The National Pork Board is holding its first ever Pig Welfare Symposium on November 7-9, 2017, in Des Moines, Iowa. The objectives of the symposium are to improve the wellbeing of pigs by disseminating recent research findings and recommendations, raising awareness of current and emerging issues, and identifying potential solutions. The dynamic program is intended for producers, veterinarians, academia, packers, processors, and allied industry partners. To register for virtual attendance, visit www.pork.org/pws or contact Sherrie Webb at SWebb@pork.org or 515-223-3533.
Broken Needle Webinar available on demand
The National Pork Board recently held a webinar on preventing broken needles in the administration of medicine to pigs, “How to Prevent Broken Needles: Protecting People, Pigs and Pork.” The webinar offers insight into why proper medical care is important to raising healthy pigs and addresses this topic to prevent a broken needle from occurring on the farm.
The webinar includes comments from Laura Bachmeier, National Pork Board director of pork safety; Steven Hoff, Iowa State University professor of Ag and Biosystems Engineering; and Emily Erickson, New Fashion Pork. The replay of the full 60-minute webinar is available by going to nationalhogfarmer.com and searching for “needle webinar” to find the link.
Pig Survivability Working Group established
The Checkoff’s Animal Science Committee recognizes that one of the biggest drags on productivity, sustainability, and profitability is loss of pigs and sows prior to market. To this end, the group dedicated nearly 80% of its 2018 research budget to mitigating pig death loss. The first step is to identify key areas of research and research priorities under those areas. Last week, the Pig Survivability Working Group, comprising producers, veterinarians, geneticists, and subject matter experts, met and worked on requests for proposals that will guide this area in 2018. This effort also will involve the animal science, animal welfare, and swine health committees. For more information, contact Chris Hostetler at CHostetler@pork.org or 515-223-2606.
Producer Services: Bulletin updated to help producers prepare for the Certified Swine Manager (CSM) exam
The Certified Swine Manager Bulletin (Guide) has been updated to better reflect how candidates can become CSMs. The document provides details on how to apply for the exam and share their work experience. There is also information to help candidates better understand how to prepare and gain additional knowledge prior to taking the exam. The National Pork Board will reach out to producers this fall to encourage them to consider having their production managers certified. For more information, contact Karen Hoare at KHoare@pork.org or 515-309-6131.
Domestic Marketing: Yummly Partnership
The NPB Digital Strategy Team has worked to define the appropriate recipe partnership. Yummly, the Netflix of Food, will house our 2100-plus recipes and put them in front of Yummly’s 22 million users. Nothing will change for state associations and pork consumers. The partnership means we have access to many more recipe searchers who can find our recipes via pork-branded landing page, thereby better connecting users with our recipes. When porkbeinspired.com merges into pork.org, all recipes will be redirected to a page on yummly.com. This partnership also will provide more co-promotion opportunities in the future. For more information, contact Jarrod Sutton at JSutton@pork.org or 515-223-2766.