About the Guest
Dr. Matt Ackerman grew up on a small grain and livestock farm around Peoria, IL. He attended the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and graduated with a BS in Agricultural Sciences in 1992 and a DVM in 1995. Since graduating, he has worked in private swine consulting practice. In July 2016, he opened his own practice named Pork Veterinary Solutions. Pork Veterinary Solutions is currently a two-veterinarian practice that oversees the annual production of approximately 1.5 million pigs (about 1% of US production). The emphasis of the practice is on establishing preventative herd health programs and interpreting production and economic records for commercial swine farms. Dr. Ackerman and his wife Missy have 3 children.
What can you expect to learn from this episode of Popular Pig?
- What Dr. Ackerman is seeing regarding advancements in herd health and personal views on the trends in the industry.
- Cutting corners vs. cutting costs and how that affects piglet viability and sow health.
- How producers are addressing cost vs. efficacy issues.
- How is the pork production industry and industry leaders are addressing PRRS and PEDV.
- The steps along the feed supply chain to control viral risk and exposure.
- Dr. Ackerman’s experience and thoughts after touring a spray dried plasma facility.
- Dr. Ackerman’s “golden nugget”
