make sure the cooling systems are right, that there is enough ventilation, and the pens are not overpopulated,” Pollman says. You can read the full article here.
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Trish Valenzuela, CPC/ PRC • Poultry and Swine Recruiter
Trish Valenzuela is the Poultry and Swine Recruiter for the Animal Health and Nutrition division. She recruits for feed additive, international biotechnology, animal health, and integrated companies.
She specializes in identifying, attracting, recruiting, and making placements for positions such as Poultry Veterinarian, Poultry Nutritionist, Sales Managers and Directors, Directors of Nutrition, Technical Support Managers, Sales Executives, Monogastric Researchers, and Nutritionists.
Visit her LinkedIn profile to connect with her and stay updated with current poultry trends. Trish can be reached at (302) 248-8242, through LinkedIn, or at trish@continentalsearch.com.
