Articles

Making the right choice is not just a matter of cost, but also of strategic vision and risk management.

In addition to its role in protein synthesis, tryptophan contributes to the production of serotonin, a molecule that influences appetite and immune system regulation, and niacin production.

Effective PRDC control isn’t a single protocol — it’s a system. Success depends on accurate diagnosis, tailored vaccination, strong biosecurity, smart production flow, and, above all, consistent implementation. As Cano said, “Execution is everything. The best protocol won’t work if no one’s watching the barn.”

We visited the CDPQ, Centre de développement du porc du Québec, a commercial farm that operates under a unique collaborative model focused on research.

The speed and magnitude of the price drop at the beginning of January marked a discouraging start to the year for farms.

Spain has flooded the EU with cheap pork. Low pork prices dragged down prices in some countries.

Farms that fail to manage intergenerational integration run risks that directly affect their productivity and sustainability.

In this second instalment, Cano and Segalés talk about tools for detecting PRDC on farms, the factors influencing its development, and vaccination.

The key takeaways highlight that environmental microbiomes matter—installing a positive biofilm on surfaces in farm buildings helps maintain a favorable microbial environment in the nursery—while animal gut resilience is equally essential and requires supporting microbial balance, immunity, and the management of oxidative stress to optimize their post-weaning performance.

Sara Mazo and Francisco Ruíz review what could affect the commodities market in 2026... at least based on the information currently available.

An in-depth understanding of the customer is essential for pig farmers who want to become more competitive, shifting from a tactical, production-focused approach to a strategic, customer-based approach.

The German pig market ended December with a deceptive sense of calm, yet beneath this veneer, the situation remained tense.

Tryptophan (Trp) is an essential amino acid that pigs must obtain from their diet. It is involved in protein synthesis and serotonin production, which regulates appetite. It also contributes to the formation of niacin (vitamin B3) and has antioxidant effects, promoting intestinal health and microbiota. In addition, it helps maintain mucosal integrity and regulates the immune system.

Spanish farmers are losing over €47 million per week total, and pig prices are not expected to rise until February...

Reducing sow mortality takes time, and it is therefore necessary that the owner or manager is committed and leads the project. Throughout the process, you will need to draw a line and start doing things differently to achieve significant results.

Precision electronic feeding has become one of the key technologies for improving efficiency and sustainability on farms.

Inside the genome of the African swine fever virus: a giant that is difficult to decipher. CEREP uses genomics to study the virus's circulation in Italy and beyond.

Tonsil scrubbing using sponge catheters demonstrates a greater capacity for virus detection compared to sera from infected sows.

Construction costs in France stabilize: up 0.7% in a year, following several years of continuous increases.

The best DanBred sow farms in Denmark have sow mortality as low as 5%, showing that management, including feeding strategies, is the key.

We are in a critical market situation throughout the EU. It does not look like things will change until February next year.

In terms of feed presentation, we look for ingredients that provide not only nutrients but also functionality, with the aim of increasing gastric retention time to facilitate protein hydrolysis, greater contact between food and enzymes, and reducing fermentation of undigested protein in the intestine.

Almost four years after the first case of African swine fever was detected in Italy, the epidemic continues to pose a complex challenge for the country's health and wildlife management. Since January 2022, the virus has appeared in four distinct geographical areas. These were independent introductions of certain anthropogenic origin, occurring at different times and environmental contexts.

Should we review the iron requirements of piglets?

In the short term, the outlook remains subdued; in the medium term, smaller live supplies could allow prices to at least hold steady.

The grain and oilseed market has taken an unexpected turn in the last 15 days, with volatility and rising prices taking center stage.

There is plenty of evidence that the weight and backfat level of the gilt at first mating is strongly related to her productive life and longevity.

The price has fallen so much that it's probably close to its yearly low.

Feed presentation is a complex issue, as it can influence both feed mill performance and animal performance. This article analyzes the main factors related to the presentation of pelleted feed that affect productive performance and welfare during the first days after weaning.

The livestock farms associated with the project evaluate and verify the improvement measures proposed in the plans based on the ClassyFarm self-assessment questionnaires.

ASF has never spread so widely across the globe. The question is not if it will arrive, but when. The latest outbreaks detected in Europe may provide valuable information as the wolf lurks.

The Chamber of Agriculture of Brittany suggests using cameras to analyze the behavior of our pigs and to correct the factors that limit their performance.

Increased productivity has not come without consequences. Sows face greater physiological demands, which translates into a higher metabolic load, increased nutritional requirements, and, in many cases, increased mortality on farms. This phenomenon is of particular concern in Spain.

Assessing lung lesions at slaughter is useful for monitoring their evolution over time, and thus estimating the effectiveness of the measures implemented to control these diseases.

September brought falling pig prices, declining piglet prices, and noticeably more cautious demand.

The choice of cut-off point influences sensitivity, specificity, and the occurrence of false positives or negatives. We explain why the timing of collection and the purpose of the test make a difference in interpreting the results.

China has been Spain's largest market for many years, and with an additional 20% penalty, exports to China will decline significantly.

Vitamins are essential for proper growth and also for ensuring proper function of the nervous system, immune system, reproductive system, bone development, and cell repair. They do not provide energy, and each vitamin performs particular functions that none of the other vitamins can.

When losses and costs from poor health threaten the current and future farm profitability, perhaps a “clean slate” should be considered.

