Feeding, housing and managing "The Millennial Pig"

Now two decades into the “new” millennium, there is little question the livestock industry has changed, and continues to grow and evolve as time goes by. While technological improvements get a great deal of attention, one nutritionist says the evolution of genetics over the past 10 years has radically changed the way the swine industry feeds, houses and manages the modern hog.In this episode we talk with Jeffrey Knott of Ideal Animal Nutrition about the animal he calls “The Millennial Pig,” and discuss what makes this pig different from its ancestors and forebears.Knott is the founder and principal nutritionist of Ideal Animal Nutrition; he has more than 15 years of industry experience and is a specialist in providing technical nutritional support to swine producers around the world. After completing his bachelor’s degree in Animal Science at North Dakota State University, he earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in swine nutrition from the University of Minnesota. He has vast domestic and international swine nutrition and business experience, having spent 10 years with a national nutrition company prior to founding IDEAL Animal Nutrition. He spoke with Feedstuffs about his views on the modern hog, and how understanding its genetic evolution and potential can help nutritionists and producers make better decisions about feeding and managing this “Millennial Pig.”This episode of Feedstuffs In Focus is sponsored by Topigs Norsvin, the second largest swine genetics company in the world. Topigs Norsvin’s unique breeding program is designed to accelerate genetic progress at the customer level by creating innovative products and solutions that benefit the entire pork production chain. For example, Topigs Norsvin has made natural selection for robustness a priority in the breeding programs for its TN Tempo terminal sire and TN70 parent female. Selecting for for specific natural resistance to PRRS, as well as overall robustness characteristics, to further enhance the production performance of TN Tempo and TN70 offspring. The robustness advantage of the TN Tempo has been verified by independent research. Their customers report improved piglet vitality, uniformity, and barn throughput as well.For more information on this and other stories, visit  Feedstuffs  online.Follow Feedstuffs on Twitter @Feedstuffs, or join the conversation via Facebook.Learn more about TN Tempo at T-N-tempo-dot-com, and to learn about TN70, visit TN70-dot-TopigsNorsvin-dot-com.