“I always try to suggest to people, you don't want boars eating too little feed because you'll hurt semen production. Also, you don't want boars to get overfed so that they're fat, it decreases their locomotion ability, it decreases their jump time on the artificial insemination dummies. [From a body condition standpoint] we don't want to get on the extremes, we want to be as much in the middle as we can.” – Dr. Mark Wilson.

Today’s episode will cover “Boar Management and Nutrition”.

Our guest is Dr. Mark Wilson. Dr. Wilson earned both a doctoral and a master’s degree from the University of Kentucky, and a bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University. The first 11 years of his professional career were spent as a professor at the University of Minnesota (Waseca) where he coordinated the swine research at the Southern Experimental Station. Wilson then served as director of technical service at United Feeds, while overseeing the boar and sow research. He has also spent time working for Minitube of America and Ralco Nutrition. Currently, Dr. Wilson is part of the research and nutritional services team at Zinpro Corporation and an adjunct faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Minnesota.

What you will learn:

• Key aspects of boar nutrition and feeding;
• The top 3 common mistakes in boar nutrition and feeding;
• Most important aspects for maximum performance in the boar stud;
• The top 3 common mistakes in boar management;
• Thoughts on Lysine levels and boar research;
• What separates successful swine professionals from those that are not.

Mark’s favorite swine-related book: Diseases of Swine

Mark’s favorite book unrelated to swine: Holy Bible and books about leadership (how to work with people)

This episode was edited and published by Lauro Faccin. These episodes could not get done without Lauro’s support. You might recognize the last name. Good genetics.