It’s been over 30 years since an outside resource person has come in to educate UNH Cooperative Extension staff about swine management.

On Dec. 5, over 30 Extension staff, agency representatives and producers from around New England participated in a training session held at the Merrimack County Extension office in Boscawen.

The idea of a training originated when Carroll County Extension Agricultural Educator Russ Norton had a client who needed in-depth advice on retro-fitting a dairy barn for hog production. Norton located a resource person at Penn State, Dr. Ken Kephart, animal science professor, who agreed to conduct the  training along with site visits.

Dr. Kephart was hired for two days through the Agricultural Engineering Project supported by the Andrew C. and Margaret R. Sigler Foundation. Day one was class instruction on housing and facilities, feeds and feeding, breeding management, farrowing management, and growing and finishing pigs. Pork Quality Assurance Training (PQA) provided the guidelines for good production practices.

Day two was on-site consultations with pork producers who needed guidance with facility design. Dr. Kephart was joined by Stan Weeks, agricultural engineering consultant, John Porter, UNH Cooperative Extension, and Norton, UNH Cooperative Extension.

All participants received a resource notebook and several booklets related to swine production. Some key points were:

Don't try to compete with the big swine producers, find a niche and charge what the product is worth.

Feed and facilities are the two main costs of production, so promote efficient production and find low cost feed sources, and control capital investment in equipment and housing.

Follow the proven practices in hog production such as long, narrow pens, sloped floors and mechanically cleaned gutters, proper ventilation and adequate nutrition.

Use sound management practices and establish a working relationship with a veterinarian to properly administer vaccines and medications.

Russ Norton has a CD of the resource notebook, available by contacting him at 603-447-3834.