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Huskers aim to crack code of major swine virus

Two University of Nebraska-Lincoln scientists have received a $627,000 federal grant to study a viral disease posing a significant threat to the swine industry worldwide. 

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus is widespread, causing reproductive failure in sows and major respiratory illness in pigs of all ages. In addition, the virus modulates the pig’s immune system, making the animal more susceptible to other infectious diseases. The costs to the U.S. swine sector from PRRSV annually total an estimated $1.1 billion. 

Hiep Vu, associate professor of animal science, is the co-director of the research project, funded by a three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The other co-director is Sarah Sillman, assistant professor with Nebraska’s School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and the Nebraska Veterinary Diagnostic Center. 

The project will examine how PRRSV infects swine macrophages, the immune cells that recognize, engulf and destroy harmful intruders, including viruses and bacteria. 

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Making budget friendly pig feed on a small livestock farm

Video: Making budget friendly pig feed on a small livestock farm

I am going to show you how we save our farm money by making our own pig feed. It's the same process as making our cattle feed just with a slight adjustment to our grinder/ mixer that makes all the difference. We buy all the feed stuff required to make the total mix feed. Run each through the mixer and at the end of the process we have a product that can be consumed by our pigs.

I am the 2nd generation to live on this property after my parents purchased it in 1978. As a child my father hobby farmed pigs for a couple years and ran a vegetable garden. But we were not a farm by any stretch of the imagination. There were however many family dairy farms surrounding us. So naturally I was hooked with farming since I saw my first tractor. As time went on, I worked for a couple of these farms and that only fueled my love of agriculture. In 2019 I was able to move back home as my parents were ready to downsize and I was ready to try my hand at farming. Stacy and logan share the same love of farming as I do. Stacy growing up on her family's dairy farm and logans exposure of farming/tractors at a very young age. We all share this same passion to grow a quality/healthy product to share with our community. Join us on this journey and see where the farm life takes us.