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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.

"𝘉𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥, 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵." - 𝗗𝗿. 𝗝𝗮𝘆 𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗻

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.