Heat stress: how does it affect our pigs and how can we avoid it? - Dr. Jay Johnson

Hi there - In hotter climates and seasons, heat stress can have a large effect on pig performance, regardless of their stage of production. Dr. Jay Johnson has been a wonderful asset to the swine community with his work on the effect of heat stress on pigs and shares some insight on his research findings. In today’s episode, he discusses the importance of understanding heat stress and different strategies we can utilize to help mitigate its effects on pig health and performance.

What you will learn:

1. Current topics on heat stress

2. In-utero issues with heat stress

3. Disease models 

4. Genetic programing on gilts

5. Alleviating heat stress

6. Heat increments

7. Individual responses to heat stress

8. Thermal cameras

9. Daily heat stress fluctuations

10. Key points

Meet the guest: Dr. Jay Johnson received his B.S. and M.S. from the University of Missouri, and his Ph.D. from Iowa State University. After receiving his Ph.D. he went to Purdue University for his Postdoc. Dr. Johnson now works for USDA as a research animal scientist specializing in heat stress across multiple species, but primarily focuses on swine. The overall goal of Dr. Johnson's research program is to evaluate the impact of the environment (i.e., heat stress) and production stage on livestock physiology, welfare, and metabolic health to develop mitigation strategies that will improve animal well-being and productivity. He has received many awards including the USDA-ARS MWA Early Career Scientist of the Year award in 2019 and the Midwest American Society of Animal Science Outstanding Young Researcher Award in 2021.