Podcast: Feeding a sow her way

The Real P3 podcast series is an initiative where pork professionals from around the world are interviewed about challenges and solutions in their day-to-day work. In this episode, Dr Casey Bradley speaks to swine producer Dave Klocke, from western Iowa, a 2,700 sow farrow to wean operation. He is also founder and president of PigEasy, which he began in 2013, designing and developing equipment for swine producers.

In the summer, we are going to struggle getting feed intake in our lactating sows, and Klocke shares his experience in this struggle. He talks about the ideal ratio between water and feed. “That’s part of the trick,” says Klocke. “These sows all have their individual preferences, and I don’t know that there is a standard, or throughout the sows’ individual lactation period.” He adds that it is an individual preference scenario and talks about what he is doing differently.

Ad lib feeding and a clean bowl

Klocke discusses the biggest driver or hindrance to successful ad lib feeding (which he has been doing successfully for over 15 years) and which he says is not often addressed, which is a clean bowl. “That’s the challenge of a typical ad lib dispenser or feeder for lactating sows,” he says. “It’s a big deal and is a standout benefit of our system.”

In the previous weeks, Pig Progress published earlier episodes of the Real P3 podcast series:

• The prologue of the podcast series;
• Episode 1: Mihaela Angheluta, Denmark;
• Episode 2: Christine Snowden, Ohio, USA;
• Episode 3: Johan Odendall, Zimbabwe;
• Episode 4: James Lamb, North Carolina, USA;
• Episode 5: Dr Wayne Johnson, China;
• Episode 6: Colin Twomey, Ireland;
• Episode 7: Paul Faris, USA;
• Episode 8: A recap of 2020;
• Episode 9: Angie Krieger, USA;
• Episode 10: Henry Silva, USA;
• Episode 11: Shannon Dierking, USA;
• Episode 12: Sanne Baden, Denmark;
• Episode 13: Brian Strobel, USA;
• Episode 14: Nii Odoi, Ghana;
• Episode 15: Pieter Beerens, the Netherlands;
• Episode 16: Steven Payne, South Africa;
• Episode 17, part 1: Caroline Gonzalez-Vega, Germany;
• Episode 17, part 2: Jim Smith, USA;
• Episode 17, part 3: Ana Lucia Pozzobon de Souza, USA;
• Episode 18: Zhaohui “Edward” Yang, USA;
• Episode 19: Ron Simmons, USA;
• Episode 20: Porcast’s Jean-Philippe Martineau and Louis-Philippe Roy, France;
• Episode 21: Amanda Minton and Dr Justin Fix, USA;
• Episode 22: Dr Daniel Columbus, Canada.