Universities provide expertise to Chinese Swine Managers
Jun 4, 2009 1:44 PM
The U.S. Grains Council’s Chinese Swine Management Team traveled to Kansas State University (KSU) for a two-day course on swine health and disease management as well as U.S. pork production and benchmarks.
“This was a really good group of swine industry professionals,” said Joel DeRouchey, extension specialist for livestock nutrition and environmental management at KSU, who spoke to the team along with Bob Goodband, KSU extension swine specialist, and Steve Henry, veterinarian. “They asked many questions on swine disease prevention methods performed by U.S. producers and specifically how we handled outbreaks of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome and Porcine Circovirus associated diseases. Most other questions were related to U.S. facilities; housing for sows, pen designs and sizes, nursery pig nutrition, etc.”
Terry Vinduska, USGC treasurer, representing Council member Kansas Corn Commission who hosted the team after the first day of seminars, said, “Anytime we bring a team like this into the United States, I am amazed at how interested they are in our crops, yield, prices and supply of grain; they always want to know how much corn and grain sorghum we will produce. The more chances we have with them on our home turf, the more it reinforces the interest in U.S. grains, which sets the groundwork for future trade opportunities in China. All of the men were relatively young in age but operated large hog operations, some of them more than 5,000 head. What amazes to me about these young men is the capabilities they have to grow their operations at a rapid pace. This reassures me there will be future trade and it will continue to increase. As their hog operations continue to expand, so will their need for U.S. grains.”
From here, the team will attend the World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa, June 3 to 4. While in Des Moines, the team will meet with Council members Iowa Corn Promotion Board, Iowa Corn Growers Association and the Iowa Department of Economic Development.
“It was helpful for the team to meet with us before they attend the World Pork Expo,” said DeRouchey. “Since we were able to get them exposed to the U.S. equipment, nutrition and U.S. management philosophies, team members will be able to get into more in-depth discussions with industry representatives in those fields.”
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