Pipestone Veterinary Services News

Some of the most common pests within a hog operation include your common house fly and fruit fly. These pests are not only a risk for transferring diseases, but are also a nuisance to the animals and people that work or reside in these barns. Once these pests are established within your operation it can be very difficult to control...

Last Friday USDA released their Quarterly Hogs & Pigs Report which I’ve included along with the Pre-report estimates and so you can see the differences in the far right hand column.  You’ll notice that the actual USDA numbers came in quite a bit higher than the estimates across most of the categories.  This report is showing that we are going...

Have you ever unloaded a group of pigs that are heat stressed following transportation? How do you manage transportation during months of high heat and humidity to prevent or minimize heat stress and transport losses? Here are a few tips to help your pigs weather summer heat and humidity.  It all comes down to managing these three basics: water, air...

Culling – as boring of a subject it may be, your culling strategy is an important factor in the health and future of your herd.  Culling “strategy” is something that is highly variable from farm-to-farm.  First, having a culling strategy implies that you have a choice, and we all know that, far too often, these choices seem to make themselves. ...

Veterinary Feed Directive The new Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) regulations will be going into effect January 1st, 2017.  What does this mean for your operation? These FAQ’s should help shed some light: What prompted the government to change the rules regarding antibiotic use in food animals?  Why now? These rules are in response to the concern of antibiotic resistance in...

Kemin Host 2016 Swine Forum focused on Risk Management On May 25th the Kemin Risk Management Team, led by Dr. Mark Bienhoff, hosted the 2017 Swine Forum, at the Iowa FFA Enrichment Center. The successful event provided a platform for interactive, facilitated discussion with respect to fundamental industry biosecurity and risk management concerns.  Attendance at the forum represented leading industry swine...

Hormone use in pork production is a really common area of misconception. I have frequently heard statements alluding to the idea that pigs are “pumped” with hormones to make them grow faster. For some reason people are under the impression that pigs couldn’t possibly grow so fast without the aid of additional hormones. It turns out that pigs are actually...

Community Highlights Pipestone and their employees are always excited to give back to the communities we live and work in.  Here are a few highlights from May: Free Throws for Kids Pipestone held their 2nd annual Free Throws for Kids event.  The free throw competition between Pipestone departments is a fun way to help raise money for a great cause.  For every...

By: Dr. Adam Schelkopf  Have you ever wondered why we give piglets iron?  Who would give the piglet iron if we were not there to provide it?  These are good questions and fortunately ones we have answers to so you can best weigh your options when it comes to iron. Iron is essential for the pig because it allows the pig...

World Pork Expos is here and county fair, and livestock show season is around the corner.  These are great events that celebrate agriculture and our rural communities.  We at Pipestone encourage everyone to attend and support these events. The presence of swine at these events poses a biosecurity risk for all of us that work on and visit hog farms. ...