Pipestone Veterinary Services News

A Minnesota dairy farm family is using leading edge technologies to improve the genetics of their dairy herd. Brad Nosbush and his brothers David and Leroy own and operate Nosbush Dairy near Fairfax, Minnesota.  Their father started milking cows at the farm in 1955 and the sons formed a family partnership in the early 1980s.  They have slowly grown their dairy herd...

By Dr. Curt Vlietstra Risk management is nothing new to livestock producers.  Whether your primary business involves raising beef cattle, selling milk, or raising replacement animals for your clients… many of your decisions are based on managing risks.  Think about it: If you knew that the top bull at a sale would give you 4-5 years of rapid genetic improvement...

There is no doubt that Avian Influenza (AI) has been a devastation to the poultry industry, just as PEDv was to the swine industry eighteen months ago.  The mortality rate for AI stands at 100%, and as of May 26th, 2015, 41,034,973 birds have died or been euthanized as a result.  Avian Influenza is a topic that has been extremely...

County fair, and livestock show season is underway.  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.  Both PRRSV and PEDV are present in swine...

The pig of the week this week is 5 weeks old.  He lives in a barn with 1200 pigs!  In his pen there are 120 other pigs that are all the same age as him.  His nose is full of feed because I pulled him away from his breakfast for a quick picture!

In an earlier post (10,000ft View), I alluded to the fact that piglets are sometimes fostered from their birth mother, and adopted by another mom on the farm.  In this post, I will have the opportunity to share more about what that means, why it is necessary, and who these awesome sows are that adopt piglets in need.   Ideally...

By: Dr. Cameron Schmitt Cutting corners in any aspect of life/work typically has implications at later points in time.  Similarly in pork production, we see “planting disease” in the spring and  “harvesting disease” in the fall.  As your schedule gets tight this planting season, here are some tips to help you be more time efficient in the barn, rather than...

By: Brian Stevens, President of Big Stone Marketing We have concluded our first quarter of 2015 and I have to say there wasn’t much to write home about as it relates to our pork markets.  Experts predicted that we’d see pork supplies grow 1%, but the reality was our supplies soared and caught everyone off guard.  Federally Inspected Slaughter for the...

This adorable pig has a spot on his nose that looks oddly similar to....well, a mustache! Don't let his mustache fool you!  He's only four weeks old.  By this age, he has transitioned from his mother's milk to eating a diet closer to that of an adult.

On the day piglets are brought to the nursery facility they need to adapt to all sorts of changes.  Some piglets adapt very quickly.  Some piglets do not.  Those that struggle with the transition may have come to the nursery small or skinny.  They may be sick, or have an injury.  There are many reasons why a piglet may not...