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Industry Partners
Prairie Swine Centre is an affiliate of the University of Saskatchewan
Prairie Swine Centre is grateful for the assistance of the George Morris Centre in developing the economics portion of Pork Insight.
Financial support for the Enterprise Model Project and Pork Insight has been provided by:
GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS FROM LIQUID SWINE MANURE STORAGE FACILITIES IN SASKATCHEWAN
Posted in: Environment by admin on January 1, 2005 | No Comments
Inferring pathogen inactivation from the surface temperatures of compost heaps
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Plant Availability of Phosphorus in Swine Slurry and Cattle Feedlot Manure
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Nitrogen Application to Soybean at Early Reproductive Development
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Treatment of pig farm effluents by ultrafiltration
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Dr. Mike Seridan named 2005 Swine Practitioner of the Year
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Each year since 1977 the American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) has recognized outstanding swine practitioners who demonstrate exceptional service to their veterinary clients. The Award is the Association’s highest honor. Dr. Sheridan is a partner and owner of Sheridan, Heuser, Provis Swine Health Services with offices in Steinbach and Winnipeg, Manitoba. Mike, along with his three veterinarian partners, five associate veterinarians, and eight support staff provide veterinary care and management advice to a large portion of the swine farms throughout Manitoba.
Dr. Sheridan started his career in Selkirk, Manitoba in 1977 after graduating from the Ontario Veterinary College that same year. Mike worked in a mixed, large animal practice until 1988 when he and Dr. Walter Heuser formed a partnership focused on swine disease and management. A new concept at the time, the specialized swine practice grew involving clients throughout western Canada and internationally.
Throughout his career, Dr. Sheridan recognized the value of being involved in providing leadership to his profession and the industry. As early as 1982, Mike was preparing home study courses on herd health for the Manitoba Department of Agriculture. Finding like minds in innovative swine management lead Mike to be one of the founding members of the VIDO Swine Technical Group. Mike has served on the Manitoba Pork Council Welfare Committee, the American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) Welfare Committee, as a member of the Board of Directors for AASV for 6 years, and most recently Dr. Sheridan serves on the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association executive.
We asked Mike what was his secret to success in his practice. “Having the answers when your clients need them is important. I have a very good liaison with the other swine practitioners in Canada and the US, this is an invaluable resource for our client base.”
Mike and his partners are very passionate about continuing education, devoting time and energy to stay informed in their industry and providing opportunities for their clients to access information readily through meetings organized at their clinic, producing courses and even videos. Sheridan, Heuser, Provis Swine Health Services continue to be actively involved in the evolution of the industry, serving on committees, contributing their energies and financial resources to new projects like the Pork Interpretive Gallery. Dr. Sheridan notes “After years of creating biosecurity barriers to visitors going into pig barns for herd health protection, we jumped at the opportunity to support the PSC to allow the public to see our industry from the inside. The P.I.G. showcases what we feel is a great industry.”
Alternatives to Gestation Stalls: Experiences at the Prairie Swine Centre
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Sow housing is one of the most controversial topics of animal well-being. As such, animal production must accommodate the five freedoms: 1) Freedom of movement; 2) Freedom from aggression; 3) Control over individual feed intake; 4) Environmental enrichment (manipulative substances such as straw bedding); and 5) Static space. There are four group housing alternatives to stalls that can better meet these requirements:
Floor feeding with proper management provides plenty of freedom of movement and static space. The problem with floor feeding is the availability of food for the dominant sows in the group. This leads to aggression within the group, which can have drastic effects pre-implantation.
Short feeding stalls (or trickle feeders) can be utilized. These are partial stalls where sows can eat while having their head and shoulders protected. The feed is trickled in at such a rate that sows do not overeat and that it is not beneficial for them to move over to their neighbors stall. Animals must be sorted by eating rate.
Sows can also be moved into individual feeder stalls and fed individually. This is great for monitoring how much each sow eats, but is labor intensive.
Electronic sow feeders are the best for monitoring feed intake. Sows are tagged and enter a feeder system where it disperses the correct amount of feed corresponding to that tag.
Aside from these four strategies, there is ongoing research that looks at changes that can be made to conventional gestation stalls that may provide better freedom of movement. Problems with the electronic sow feeder at the Prairie Swine Center include lameness and gilt training.
Getting to the Root of Behavior Problems in Newly Weaned Piglets
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The swine industry weans piglets at a far earlier age than nature dictates. This can lead to behavioral problems such as belly nosing and belly sucking, ingesting solid feed at an older age, or drinking excessive amounts of water. Regardless of the quality of diet pigs have difficulty initiating solid feed intake when weaned at a young age. Belly nosing involves rooting at the udder of pen-mates and can persist even through to the finisher stage. Piglets that grow faster vs. slower will perform less belly nosing while weaning weight is not a determinant of future belly nosing. Piglet hunger does not seem to be a stimulant for belly nosing, but possibly stimulates nosing and rooting at the floors. Sensory cues are important for piglets (e.g. – sow auditory signal of milk let-down) and researchers have found that playing an audio feedback of a sow grunt can result in higher average daily gain for piglets weaned at 15 days. Administration of sow pheromones (which is an olfactory cue) in a nursery pen can result in more time at the feeder (done with 18 day weaning). Feeding piglets with a nipple-based feeder also appears to significantly reduce incidence of pen-mate directed nosing or sucking. However, nipple drinkers as opposed to trough drinkers tend to increase the incidence of belly nosing. Therefore, the early-weaned piglets tend to nurse on water nipples, thereby filling their guts and reducing feed intake.