Genetics in the swine world continue to evolve and recently Clint Schwab, Vice President of Technology and Customer Success for AcuFast™ was featured in several articles in the PORK magazine discussing genetics, technology and the future of the industry.
When looking at evolving genetics, Schwab says that a balanced breeding objective will take on a different definition for pork producers going forward. While the demands on genetic products will rapidly increase in the context of changing labor, health and environmental conditions in the pork industry, Schwab believes the mainstay profit drivers like feed efficiency and pigs per sow per year will remain, but a new layer of traits will become increasingly important.
“These traits are frankly harder to change,” he says. “Categories of behavior, welfare and resilience are becoming more prominent.”
He adds that today’s sow shows frequent examples of exceeding current expectations of genetic potential in many elements of productivity. “Although they’ve demonstrated the existing genetic potential in current lines in the industry, it’s now a matter of making these examples more repeatable and easier to attain. Part of this equation relates to the genetics of the female herself, but a large portion has to do with how she’s managed, which further underlines the need for ensuring the multiple changes in the industry work in concert.”
Next is the influence of Artificial Intelligence on the future of swine breeding. “Our ability to unleash the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) is predicated on the availability of large amounts of quality data to develop such tools,” Schwab says. “As data management systems grow in sophistication and integrate information from periphery sources, I think we’ll start to see applications emerge in the near future.”
Finally, is the impact of genetic tools in today’s swine herds. Schwab notes that genetic technology provides the capacity to help ensure a systems-approach to genetic improvement.
“The environment is constantly evolving; this means that the ‘fit’ of the genes need to adapt in concert with the environment. The evolution of the pig’s environment is not only due to regulatory, societal or labor/talent pressures, but also results from innovation in other sectors of the industry — nutrition, housing, health, etc. Animals express their potential differently depending on the culmination of these changes, and we need to ensure that innovations across the sectors complement each other.”
For the full articles:
Survival is the Name of the Genetics Game
Artificial Intelligence in the Future of Swine Genetics
Pigs of the Future: Genetic Technology Unlocks Precision and Understanding
For more on AcuFast™: https://www.acufastswine.com/