Why do we still struggle with sow milk yield? - Dr. Chantal Farmer

''We are asking a lot of our sows. The sows don't produce enough milk to sustain maximum growth of the piglet. They don't produce enough colostrum in a lot of cases, so now we need to change our focus. We need to put our focus not only on litter size but also on the milking capacity of the sow.'' - Dr. Chantal Farmer

What you'll learn:

1. Mammary tissue development

2. Soybean meal in the diet

3. Types of fiber that influence milk and colostrum yield

4. Amounts of colostrum

5. Colostrum development in the late gestation period

6. The sow's milking capacity

Meet the guest: Dr. Farmer is a research scientist in sow lactation biology working at the Sherbrooke Research and Development Centre of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. She got her B.Sc. from McGill University (1980), her M.Sc. from the University of Saskatchewan (1982), and her Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University (1986). Dr. Farmer's research goal is to increase sow milk yield and subsequent piglet growth. She was a pioneer in the study of mammary development in gilts and sows and the identification of the factors affecting it. She has published 150 scientific manuscripts, 7 book chapters and is the sole editor of a recently published book entitled ''The Gestating and Lactating Sow'' that was also translated into and published in Chinese.