The ozonated manure slurry is environmentally safe and can be spread on fields as a fertilizer. Researchers also are following up on findings that ozonated swine manure slurry repels and kills flies. Missouri scientists are working on new methods of swine waste handling and management to capture plant nutrients in swine wastes and return them to the farm. It also smelled better because ammonia emission dropped by a third or more. Pigs gained weight less efficiently but were leaner and less costly for Indiana producers to feed.
Puny placenta produces plenty of pigs.
American hog breeds have litters averaging 9 to 10 pigs. Chinese Meishan sows average 12 to 14 pigs per litter. Iowa State researchers compared the reproductive systems of Meishan sows with American Yorkshire sows and found that placentas of Meishan sows are smaller but more efficient, providing more room for the piglets. Researchers determined small-placenta Yorkshire sows gave birth to three more pigs than those that produced large placenta. The increase of a single pig per litter would allow the swine industry to produce the same number of pigs from 10 percent fewer litters.