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:
Optimization of Oil Sprinkling System Using Undiluted Canola Oil
Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments
Current Engineering Projects at Prairie Swine Centre Inc.
Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments
New engineering projects have begun in 2001 and many ongoing studies will come to completion over the course of 2002. Considering the stage of those experiments, no final analysis can be discussed yet. This paper presents an overview of current engineering research activities at PSCI by providing a brief description of each project.
Airborne endotoxin and microbial DNA outside a swine barn
Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments
This study was designed to quantify the amount of airborne endotoxins and microbial DNA downwind from a swine facility. There is reason to believe that endotoxins and microbial DNA are present in dust exhausted from swine barns and that adverse health affects may occur from inhalation of this dust. Ambient air samples, dust extractions, endotoxin analysis and microbial DNA analysis of air were taken directly from outlets, 600m downwind and 2400m upwind of the barn. Concentrations of total dust, endotoxin and microbial DNA 600m downwind from the barn were not statistically different from concentrations 2400m upwind where the air was considered to be a
Behavioural responses of piglets to castration: The effect of piglet age.
Posted in: Welfare by admin on | No Comments
The purpose of this study was to determine the least painful methods of castration. Fourteen litters (with a minimum of six males) were used in this study. Two treatments: castration or sham castration, were further subdivided into 3, 10, or 17 (A
Sucking motivation and related problems in calves.
Posted in: Welfare by admin on | No Comments
Sucking motivation is likely strong due to survival of young animals being dependent on the process. Deprivation of sucking would likely result in frustration and a negative welfare state. The ingestion of milk, and the lactose concentration in milk, stimulates non-nutritive sucking. Sucking stimulates sucking, and deprivation of sucking may also interfere with satiety and digestive processes. In this study, sucking and butting an artificial feeding system during nutritive sucking was studied in relation to milk flow. Butting was stimulated, and sucking for a meal was lengthened, when milk flow was slowed or stopped. If a second teat became available, calves were more apt to switch teats due to slowing or stopping milk flow. These results are similar to observations recorded when the calf and cow are together. Meal duration is influenced by milk availability and hunger, not milk intake. Butting increases when the dam’s udder has less milk, most likely due to slower milk flow. A good indicator of milk intake, when the calf is suckling the dam, is butting rather than sucking duration. To reduce the occurrence of cross-sucking following a milk meal, the authors recommend a combination of slower milk flow, feeding hay, and the provision of a non-nutritive artificial teat.
The effect of early handling on the socialization of young calves to humans.
Posted in: Welfare by admin on | No Comments
The relationship between humans and animals can have a substantial effect on the behaviour, productivity and welfare of livestock. The nature and timing of interactions with humans as well as the genetic predisposition of individuals are key factors in determining the relationship, which develops between humans and farm animals. This study aimed to determine if a period exists within the first 2 weeks after birth during which positive contact with humans alter young calves subsequent behaviour. The effects of handling at different times after birth on the subsequent response to humans was investigate using 40 Danish Friesian calves removed from their dams immediately after birth. Treatments were feeding and handling during days 1-4 after birth (H1-4), during days 6-9 (H6-9), or during days 11-14 (H11-14), and no handling (C: control). The handling treatment was carried out three times daily for 4 days and consisted of 6 minute of hand-feeding with milk from a teat-bucket and patting, stroking and talking to the calf. All calves were housed in single pens and the human contact was minimized except during the treatment periods. The approach behaviour of each calf to an unknown person was tested at days 20, 40 and 55 in their home pen. Latency to interact with person was shorter for calves in H1-4 compared to C. There was no difference in latency to interact with person between H11-14 and control calves. The group H6-9 differed only from the control group at day 20. Treatment also affected the position and the orientation of the calf in the pen during tests. Calves in H1-4 stood at the front of the pen and faced the person more often than calves in C. All the three handled treatments (H1-4, H6-9, and H11-14) had a shorter flight distance at day 55 compared to the control group. The results of this study indicate that handling and hand-feeding, especially during the first 4 days after birth, increases the motivation of young calves to approach a human compared with calves that receive minimal human contact.
Human contact and the effects of acute stress on cows at milking.
Posted in: Welfare by admin on | No Comments
The behaviour and heart rate of 18 Holstein cows was monitored during milking when the cow was (1) milked in a usual place; (2) milked alone in an unfamiliar room; (3) milked in an unfamiliar room while being brushed by a familiar person. Milk yield and residual milk following oxytocin injections were recorded, and blood samples were analyzed for oxytocin and cortisol. Findings indicated that cows defecated/urinated and vocalized more, as well as made more steps during milking in the unfamiliar room. Providing human contact was able to prevent this increase. In the unfamiliar room, cows kicked and lifted their legs less. Milk yield was lower, residual milk was higher, and oxytocin during milking was lower in the unfamiliar room. Both plasma cortisol and heart rate levels were increased in the unfamiliar room as well. Although human contact reduced heart rates during the initial part of the isolation period, heart rates during the rest of the milking period, as well as cortisol level, milk yield, residual milk, oxytocin during milking, kicking, and leg lifting were not affected by human contact. Cows who were milked in the unfamiliar room showed signs of acute stress, which was apparent in the decreased milk yield, higher residual milk, and reduced oxytocin secretion seen. While human contact did reduce heart rate and some behavioral signs of agitation, it had no effect on other factors like milk yield or hormone response. Therefore, for dairy cows, human contact may not be sufficiently comforting to be able to reduce the endocrine response to stress associated with isolation/a novel milking environment.
Variability in vocal and behavioural responses to visual isolation between full-sibling families of beef calves.
Posted in: Welfare by admin on | No Comments
The impact of factors, that are independent of environmental stimuli, need to be determined, so the value of vocalizations in the assessment of welfare in cattle can be decided upon. The effect that parental differences, sex, age and weight have on the vocal response of calves to one minute of isolation at 166 (day of weaning), 167 , 278 and 350 days of age were examined. The amount of movement during isolation was also observed to determine if a relationship between movement and rate of vocalizations exists. Of the 130 beef calves used in the test, they originated from one of 17 full-sibling families. These families were created by breeding five sires with thirteen superovulated dams. The embryos were then transfer into unrelated cows, who raised the calves until weaning. The number of calves that vocalized on the day of and day after weaning were 33.3% and 34.8% respectively. On day 278, 27.8% and on day 350, 38.6% of the calves vocalized while isolated. The sire and family had a significant effect on the number of vocalizations, the acoustic properties of the vocalizations and movements made during isolation. However, there was not a significant relationship between the vocal responses and movement during isolation. Age and therefore body weight had numerous effects on vocalizations. The older calves tended to produce longer vocalizations. At 350 days of age, age and weight were positively correlated with fundamental frequency and sound pressure level at the frequency of greatest intensity, while they were negatively correlated with the loudest harmonic. Heifer vocalized more than bulls at 278 and 350 days of age, however, there was little difference between sexes in terms of the acoustic properties of the vocalizations. The results of this study show that when calves are raised similar environmental conditions, the parental genetics influence vocalizations. However, the vocalizations may also be affected by sex, age, and weight. This study also found that there is not a relationship between vocalizations and amount of body movement.