Podcast: Going down under to Rivalea Australia

The Real P3 podcast series is an initiative where pork professionals worldwide are interviewed about challenges and solutions in their day-to-day work. Although 80% of the business is involved with pigs, with between 42,000 and 45,000 sows, Rivalea Australia is a completely integrated system with feed mills, piggeries, abattoirs, and some further processing.

Managing enteric diseases

In terms of managing enteric diseases, Henman talks about how the company – particularly in the last 10 years – has had to change their management and thought processes around nutrition. Today, says Henman, pork producers must take into account how the gut changes and how the selection of raw materials influences the gut. He adds that hygiene is critical.

Genetics and E. coli

Australia has not imported genetics for some 40 years. With the country’s internal genetics, Henman talks about how a gene has been discovered that can improve a pig’s resistance to E. coli challenges. Rivalea has seen a dramatic decline in the level of E. coli across their farms.

The importance of sow diets

“In the last 3 years there has been a real impetus to start pushing for changing the sow diets and changing periods within the sow cycle that we feed different diets,” says Henman, stressing that much care must be taken to manage the sow’s lactation diet, and avoid any gut upsets. Henman also talks to Dr Bradley about the Australian pork market and how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the industry there.

Earlier episodes of the Real P3 podcast series

Pig Progress has published numerous episodes of the Real P3 podcast series, with the most recent being the following:

• Episode 30: Katherine Marcano-Bell; Iowa, USA;
• Episode 31: Johann Kotzé, South Africa;
• Episode 32: Jon Hoek, USA;
• Episode 33: Dr Casey Bradley, USA; and Philip van den Brink, the Netherlands;
• Episode 34: Dr Arlene Garcia, USA;
• Episode 35: Dr Casey Bradley, USA; Colin Twomey, Ireland; JP Martineau, Canada; Dr Megan Edwards, Vietnam; and Philip van den Brink, the Netherlands.