SEARCH
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:
Vocalization of farm animals as a measure of welfare
Posted in: Welfare by admin on January 1, 2004 | No Comments
Homeostasis is maintained or regained through the stimulation central nervous system by external events affecting emotion, hormonal concentrations affecting mood, and appetitive behaviour (thirst and hunger). Specific behaviours, such as vocalization, may accompany particular states of mood or emotion. Vocalizations (such as distress utterances) may also affect the welfare states of conspecifics. Therefore, vocalizations by farm animals could be an effective tool to use when attempting to understand welfare states. Research into this area has increased, with attempts to decipher the meaning of various vocalizations. This paper focuses on the current state of research into pig, cattle and poultry vocalizations. Current sound analysis techniques give the ability to discriminate, analyze and classify specific vocalizations. With these tools, future research should focus on connecting specific utterances with specific environments, behavioural contexts and physiological parameters. This information will provide non-invasive tools for judging welfare states.
Designing better water troughs: dairy cows prefer and drink more from larger troughs.
Posted in: Welfare by admin on | No Comments
This study examined the preference of cows on pasture for different types of water troughs. In initial studies, the cows were allowed to drink from two water troughs that differed in height and surface size. The cows preferred to drink from the taller (60 vs 30 cm), larger (approximately 50% more surface area) trough. In a second study the smaller trough was raised to the same height as the larger trough, and the cows did not should a strong preference. When given access to only one trough, for periods of 24 hrs, the cows drank more from the taller, larger trough. Water intake is particularly important for dairy cows and the results of this study suggests that high levels of intake will be more easily maintained if large, high troughs are used.
Cubicle housing systems for cattle: comfort of dairy cows depends on cubicle adjustment.
Posted in: Welfare by admin on | No Comments
The type of housing system a dairy cow is kept in can affect her welfare. Recently the industry has reduced the use of tethers in dairy cows because they cause stress, prevent social contact and cause problems with movement. More often dairy cows are housed in a cubicle system, but there are also some disadvantages to this system such as mild injury and the cows’ unwillingness to lie in the cubicle. The paper first discusses a survey of various farms in France that used the cubicle system. The survey compared various parameters associated with housing dairy cows in cubicles. It also examined cleanliness, lying/standing movements, behaviour, injuries and size. After the survey an experiment was conducted to compare different types of cubicles. Compliance with the recommended cubicle dimensions was quite low, as the cubicles often were too short or too narrow. The survey also determined that as the number of cubicles available for all the cows within the herd decreases, the level of injuries sustained by the cows increases. One strikingly important feature of the cubicle was the neck rail. More specifically the height of the neck rail in the cubicle can affect how a cow positions herself within the cubicle as well as her ability to stand up or lie down. High neck rails were found to make movement and positioning within the cubicle very difficult and were associated with a higher level of injury.
Immunohistochemistry for the detection of swine hepatitis E virus in the liver
Posted in: Welfare by admin on | No Comments
Swine hepatitis E virus (HEV) antigen was detected immunohistochemically in formalin-fixed, paraffinembedded hepatic tissue from 30 naturally infected pigs. Thirty pigs from 30 different herds were selected on the basis of positive results for reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Positive cells typically exhibited a red reaction product in the cytoplasm without any observable background staining. Swine HEV antigen was consistently detected in liver from all 30 pigs tested. A strong immunohistochemical signal was seen within a variable number of hepatocytes in multifocal lobules. The signal involved the majority of hepatocytes diffusely or was confined to foci of
liver cells. Positive immunohistochemical signals were also detected in small and large intestine, lymph node, tonsil, spleen, and kidney. The immunohistochemistry technique developed in this study proved useful for the detection of swine HEV in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues
taken from naturally infected pigs and may be a valuable tool in studying the pathogenesis of swine HEV infection.
Weaning Litters from Hyper-prolific Sows
Posted in: Production by admin on | No Comments
A hyper-prolific sow can produce 60+ piglets in her lifetime. It requires good management practice to obtain the 27+ weaned pigs per sow per year. New gilts brought into the herd must be managed to obtain maximum reproduction. Proper estrus stimulation should be performed with a mature boar for a minimum of 10 minutes per day. Gilts should be bred at 16 mm back fat at 210 days of age and no less than 125 kg. This prevents breakdown of body reserves for energy. These gilts should be kept on a gilt developer diet rather than a regular gestating sow diet. Regular techniques can be followed for service timing and management of wean to estrus interval. Movement and mixing of gilts should be minimized, and back fat should be measured at breeding, 60 days into gestation, and 110 days into gestation. The sow should have 19 mm at breeding, and if not the sows feeding should be changed to alter body condition. Targets at lactation should be no more than a 3 mm loss of back fat and for the piglets to gain 240 g/day for 21 days. Gilts and sows should be grouped by farrowing history and/or body condition. There should be a hygienic farrowing kit kept on hand with lube, a cord, hibitane, a dish, and O.B. sleeves. Oxytocin wrapped in ice packs and needles/syringes should also be included. At entrance into the farrowing room they should not be overfed so that feed intake during lactation can be maximized. Heat lamps should be provided in the rooms to avoid chilled piglets, but adequate fresh airflow is necessary. Individual sow cards help to monitor each sow in the room. Farrowing assistance should be given to sows that are having difficulties to avoid a lot of stillbirths (hygienic procedures should be adhered to). Fresh born piglets should be dried, put on a dry mat underneath a heat lamp, and fed colostrum immediately. If a sow or gilt appears to be nervous and unease, place the piglets in a ring under the lamp and only release them once the sow has calmed down. After farrowing, oxytocin should be given to clear the sow of any more debris. Hyper-prolific sows require a great deal of attention to reach maximum potential. Cross fostering should be done within the first 24 hours. Split suckling can help the smaller piglets to catch up if they are in a large litter. Nurse sows should have adequate body condition to support the fall-behind piglets.
Dealing with Variation in Market Weight
Posted in: Production by admin on | No Comments
Variation in market weight is a major concern for swine production systems. Canadian Processors have a relatively narrow weight window and very few packers, making targets very specific. Methods of dealing with variation can be divided into artificial reduction in variation, methods to reduce variation, and managing variation without reducing it. Artificial reduction involves sorting by size in the nursery or finisher and aggressive cross fostering in farrowing.
Livestock Pathogens: A Natural Occurrence
Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments
All animals including pets, livestock and humans are hosts to various micro-organisms some of which may cause disease. Producers can manage germs and minimize their introduction into the food chain and environment by using good care and sound manure management practices. However, there are no animal production systems that can guarantee zero risk to both the environment and the public. Animal germs that are a natural occurrence that tends to stay within livestock populations. Most of the germs carried by animals are harmless to people. To minimize the transfer of pathogens from animals to people, proper food handling, sound manure management practices and good personal hygiene should be followed and observed.