Win With Science: A Podcast By United Animal Health

A weight-prediction camera in United Animal Health's research barn started flagging declining average daily gain in a finisher group while the pigs still looked reasonably normal. Five days later, diagnostics confirmed a PRRS break. That gap, between what the data registered and what was visible in the pen, is one of the more practical arguments for putting technology in a barn.

In this episode, Chris Puls, Ph.D., Manager of Swine Innovation and Product Development at United Animal Health, joins Brett Kaysen, Senior Vice President of Domestic Sales, to discuss the Barn of the Future in Indiana, a commercial-style research barn built to test technologies in real production conditions before customers have to invest in them. 

They cover precision feed systems and what blending accuracy testing has shown, how weight-prediction cameras and automated pig counters have performed across multiple turns, and what individual animal identification since 2018 makes possible when you can trace a pig from birth weight to market. Chris also speaks candidly about the health breaks United has worked through on its own farms, including 30% nursery mortality during a PRRS

One part per million of deoxynivalenol sounds like nothing, roughly one kernel of corn in a million kernels. But United Animal Health research has consistently found that level is enough to reduce gain by 7% within the first seven days of exposure.

In this episode of SIGNAL, Dr. Adrienne Woodward of United Animal Health's Swine Technical Services team discusses what years of DON research reveal about how pigs actually respond. She covers why nursery and grow-finish pigs are affected through different mechanisms, why the first exposure does the most damage, why pigs that appear to adapt can still finish 10 pounds behind their cohorts, and what surveillance of thousands of corn samples has shown about contamination levels. Dr. Woodward also walks through the signs producers should be watching for and the mitigation strategies worth considering.

Antimicrobial resistance isn't a future concern, it's showing up in diagnostic lab data right now. Kaley Pederson, microbiologist at Microbial Discovery Group and part of the Microbial Innovation Center team at United Animal Health, joins us to discuss what rectal swab surveillance revealed about E. coli virulence genes in nursery pigs, why 96% of lab isolates were resistant to six or more antibiotics, and how in vitro testing of ProVent ECL fits into a broader conversation about non-antibiotic tools.

What happens when every pig, feeder visit, and performance shift can be tracked in real time? In a recent conversation, Dr. Matt Ritter, SVP of Research & Development at United Animal Health, discussed how the company's "Barn of the Future" initiative is testing cameras, RFID systems, AI, and digital technologies under real-world commercial conditions and what those insights could mean for the future of animal agriculture.

Protein demand is shifting fast... from athletes to everyday health, longevity, and global nutrition. In this episode, Jeff Goodwin, CEO of Pivotal Ingredients, breaks down what’s driving the change, from aging populations to GLP-1s, and what it all means for animal agriculture moving forward

There is no such thing as clean corn. Variation in mycotoxin levels in feed ingredients is a real problem. Spikes in mycotoxin levels can occur anywhere – in the same feed mill over time, in geographies where the risk is low or high, and even in the same load of corn. This lack of consistency creates unknowns when managing risks associated with feed.

Riley Backs, Feed Research Supervisor at United Animal Health, and Katherine McCormick, M.S., a Research Associate at United, join us on this episode to talk about the variation they are seeing in the field.

There’s no such thing as clean corn! A new PathKinex study reveals that even visibly clean feed can harbor high levels of mycotoxin-producing fungi. 

Join Heidi Doden, a microbiologist at Microbial Discovery Group, and Dr. Adrienne Woodward, Sr. Manager, Discovery and Novel Products at United Animal Health as they discuss the latest PathKinex study.