With the main genetic lines' rapid improvement in terms of prolificacy, feed conversion ratio, and other production parameters, the reference requirements for vitamins and minerals have become outdated.

Looking inside our pigs to learn more about their future.

Oral vaccination in pigs, previously limited to enteric pathogens, is emerging as an innovative strategy against respiratory diseases. By building on the potential of the Common Mucosal Immune System (CMIS), new formulations can trigger immune responses in distant mucosal sites starting from the gut.

By exploring the mechanisms of the Common Mucosal Immune System (CMIS), orally administered vaccines are capable of activating coordinated immune responses across different mucosal sites in the body. In this content, we explain how local activation in the GALT triggers protective effects in distant mucosal tissues, such as the respiratory tract, thereby expanding the reach of immune protection.

Reducing costs in pig feed formulation depends not on a single action, but on the strategic integration of multiple factors: precision in formulation, ingredient selection, use of technologies, and efficient management of the nutrition model and purchasing.

In healthy animals, PCV2 stays under the radar, causing little harm. But with coinfections that activate the immune system, the virus replicates more and becomes more damaging.

Unusual drop in July and August of more than 17 cents, and it is expected to continue to fall.

After weaning, endogenous hydrochloric acid production is still limited, which raises stomach pH and compromises pepsin activity, affecting protein digestibility and favoring pathogen growth.

This second article from the WelfarePIGnet project describes practices for improving pig access to feed and drinking water, including the costs of implementing them.

We need a container for syringes, needles, medicine bottles, sprays, and markers. Sometimes you see improvised and inadequate containers on farms, but the one presented here is very simple and functional.

This installment focuses on the effects of heat stress on sow fertility.

When we manage errors systematically, we stop punishing symptoms and start addressing the real causes.

Pigs are particularly vulnerable to heat stress due to their limited ability to dissipate body heat and genetic selection for higher productivity, which has reduced their heat tolerance. Improved technical results increase heat production, and today's lines produce 30% more heat than those in the 1980s.

Guillem Burset explains the reasons for the exceptional drop in pig prices in Spain during July.

In this installment, we will discover how heat stress affects the digestive tract of pigs.

The good domestic crop contrasts with global uncertainty: currency, geopolitics, and funds continue to drive prices in the short and long term.

This IFIP study provides unprecedented results on methane reduction using a slurry cooling system, not previously published by other teams.

In the first quarter of 2025, European pig trade continued to be marked by an increase in Spanish imports of piglets and finishing pigs.

Implementing precision feeding through the use of electronic feeders improves sow and piglet performance while providing economic, environmental, and animal welfare benefits.

Professor Nauwynck has been researching PCV2 virus since the emergence of PCV2-associated diseases. PCV2 caused a serious crisis in global swine health that was ultimately addressed through the development and mass deployment of effective PCV2 vaccines. He is an excellent connoisseur of this small virus that continues to surprise us.

Digestive diseases in pigs that were previously addressed individually, targeting a single pathogen, now form a digestive disease complex that we must confront from various angles.

One of the major challenges during weaning is post-weaning diarrhea, impacting nearly 25% of piglets in European countries. A promising strategy to boost resilience and help piglets navigate the stress of weaning can be, among others, the use of phytogenics.

Spanish slaughterhouses are between a rock and a hard place. The heat will accentuate the supply shortage. Pig prices are increasing or staying the same, pork prices are decreasing, and consequently, margins are deteriorating.

This is how one of the Tosh Pork farms in the United States works, combining technology, production efficiency, and social commitment. In this first article, we present the structure, work culture, and overview of U.S. swine production.

The study confirms the negative impact of both chronic and acute heat stress on feed intake in lactating sows and validates nutritional and management strategies to mitigate it.

Price expectations vary by continent.

On December 6, 2024, the final trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and Mercosur was signed. This agreement is considered historic due to its magnitude, creating a goods and services market of approximately 800 million consumers and representing a quarter of the global GDP.

Genetic mutation and evolution of PRRSV can occur across all genes. Unlike ORF5, which only represents about 4% of the PRRSV genome, NGS can recover a whole PRRSV genome to be used in epidemiological investigations.

In this commentary, we review various issues affecting the swine market: the blackout in Spain, corporate concentration, the evolution of carcass weights, Trump's policy....

How does heat stress affect our pigs? This four-part question-and-answer series will give us an in-depth understanding of this key aspect of pig production.

Weaning is one of the most difficult periods in a pig’s production cycle. A deeper understanding of the challenges piglets face, as well as the short- and long-term consequences of low feed intake, can help nutritionists formulate their diets to better support growth and improve health.

The UK ships around 7,000 tonnes of pig meat to the US annually, making it the fourth largest destination for UK product. The vast majority of this is made up of loins, fore-ends and bellies.

Fewer losses, lower medication costs, and a better feed conversion ratio result in a 100% ROI on this depopulation-repopulation project.

Mammals, such as pigs, have a keen attraction to sweet tastes. They are able to perceive the five basic tastes: umami, sweet, bitter, sour, and salty. Sugars such as sucrose, glucose, and lactose are especially attractive to them. This trait seems to have evolved as a natural mechanism for detecting high-calorie energy sources.

In 2024, the Latin American swine industry continued to show outstanding performance, reaffirming its potential, resilience, and capacity to adapt to the challenges facing the sector in a complex market environment. However, given the current geopolitical circumstances, reconfiguration of international pork trade flows in Latin America is expected in 2025 as a result of retaliation against the tariffs imposed by the United States.