Preliminary Investigation of Air Bubbling and Dietary Sulfur Reduction to Mitigate Hydrogen Sulfide and Odor from Swine Waste

Posted in: Environment by admin on January 1, 2005 | No Comments

Planting Date Effects on Winter Triticale Dry Matter and Nitrogen Accumulation

Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments

Temporal and spatial distributions of aerial contaminants in an enclosed pig building in winter

Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments

Dr. Mike Seridan named 2005 Swine Practitioner of the Year

Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments

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

Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments

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.

Control and Nitrogen Load Estimation of Aerobic Stage in Full-Scale Sequencing Batch Reactor to Treat Strong Nitrogen Swine Wastewater

Posted in: Energy by admin on | No Comments

Getting to the Root of Behavior Problems in Newly Weaned Piglets

Posted in: Welfare by admin on | No Comments

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.

The development of feather pecking in brumese red junglefowl: the influence of early experience with exploratory-rich environments.

Posted in: Welfare by admin on | No Comments

This study examines the development of feather pecking and its relationship to exploration in Burmese red junglefowl. Ten groups of four chicks each were raised from hatching on wire mesh floors (home pen). Two of the four chicks in each group received experience in exploratory-rich environments four times a week for 5 weeks, and the other two chicks remained in the home pen. Observations conducted in the home pen revealed that chicks deprived of experience in exploratory-rich-environments performed significantly more gentle feather pecking, and tended to show more severe feather pecking than the experienced birds. Experience in the exploratory-rich-environments did not affect the frequency of environmental pecking or food pecking. These results suggest that chicks deprived of exploratory-rich environments may come to perceive pen mates as appropriate exploratory stimuli and subsequently direct exploratory behaviour toward conspecifics. This tendency to peck pen mates may lead to the development of feather pecking. We suggest that forceful pecks may be reinforcing, and that the more likely pecks are directed to a conspecific, the more likely feather pecking will develop.

Environmental and management factors affecting the welfare of chickens on commercial farms in the United Kingdom and Denmark stocked at five densities

Posted in: Welfare by admin on | No Comments

Data was collected on temperature and humidity profiles throughout the growth cycle, management practices and equipment that contributed toe variation in environmental conditions and how bird welfare was affected by environmental variables for different stocking densities (30, 34, 38, 42, and 46 kg/m2. Broiler health and welfare varied the most when the house temperature and relative humidity was maintained within limits recommended by the breeder company. During the first week of life, relative humidity was found to be very important for later health. This suggests that welfare may improve if there is better control of humidity. Welfare was also influenced by ventilation and air control, type of drinker, numbers of stockpersons and litter type. In summary, controlling environmental variables, such as temperature, humidity, air and litter quality, is very important for ensuring broiler welfare. Stocking density is also important, but the environmental variables also have to be considered if stocking density is lowered. To maximize bird welfare, standards need to be set for stocking density, environmental variables, and the genetic makeup of the birds.

The effects of diet and weaning method on the behaviour of young horses

Posted in: Welfare by admin on | No Comments

Increasing evidence suggests that dietary factors influence the development of abnormal behaviours. In this study, the behaviour of 17 foals from the age of 2 to 40 weeks was examined. Each foal received either a conventional starch and sugar (SS) diet or a fat and fibre (FF) diet. The two diets differed in the fat and non-structural carbohydrates balance. The baseline behaviour of the foals was observed every 2 weeks and additional behavioural observations were conducted when the foals were weaned by one of two methods (i.e. paddock-weaning or barn-weaning). Approximately 2 months after weaning the temperament and tractability of the young horses was assessed using standard tests. Responses to a novel object, to a novel person, and during a handling test were observed and quantified. The horses grew well on both diets with no apparent effects of diet on growth rate or baseline behaviour. Immediately after weaning, horses received the FF diet cantered less frequently, for a shorter duration and appeared to be more settled. Foals that were barn-weaned appeared more stressed than foals that were paddock weaned. In the temperament tests, horses receiving the FF diet spent significantly more time investigating, and less time looking at, the novel object than horses receiving the SS diet. They also spent less time walking away from the novel person and their time taken to complete the handling test was significantly lower. Overall, the horses that received the FF diet appeared less distressed immediately after weaning and seemed calmer and more inquisitive during a range of temperament tests.