
How to Reduce Wean to Finish Mortality Without Guessing | Nat Stas
From Popular Pig by Matthew Rooda
February 26, 2026 · 35 min
About this episode
Nat Stas discusses strategies to reduce wean to finish mortality in swine production.
About the Guest Nat Stas is a Technical Services Director for PIC and has been in the commercial swine industry for 15 years, 8 of which have been with PIC. He holds a master’s degree from University of Illinois under Dr. Mike Ellis focusing on swine genetics and reproduction. In addition to Nat’s commitment to the commercial swine industry, he currently stays involved in the American Society of Animal Science and many livestock youth development programs and swine research programs. Nat resides in Latrobe, Pennsylvania with his wife and twin daughters. What can you expect to learn from this episode of Popular Pig? Why finishing mortality keeps climbing and why it costs you the most money. How tracking week on feed at death can quickly narrow down where your real problems are. Why cutting pigs open and getting a true diagnosis beats guessing every time. The simple things that matter most: getting pigs started right, keeping feed in front of them, avoiding feed outages, and managing space and sound feet late in finishing.
People in this episode
Host: Matthew Rooda
Guest: Nat Stas
Topics covered
- swine industry
- mortality reduction
- animal science
- swine genetics
- livestock management
Keywords
- wean to finish
- mortality
- swine genetics
- animal science
- livestock management
- feed management
- diagnosis
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: PIC, American Society of Animal Science, University of Illinois
Places: Latrobe, Pennsylvania
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