From our vantage point here in North America, African Swine Fever (ASF) may seem oceans away, primarily affecting the markets in China, South Korea, and parts of Europe. 

Still, the disease's highly contagious nature and the potential ease of its spread across continents has many North American producers panicking. 

Chances are you have a problem getting and retaining team members on your farm. This is just the time we live in. But Janae Metzger has found a program that works well to help keep Pig Hill Farms fully staffed, and get employees with animal sciences degrees. Metzger uses the TN Visa program. 

One of our vendors, DOL Sensors, recently introduced technology enabling producers to easily adjust sensor settings, directly from their smartphones. This sensor has a ton of different applications from poultry to swine, all at an affordable price point. 

When it comes time to build a new barn including an ESF system, the process can seem overwhelming. If a new barn is in your future, or even if you hope that it is in your future—it is worth checking out this infographic and article explaining what you can expect from the process.  

In the hog industry, cleanliness is next to godliness. But keeping things clean in the barn can be a chore when you are working with substandard materials. That's one of the reasons we are so passionate about using high quality penning and gating materials like PanelTIM. With a product like PanelTIM you can feel good about your investment, knowing that your barn environment will be easier to clean, and your pigs won't be able to destroy the product. Listen as Marc explains the reasons PanelTIM penning and gating is especially helpful in hog barns. 

Olymel L.P. is Canada's leader in the production, processing and distribution of pork and poultry meats and is Canada’s largest hog producer. The company has made feeding the world its mission, which it pursues passionately with products of impeccable quality. The company employs over 12,000 people and has production and processing facilities in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan. Olymel exports nearly a third of its total sales. Its annual sales are on the order of $3.5 billion.

When you meet Janae Metzger, the first thing you will notice is that she is an intelligent, friendly, and enthusiastic individual. And it is these very traits that have made her so successful in hiring and onboarding new barn employees. Metzger is the Assistant Manager and Employee Developer at Pig Hill in Alvord, Iowa. Her successes in the area of human relations and training have caught the attention of much bigger operations, with several farms hoping to learn her ways and duplicate her success.

Farrowing is one of the most precarious areas on a farm. Everything leads up to and flows from this one activity. So it only makes sense that farrowing rooms should get attention too! We have gathered a list of six important factors to consider in your farrowing room. 

We have to say it... we don't love the phrase gilt training—if only because it is so misunderstood within the ESF world. When we talk about gilt "training", we are referring to channeling the gilt's innate curiosity into learning a task.

Self-conditioning gilts by gradually exposing them to elements of ESF from a very early stage puts less pressure on the pigs and staff, and allows the animals to learn the system naturally and calmly. But self-conditioning animals and giving them time to adjust isn't just the secret to ESF success, it is the foundation of good animal husbandry. Learn more about how we accomplish it below. 

When you are training gilts for ESF pens, you need a certain type of personality working with those girls. But it may not be the type of personality you expect.