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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:
ANALYSIS AND DESIGN PARAMETERS FOR INCLINED ROTORS USED FOR MANURE DISPERSAL ON BROADCAST SPREADERS FOR SOLID MANURE
Posted in: Environment by admin on January 1, 2004 | No Comments
Greenhouse gas emission during storage of pig manure on a pilot scale
Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments
A Theory of Packer Self Production in the Swine Industry
Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments
Effects of stall width and sow size on behaviour of gestating sows
Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments
It is recommended that gestating sows of various weights should be kept in different sizes of stalls. However, the proper size of stall has not been well defined. A study was conducted to evaluate stall width by assessing the interaction between stall width and sow size on behaviour. As stall width decreased, sows spent less time standing, more time sitting, and their udders extended into the adjacent stall more frequently. Using udder extension during less than 50% of lateral lying as a criteria for stall width, a 65 cm (26”) stall is adequate for gilts and small sows, but a 70 cm (28”) stall is required for larger sows if in stalls for the entire gestation period.
Managing Grow-Finish Pigs in Large Groups
Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments
Keeping animals in groups of 100 or more has the potential of reducing housing costs (i.e. – penning) and giving producers more flexibility in building design and management. Managing pigs in large groups of 100 or more will result in a reduction of average daily gain, usually during the first 2 to 4 weeks after the group is formed. This is the only area that needs improvement because other aspects of productivity show little or no difference between large and small groups. Any loss in productivity appears to be small and is compensated for by facility costs and flexibility of management. Aggression is lowered in large groups because pigs tend to develop a tolerance to strange pigs. These animals may even adapt better to group housing systems in the breeding herd. Producers should not redesign partial-slat floors from small to large group housing as this may lead to poor dunging patterns. Surprisingly, investigation of animals and feeders takes less time in large group pens than small group pens. Treating them is easier than one may think because the pigs are more approachable in large groups. Hallways need to be larger and doorways need to be wider for large groups to move through. Automatic or electronic sorters are useful in replacing manual sorting of pigs. Scales are set up at the entrance to a feeding area and pigs move through the scale and are sorted to a light or a heavy side. Continuous sorting is the better method as it is less stressful for the pigs and requires less labour. Pigs need to be trained in order to adapt to this system though. The use of these automatic sorters can be useful for incorporating new management possibilities such as phase feeding and grid sensitive marketing.
Distributional Impacts of Country-of-Origin Labeling in the U.S. Meat Industry
Posted in: Economics by admin on | No Comments
Concerns about the negative effect of U.S. meat and livestock imports on domestic livestock prices have increased interest in country of origin labelling (COOL) legislation. An equilibrium displacement model is used to estimate short-run and long-run changes in equilibrium prices and quantities of meat and livestock in the beef, pork, and poultry sectors resulting from the implementation of COOL. Retail beef and pork demand would have to experience a one-time, permanent increase of 4.05% and 4.45%, respectively, so that feeder cattle and hog producers do not lose producer surplus over a 10-year period.
Vocalisation of domestic pigs (Sus scrofa domestica) as an indicator for their adaptation towards ambient temperatures.
Posted in: Welfare by admin on | No Comments
Vocal communication is known to be an important part of communication in both wild and domestic pigs. Calls encode information about the emotional state of an animal and may reflect its need for social and non-social resources. Recently, analysing the vocalisation of farm animals has become an increasingly important tool for evaluating animal welfare. The objective of this study was to test whether the vocalisation of fattening pigs can be used to assess their adaptability to ambient temperatures. The pigs were kept in conditions comparable to those of commercial housing and were exposed to high and low temperatures for several days. The pigs were observed at body weights of 25-35, 50-70 and > 80kg. Vocalisations were recorded during 23.00 to 5.00 h and analysed using an artificial neural network. The results indicate with decreasing temperatures, huddling of pigs to be increased. The increase of huddling was also accompanied by an increase in high-vocalisation. Pigs produce more high-frequent vocalisation and huddled less with increasing weight. The findings of this study suggest that huddling results in a state of discomfort in at least medium and heavy pigs and this is reflected by changes in vocal behaviour. Smaller pigs seem to be less affected by huddling than heavy pigs. In this study, high frequency vocalisation that was produced in situations of disturbed lying behaviour proved to be a powerful indicator for thermoregulatory reactions to low ambient temperatures in medium-weight and heavy pigs. This opens up the possibility to use high-frequency vocalisation for an automatic acoustic monitoring of the behavioural adaptation of fattening pigs towards cold. The use of acoustic monitoring will potentially help animal caretakers to optimize the environmental control.
Endotoxin stress responses in chickens from different genetic lines. 1. Sickness, behavioural, and physical responses
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The study examined the variation in the response to the endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in commercial Dekalb chicks or those that were bred for high (HGPS) or low (LGPS) group productivity and survivability (in response to cannibalism and flightiness). Six-week-old chicks housed in colony cages were randomly assigned to either the experimental or the control treatments. The experimental group received an intravenous injection of Escherichia coli LPS (5 mg/kg of body weight), while the control were injected with distilled saline. Clinical symptoms of infection were monitored on 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours after the injection. All the chicks that were injected with LPS exhibited clinical signs of illness. However, the extent of the reaction was genotypically and phenotypically specific. The HGPS chicks underwent brief, but severe behavioural and physical changes, when compared to the Dekalb and LGPS chicks. The body weight gain, organ development and core temperature were most significant in LGPS, lowest in HGPS, while the Dekalb were between the two extremes. The varying responses to the LPS challenges of chicks that underwent different genetic selection indicate that each line adapts differently to stress and their resistance to infection and inflammation. Therefore, when studying the impact that environmental-genetic interactions have on the behaviour and physiology and the subsequent response to stress and disease, the genetic lineage of the chicken needs to be taken into account.