USDA awards $1.15 million to expand technology that warns producers before pigs start showing signs of heat stress
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Summer heat can turn into a real problem in a hog barn, and by the time pigs start panting, producers may already be behind the curve.
A University of Missouri researcher is working to change that.
Jay Johnson, an associate professor with Mizzou’s College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, has received a $1.15 million USDA grant to expand HotHog, a free smartphone app designed to help pork producers spot heat stress risks before the pigs show obvious signs.
Pigs cannot sweat, which makes hot and humid weather especially tough on them.
Heat stress can slow growth, hurt reproductive performance, affect animal welfare and, when conditions get severe, lead to death losses.
Johnson says the goal is to give producers a warning before the trouble starts.
HotHog uses local weather information to show producers how temperature and humidity could affect their pigs. Producers can enter multiple barn locations and receive alerts when conditions reach certain risk levels.
That gives them time to make adjustments.
They can check ventilation, change sprinkler settings, make changes to water systems or reconsider when pigs should be moved.
The app has been around since 2023 and is already being used by more than 2,000 people in more than 50 countries.
Now the USDA funding will allow Johnson and his research team to take the technology further.
Different Pigs Handle Heat Differently
A weather forecast may tell you it is going to be 95 degrees, but that number does not tell the whole story inside a hog barn.
Humidity matters, and so does the type of pig.
A sow carrying pigs has different heat stress risks than a recently weaned pig. A hog close to market weight has different needs as well.
The current HotHog system focuses mainly on sows that produce and nurse piglets.
The new research will expand the app to include recently weaned pigs, growing pigs approaching market weight and market weight hogs.
That should give producers a much better picture of what the weather could mean for the animals they have in the barn.
Mizzou Will Study Pigs Under Controlled Conditions
The research will include work at Mizzou’s Animal Science Research Center and a new thermocline facility being built at South Farm.
Researchers will be able to expose pigs to controlled temperature conditions and monitor how they respond.
Video cameras will record the animals as temperatures change.
The researchers will use those observations to better identify when heat stress starts and how different groups of pigs react.
That information will then be used to improve the HotHog app and the recommendations it provides to producers.
The goal is to give producers information they can use before the heat becomes an animal health or production problem.
Research Reaches Beyond Missouri
Johnson’s project will include researchers from Purdue University, the University of Pretoria in South Africa and the University of Melbourne in Australia.
The international partnership will help researchers account for different climates and pork production systems.
That could eventually make HotHog useful to producers dealing with heat stress in a variety of conditions around the world.
Here in Missouri, MU Extension specialists will work with Johnson and his team to help producers learn how to use the app.
They will also collect feedback from producers about how the technology works in actual hog operations.
And there is no subscription fee.
Johnson says HotHog will remain free because he wants producers to have access to the information without adding another expense to the operation.
For Missouri pork producers, the technology is another tool for dealing with one of the toughest parts of summer.
When the heat index starts climbing, waiting until pigs are already panting is too late.
The goal of HotHog is to give producers the warning they need to make a move before the heat starts costing them.
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