As a pig farmer, you know that raising pigs from birth can be challenging. From offering proper nourishment to providing a safe, temperature-controlled environment, there are many requirements for maintaining the optimum health of a piglet. Scours, an illness that affects newborn piglets, is a common issue that many farmers have to deal with. Scours, which is diarrhea in piglets, happens when the gastrointestinal system fails to perform properly, often between 12 and 96 hours after birth. According to NADIS Animal Health Skills, scours can occur when there is: A disruption to the functionalit ..read more

Proper barn ventilation is a vital component of any good farm management plan. Whether you’ve incorporated a natural or mechanical ventilation system in your animal housing, closely monitoring the air exchange can help you avoid preventable and costly damage to your buildings and, more importantly, damage to the health of your livestock and workers. In cold weather, providing adequate ventilation while maintaining comfortable temperatures for your herd can get tricky, but finding the right balance is essential. Put simply, ventilation consists of a continuous, three-step cycle: Fresh air ente ..read more

Livestock farmers know that stressed animals don’t perform well. In a hog breeding and farrowing operation, uncomfortable conditions can negatively affect health, feed-to-gain ratios, and reproductive rates. One of the most common stressors for livestock are temperature extremes. Pigs have what’s called a narrow thermal neutral zone, or a small temperature window in which they feel comfortable. To reach that zone during the winter months, farmers often need to provide supplemental heat in the form of heating lamps or animal heat pads. The thermal neutral zone for pigs varies by age. Pre-wean ..read more

Osborne Industries, Inc., Osborne, celebrated its 50th anniversary of incorporation at its headquarters on May 23, 2023. The company’s official date of incorporation was May 15, 1973. The 100% employee-owned company is widely diversified by offering molding services for original equipment manufacturers (OEM) of composite plastic components for a variety of industries and selling its own proprietary lines of livestock and pet management equipment. Osborne Industries’ humble origin started with only five employees five decades ago inside a rented Quonset building on the county fairgrounds. Today ..read more

Returning visitors to this website are likely to notice a few changes since the launch of our redesign. We had a great site that served us well for many years, but as with all things web-related, it needed a few tweaks to keep pace with the changing technological landscape and user needs. Although the site looks a little different, it now features a more streamlined approach to giving visitors a user-friendly, straightforward tool for learning about and ordering farming supplies that make raising livestock more efficient and profitable. You’ll find all the same great Osborne products that were ..read more

August 26, 2022 – Osborne, Kansas USA – On August 16, 2022, the employee owners of Osborne Industries, Inc., celebrated the 44-year career of Vicki (Fogo) Corbett, long-time company Vice President and Customer Service Manager. Corbett’s legacy with Osborne Industries will live on for years, as she was a positive and humble role model for all those who had the pleasure of working with her. She was a mentor to countless employees over a career that spanned more than four decades, and she retires with the longest tenure of any employee to have worked at Osborne Industries since its beginning in 1 ..read more

Costs are rising for feed, energy, and almost every element involved in pork production. Input costs have not gone down compared to how the price of pork has fallen since its recent peak in June 2021. This leaves producers showing margins in the red, and now is the time to look at ways they can cut pork production costs in as many ways as possible. 14 Methods for Decreasing Pork Production Costs While there are numerous ways in which to reduce pork production costs, the following methods can be put in place relatively quickly. These range from investments in automated production equipment to f ..read more

Osborne Industries is scheduled to exhibit at several conferences and tradeshows put on by state pork producer associations across the Midwest in January and February. The following infographic outlines each show location and Osborne’s booth number. We’d love to see you! January shows include the South Dakota Pork Congress in Sioux Falls, January 12-13, and the Iowa Pork Congress in Des Moines, January 26-27. February shows include the Ohio Pork Congress in Lima, February 8-9, and the Minnesota Pork Congress in Mankato, February 15-16. Osborne products like heat mats, hog feeders, and portabl ..read more

Two methods for keeping pigs warm – pig heating pads and heat lamps – are commonly used in pig farming to keep animals warm, with each method having advantages and disadvantages. For young pigs, the type of heating and where it’s placed greatly affect the animal’s health, along with how quickly the pigs grow. Creating properly-heated microenvironments for piglets during farrowing, nursing and weaning will accelerate their time to market while helping to reduce health issues like scours, especially prior to weaning, while generally keeping livestock healthier and more comfortable. Comparing Pig ..read more

November 16, 2021 – Advancements in farm technology over the past several decades have led to the development of several automated feeding and weighing systems, including those that automatically monitor individual animal performance. The information collected by these systems has provided critical data for genetic, feed, and pharmaceutical research while mimicking real-world production. Until now, however, these systems were only available for finishing animals (> 50 lbs./22 kg). Understanding the correlation between individual animal performance at a young age and performance in the finis ..read more