Meet the Expert

This second episode features once more Robert Hoste, Wageningen Economic Research, part of Wageningen University & Research, based in the Netherlands. In this podcast the topic is how to maintain profitability whilst focusing on sustainable pork production as well.

Why do pigs bite tails? That is a topic that is still very badly understood – it’s one of the multifactorial problems. Increasingly, however, it becomes clear that gut health also has a role to play in this web of cause and effect. In this podcast, Dr Franz Lappe of Vivet veterinary practice in Germany, and Dr Cecilie Kobek-Kjeldager, Aarhus University, Denmark, explain their views on this topic.

A very relevant question in the pig industry: Why do employees stay? And why would they decide to leave? It’s all about paying enough attention to these matters – and it is exactly this type of question that got the interest of emeritus professor Larry Firkins, attached to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a veterinarian who developed a special interest in management matters an...

Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae causes lung infections characterised by a low mortality, but high morbidity. This results in a higher FCR, lower daily growth, higher risk for secondary infections and increased treatment costs. Although M. hyo has been the topic of much research, its pathogenesis is still not completely clear, immune responses after infection and vaccination need to be further investigate...

Monitoring PRRS virus can happen perfectly well using tongue fluids, a topic that won a recent European PRRS Research Award. Pig Progress Editors Vincent ter Beek and Iris Hofman will discuss this technique with Dr. Andrea Ladinig, professor at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, Austria.

This episode with Prof Dr Christian Visscher of the University of Veterinary Medicine in Hanover, Germany, focuses on Lawsonia intracellularis (causing ileitis). He speaks about its effect on the microbiome, and how this affects pig production and for what extend oral vaccination can have effect on these.

Consulting economist Lance Mulberry is based in Missouri, USA. He shares his opinion about the pig industry’s tendency to focus on average to evaluate on-farm economic performance. He will address problems related to that tendency: it ignores variation and suggests that the underlying distribution is a normal. That way using averages will result in hidden costs, having many implications for the in...

This episode takes a trip down the road of pig economics with a very well-known name in the industry, being Robert Hoste, attached to Wageningen Economic Research, part of Wageningen University & Research, based in the Netherlands. In the podcast there will be attention for pig market developments in the largest pig states in the world and there will be a look into the future as well.

Prof Joaquim Segalés is working as full professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain and is researcher at the Centre for Animal Health Research (IRTA-CReSA). He has been performing research on swine diseases since 1993. In this podcast, he discusses methods how to best vaccinate against Porcine Circovirus Disease, for sows, piglets, boars and gilts alike.

Prof Hans Nauwynck is attached to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Ghent University in Belgium. Viral diseases are at the core of his attention – and they will take centre stage in this episode of “Meet the Expert”. He will discuss reproductive failure in pigs, with particular attention for the viral component of that problem: PCV2, PRRS virus and parvovirus will be discussed.

In this episode we welcome Dr Marina Sibila from the animal research institute CReSA-IRTA in Catalunya, Spain. Her research line focuses mainly on the epidemiology, diagnosis, animal model development and prevention/treatment strategies of porcine respiratory pathogens, mainly porcine circoviruses (PCV-2 and PCV-3) and porcine mycoplasmas. With Dr Sibila we shall discuss the diagnostics of Porcine...

In this episode of "Meet the Expert" we shall be focusing on the classifaction of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) virus and deal with the question how to break the chain of infection. Just like in the previous episode, we will be speaking with Daniel Linhares, associate professor and director of graduate education at Iowa State University, USA.

This episode is the first of two podcasts with associate professor Daniel Linhares of Iowa State University in the USA. He is a well-known global expert on Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome virus. This first episode revolves around monitoring of the virus in sow farms.

This episode zooms in on African Swine Fever virus in Vietnam. As the virus has been around there for a few years, various strategies have been developed how to get the disease under control. Guest Dr. Christa Goodell of Boehringer Ingelheim will explain about the so-called “tooth extraction method.” She researched this approach and discusses its pros and cons.

The word “sustainability” doesn’t need any introduction – trying to do more with less is on everybody’s mind. Making that happening, however, is easier said than done. During his many years at R&D with animal nutrition company Nutreco as well as in his role as professor at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands, Leo den Hartog never stopped asking how the industry could achiev...

In this episode we are going to further explore the topic of Precision Livestock Farming, as we are about to look into a very practical application with regard to pig health: early warning systems, like the Soundtalks cough monitor. Featuring in this episode is Dr Amanda Sponheim, part of the US Boehringer Ingelheim swine team as a key account veterinarian and also a PhD candidate at the Universit...

In this episode we are going to talk about Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae – causative agent for enzootic pneumonia in pigs. Very recently, new insights were acquired about costs related to eliminating the bacteria, after disease broke on a naïve breed-to-wean site. Guest in this podcast is Dr. Tom Gillespie, DVM, previously the owner and founder of Rensselaer Swine Services, and currently an internation...

Producing pigs more sustainably can be achieved in many ways. Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) is one of them - after all, with technology it is often possible to determine at very detailed level what certain pigs need in terms of feed, temperature, ventilation or medication. By applying a targeted treatment, better results can be achieved with minimum input. The guest in this 3rd episode of Meet...

Veterinarians rely on others for our success. Identifying disease, treating disease, implementing biosecurity, conducting vaccinations, and most importantly to choose a course of action are all out of control regardless of farm size or ownership structure. This podcast discusses nearly 30 years of “lessons learned” in addressing health and production challenges in systems across the globe and how...

When carrying out surveillance to detect PRRS virus presence in a herd, there are various ways to do so. In recent years, a new and effective method was developed by Spanish veterinarian Jordi Baliellas, attached to the Grup de Sanejament Porci (or Pig Hygiene Group) in Lleida, Spain. He opted for taking tongue tip samples – and that works very satisfactorily. In this first episode of the third Me...

“During winter time, the African swine fever virus may persist up to five months in the bone marrow of a wild boar's carcass” A significant reduction in Europe’s wild boar populations and good biosecurity on all swine farms are necessary steps to combat African swine fever, Professor Zygmunt Pejsak emphasises in this Meet The Expert podcast. Professor Pejsak was head of the swine diseases departme...

“The direction of wild boar movement in general is to the Western territories...it means from Russia to Belarus, from Belarus to Poland, from Poland to Germany and probably will be from Germany to France” As the Head of the Department of Swine Diseases at the National Veterinary Research Institute until his retirement, Professor Zigmunt Pejsak in Poland played a central role in the country's battl...

“We plan a quarantine time of a minimum eight weeks and if we use MLV PRRS virus vaccines, we prefer around 12 weeks” Gilt introduction procedures are discussed by Danish swine veterinarian Dr. Kristian Havn in the context of a herd averaging 1,000 sows with an annual replacement rate of 45-50%, meaning a need to bring in 500 replacement gilts per year. A target of introduction to the sow herd at...

“Gilts can be the best reproductive performers on the farm in terms of conception rates and farrowing rates --- if they are not the best, there’s an opportunity there for us to go work on” For larger sow systems, a group-based gilt preparation process from weaning at 6 kilograms to breeding at 135 kg is detailed in this conversation in the United States with Dr. Clayton Johnson, veterinarian partn...

“It’s important that pathogen exposure occurs early enough in the gilt’s life so she recovers from the infection, stops shedding the pathogen and is immunocompetent at the time of farrowing” Divide the young gilt’s time before breeding into the separate categories of development and acclimation, says Dr. Clayton Johnson of Carthage Veterinary Services in the U.S.A. Development aims to prepare her...