Maintaining the proper environment in swine barns is essential for protecting animal health and promoting productivity. Austin Zimmerman, sales engineer for Automated Production Systems (AP) offers the following recommendations to prepare barn heaters before winter arrives.

“If any part of the startup sequence does not successfully complete, producers should troubleshoot the failure or, if necessary, contact their dealer,” Zimmerman says.

In addition to heaters, he recommends producers check barn curtains to make sure they are in good physical condition, and that the curtains reset to their open or closed position to properly calibrate the curtain machine. Zimmerman also reminds producers to update their environmental control systems with the latest software so they can access new enhancements and maintain optimal conditions within their barns.

For more information, contact your AP dealer or visit automatedproduction.com.

Source: AP, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.

Tyson bans ractopamine feed ingredient

To meet growing global demand for U.S. pork, Tyson Fresh Meats, the beef and pork subsidiary of Tyson Foods Inc., in mid-October announced plans to prohibit the use of ractopamine in market hogs it buys from farmers beginning in February.

Ractopamine is a feed ingredient that helps increase the amount of lean meat in hogs. While it is approved by the Food and Drug Administration and considered safe for use, some countries such as China prohibit the import of pork from hogs that have been given the product.

Tyson has been offering a limited amount of ractopamine-free pork to export customers by working with farmers who raise hogs without it, and by segregating the animals and products at processing plants. But these programs no longer meet growing global demand.

“We believe the move to prohibit ractopamine use will allow Tyson Fresh Meats and the farmers who supply us to compete more effectively for export opportunities in even more countries,” says Steve Stouffer, president of Tyson Fresh Meats.

Most of the hogs delivered to the company's pork plants are purchased from about 2,000 independent farmers. Farmers were notified of the change in mid-October and have until Feb. 4 to meet the new requirement. Tyson plans to work with them over the next few months to begin the process of testing hogs to ensure they are ractopamine-free.

Source: Tyson Foods, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.