By MICHELE F. MIHALJEVICH
Indiana Correspondent

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A new version of the Pork Industry Handbook is available from Purdue University.

The two-volume, 1,600-page updated handbook covers a wide range of information for pork producers, including nutrition, animal welfare and behavior, pork quality and safety, worker health and safety and marketing.

“The handbook includes information on the commonly accepted practices in these areas,” said David Meisinger, executive director of the U.S. Pork Center of Excellence (USPCE). “It covers the hows and whys in every area of pork production.”

The USPCE is responsible for the guide’s content, as the book is a compilation of information found on the center’s website at www.porkgateway.org according to Meisinger. While information on the website is updated regularly, the book is only printed every two years. The first handbook was produced in 1975.

Funding for the handbook comes from pork checkoff dollars and from the center, which lists 25 land grant universities and 17 state pork boards among its partners. About 500 editors and reviewers were involved in the project. The new handbook includes an expanded section on nutrition, Meisinger noted.

“Every state had and always has had a state nutrition guide, but they had all pretty much fallen into obsolescence. We took it upon ourselves to bring all the information together in a national book, and update what was already there,” he explained.

Brian Richert, Purdue extension swine nutrition and management specialist, prepared the handbook’s nutrition section.

“It will contain more that 20 new fact sheets related to nutrition and feed additives, especially from the standpoint of how to handle and manage your pigs when you’re feeding ractopamine and what is the correct nutrition for those pigs,” he said in a statement.

“Another feed additive that’s recently been approved is conjugated linoleic acid. That is utilized to enhance fat quality at the end of the finishing phase in pigs.”

The handbook is a valuable tool for pork producers, Richert added. “It covers everything in swine production, from reproduction to artificial insemination to business management and managing personnel,” he explained. “There are many sections in the handbook that are new and updated.

“It’s really the best reference book out there on how to manage a swine operation from start to finish.”

In addition to information on hog health and safety, the handbook also includes important tips on protecting workers and consumers, said Michael T. Platt, executive director of Indiana Pork.

“The pork industry has a long tradition of continuous improvement and sharing best practices,” he said. “Tools like the Pork Industry Handbook are invaluable assets to both owners and employees in the swine industry to ensure not only the best food quality for consumers, but also to ensure the best practices in animal welfare, safety, health, worker relations and running a business.

“As the industry continues to move forward in a best-practices style, this handbook should be one of the key reference tools in every swine operation,” he added.

While the primary audience for the handbook is pork producers, it’s also used in academia, said Jerry Shafer, a marketing specialist in Purdue’s Department of Agricultural Communications.

“It has anything you ever wanted to know about raising a hog. A lot of colleges use it as a textbook. We’re also seeing sales to a lot of foreign countries, including China,” he noted.

Another change in this year’s handbook update is the inclusion of a DVD, Shafer explained. “The DVD includes information in the handbook, but also has stuff on it not in the book. Every section is a PDF file so a producer can print one page or just whatever they need.”

The DVD also includes videos and interactive worksheets that can be customized to a producer’s specific operation. The print version of the handbook is $125, the DVD is $60 and both may be purchased for $175.

Prices do not include shipping or sales tax.
To buy a copy, visit www.extension.purdue.edu/porkindustryhandbook or call 888-398-4636.