Heat stress

More than 150 hog producers, industry peers and Vita Plus employee owners attended Vita Plus Swine Summit 2017 on March 29 and 30 in Morton, Minnesota. Click the links below for complete event coverage, including articles, videos and speaker presentations.

By Leah Gesing
Heat stress can result in lost profits during the summer months and its after effects may be felt into the fall. Proper diet formulation to compensate for decreased feed intake can moderate the customary summer dip in carcass weights. Correctly utilizing supplemental fat, crystalline amino acids, chromium and ractopamine in diet formulation can translate into greater summertime profits.

Energy concentration
Increasing the energy concentration of diets in the summer is a simple...

By Spencer Jones The heat of the summer makes it extremely difficult to keep pigs performing at an optimal level. Keeping the animal comfortable during periods of high heat is very important to help minimize economic losses. The feed additive virginiamycin, more commonly known as Stafac®, may help grow-finish pigs perform closer to their optimal levels during the summer months. During the 2006 Allen D. Leman Swine Conference , B.R. Gramm and R.D. Nimmo of Phibro Animal Health and G.L. Allee of the...