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Missouri family adapts into hog production

Matt Stubblefield is adamant about the fact that he is a cattleman, not a hog farmer. But with generations of pork producers in his family, raising hogs was just a part of the farm operation.

“The hog barn on my father-in-law’s property was built by his grandpa in the 1950’s or ‘60’s,” said Matt’s wife, Rockael.

Like many farming operations in the mid- to late-1900’s, raising a few feeder pigs was standard for the Cuba, Missouri family. Matt’s great-great-grandpa would feed out about 1,000 head each year, according to his dad, Drew. Eventually, the Stubblefields started raising their own pigs and moved their sows to a pasture setting.

Going in and out of the hog business a few times, the family re-entered the business in the late 1990’s when Drew bought a gilt at the 4-H youth auction and bred her to a neighbor’s Poland China boar. Hogs have resided on the operation ever since.

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Sow Reproduction in Free-Choice Barns - Dr. William Flowers

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In this episode of The Swine it Podcast Show Canada, Dr. William Flowers from North Carolina State University explains sow reproductive performance and behaviors in free-choice gestation barns. He discusses social hierarchy, stress responses, feeding behavior, and the influence of housing design on fertility outcomes. Understand how sow interactions can affect production results and management decisions. Listen now on all major platforms!

“Overall, sows, even the dominant sows, choose to spend about 70% of their time in the stall portion.”

Meet the guest: Dr. William Flowers / william-flowers-998b348a is the William Neal Reynolds and Alumni Distinguished Professor of Animal Science at North Carolina State University. His teaching covers swine production and reproductive management, while his research focuses on improving fertility in swine. Dr. Flowers holds a B.S. in Animal Science from Virginia Tech and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Missouri. Listen to The Swine it Podcast Show Canada with Dr. William Flowers on all major platforms.