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K-State Swine Profitability Conference to be held Feb. 6

Kansas State University’s 2024 Swine Profitability Conference is planned for Tuesday, Feb. 6 in Manhattan.

The annual Swine Profitability Conference focuses on providing information to improve knowledge for pork producer business decisions.

“We host two major swine events each year at K-State. At Swine Day, we share our latest research results. At Swine Profitability Conference, we focus on business decisions and industry-wide issues facing pork producers,” says Mike Tokach, K-State Department of Animal Sciences & Industry distinguished professor and swine Extension specialist. “The lineup of speakers this year bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to help producers increase their competitiveness.”

The conference will feature speakers from an array of swine-related businesses and organizations, including:

  • Steve Meyer, Partners in Production Agriculture senior economist, will discuss U.S. pork/meat outlook.
  • Chad Mire, National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility Foreign Arthropod-Borne Animal Disease Research Unit Research leader, will discuss the NBAF capabilities.
  • Marcelo Almeida, Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine Clinical Assistant professor, will talk about recent trends in swine health diagnostic cases.
  • Bryan Humphreys, National Pork Producers Council CEO, will discuss the U.S. pork industry.
  • Dan Gerety, J-Six Farms manager and CEO, will speak on building a generational legacy.

“The 33rd Annual Profitability Conference has a renowned group of speakers that will provide direct information on status of the U.S. pork industry, discuss U.S. swine disease patterns, detail world-renowned swine disease research capabilities to safe-guard the U.S. swine herd and provide direct experiences from a Kansas family swine operation,” says Joel DeRouchey, K-State Extension swine specialist. “This conference has a strong reputation for sharing relevant information to improve production for Kansas swine producers.”

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US Soy: Pig growth is impaired by soybean meal displacement in the diet

Video: US Soy: Pig growth is impaired by soybean meal displacement in the diet

Eric van Heugten, PhD, professor and swine extension specialist at North Carolina State University, recently spoke at the Iowa Swine Day Pre-Conference Symposium, titled Soybean Meal 360°: Expanding our horizons through discoveries and field-proven feeding strategies for improving pork production. The event was sponsored by Iowa State University and U.S. Soy.

Soybean meal offers pig producers a high-value proposition. It’s a high-quality protein source, providing essential and non-essential amino acids to the pig that are highly digestible and palatable. Studies now show that soybean meal provides higher net energy than current National Research Council (NRC) requirements. Plus, soybean meal offers health benefits such as isoflavones and antioxidants as well as benefits with respiratory diseases such as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS).

One of several ingredients that compete with the inclusion of soybean meal in pig diets is dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS).

“With DDGS, we typically see more variable responses because of the quality differences depending on which plant it comes from,” said Dr. van Heugten. “At very high levels, we often see a reduction in performance especially with feed intake which can have negative consequences on pig performance, especially in the summer months when feed intake is already low and gaining weight is at a premium to get them to market.”

Over the last few decades, the industry has also seen the increased inclusion of crystalline amino acids in pig diets.

“We started with lysine at about 3 lbs. per ton in the diet, and then we added methionine and threonine to go to 6 to 8 lbs. per ton,” he said. “Now we have tryptophan, isoleucine and valine and can go to 12 to 15 lbs. per ton. All of these, when price competitive, are formulated into the diet and are displacing soybean meal which also removes the potential health benefits that soybean meal provides.”