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Pig breeders bank on prosperous year ahead

Over the past three years, the pig breeding industry in Chongqing’s Rongchang district — a hub for China’s animal husbandry — suffered the double whammy of COVID-19 and African swine fever, leading to drastic ups and downs in the market, according to Guo Ping, a pig breeder for over 16 years.

But she believes 2023 might be a good year, as the most recent round of COVID-19 has peaked, and pig diseases have been contained by advanced measures and biological technologies.

Guo’s 30,000-square-meter pig farm — Xingwang Breeding Pig Farm — which mainly raises breeding sows and piglets, has a capacity of about 600 breeding sows. She estimated that at least 120,000 breeding piglets on the farm could be sold this year and the yearly revenue might range from 60 million yuan ($8.83 million) to 110 million yuan, depending on the market.

Pork plays an indispensable role in many Chinese people’s diet, and the country accounts for over half of the world’s pig population.

Rongchang, a border district in the west of Chongqing, is known as “China’s animal husbandry science and technology city”, and even has a breed of pig named after it — Rongchang pig.

Rongchang pig has strong adaptability and good disease resistance and meat quality, according to Zeng Zhu, deputy director of Rongchang Husbandry Development Center.

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In this episode of The Swine it Podcast Show Canada, Dr. Claire Mtezankuni, Swine Veterinarian at Carthage Veterinary Service, discusses the growing severity of PRRS outbreaks in sow farms. She explains how respiratory disease and sow mortality are changing outbreak response, why necropsies and bacterial cultures can guide treatment, and how vaccination, biosecurity, pain management, and clear team communication support recovery and elimination. Listen now on all major platforms!

“Emerging PRRS strains can produce severe reproductive and respiratory disease simultaneously, creating substantial health challenges across sow farms during acute outbreaks.”

Meet the guest: Dr. Claire Mtezankuni / claire-mtezankuni-2529b1b3 is a Swine Veterinarian at Carthage Veterinary Service in Illinois, where her work includes commercial farm veterinary leadership, herd health, disease elimination, and veterinary internship coordination. She holds a DVM from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a Master of Veterinary Science in Livestock Systems Health from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Learn more from Dr. Claire Mtezankuni on The Swine it Podcast Show Canada, available on all major platforms.