Producers battling high feed costs and swine housing decisions should tune into two upcoming free webinars series funded by the Pork Checkoff.

“There are a wide variety of options for housing gestating sows,” says Sherrie Niekamp, Pork Checkoff director of animal welfare. “These webinars will provide a summary of scientific literature and help producers make sound decisions about which housing type is best for their pigs given their resources and market.”

The second webinar series will discuss results of animal science research funded by the Pork Checkoff that can help producers make management decisions that improve productivity and profitability.

“The animal science committee recognized that there was a need for sharing information that producers can use,” says Chris Hostetler, director of animal science for the Pork Checkoff. “Producers can take away information from these webinars and apply it in daily production.”

Each webinar will last 45 minutes with time for participants to ask the experts questions. All are listed to start on central standard time. Producers can register for the webinars online at www.pork.org.

Sow Housing Webinars

• July 30, 1:00 p.m.: Sow lameness: detection, treatment and prevention – Locke Karriker, Iowa State University

• Aug. 1, 1:00 p.m.: Gestation stall design – John McGlone, Texas Tech University

Animal Science Research Webinars

• Aug. 6, 1:00 p.m.: Interaction of distiller’s dried grains with solubles and housing type on sow productivity – Lee Johnston, University of Minnesota

• Aug. 13, 1:00 p.m.: Use of soybean hulls in growing and finishing swine diets – Joel DeRouchey, Kansas State University

• Aug. 20, 1:00 p.m.: Use of drought-stressed corn in swine diets – John Patience, Iowa State University

• Aug. 27, 1:00 p.m.: Pelleting and complete diet grinding for high byproduct diets – Mike Tokach, Kansas State University

To register for a sow housing webinar, visit pork.org/sowhousing. To register for an animal science research webinar, visit www.pork.org/animalscience.

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