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Optimizing Market Weights

Optimizing market weights means essentially maximize the profit in your production system. Pre-requisite for optimizing the market weight is the understanding of the production costs and parameters, knowing the target market weight of your pigs for your packer buying matrix. Also components as herd health, availability and cost of feed ingredients, barn space, time availability, market prices, packer buying programs and animal welfare are important. Having a complete plan includes solid production practices, a clear understanding of the economic factors in production and marketing, using those to determine the optimum market weight for your system, and delivering a pig in good condition to your abattoir will contribute to an overall profitability of the system. Knowing all your systems capabilities, strengths and weaknesses, and working together with experts from the industry can improve the profit of your production.

Source: Prairieswine


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Advancing Swine Disease Traceability: USDA's No-Cost RFID Tag Program for Market Channels

Video: Advancing Swine Disease Traceability: USDA's No-Cost RFID Tag Program for Market Channels

On-demand webinar, hosted by the Meat Institute, experts from the USDA, National Pork Board (NPB) and Merck Animal Health introduced the no-cost 840 RFID tag program—a five-year initiative supported through African swine fever (ASF) preparedness efforts. Beginning in Fall 2025, eligible sow producers, exhibition swine owners and State Animal Health Officials can order USDA-funded RFID tags through Merck A2025-10_nimal Health.

NPB staff also highlighted an additional initiative, funded by USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Veterinary Services through NPB, that helps reduce the cost of transitioning to RFID tags across the swine industry and strengthens national traceability efforts.

Topics Covered:

•USDA’s RFID tag initiative background and current traceability practices

•How to access and order no-cost 840 RFID tags

•Equipment support for tag readers and panels

•Implementation timelines for market and cull sow channels How RFID improves ASF preparedness an