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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:
Reducing Losses from Farm Gate to Packer
Posted in: Economics by admin on January 1, 2000 | No Comments
There are a number of very obvious sources of economic loss attributed to the period from the time a producer groups his pigs for shipping until slaughter. Pig deaths, loss in carcass weight, pale, soft and exudative (PSE) or dark firm and dry (DFD) pork, and physical injury / bruising. Some pig stressors are facility designs, environment, physical abuse, stocking density, and mixing. It was found in this study that the economic impact of pig transit and lairage deaths, bruising, lost carcass yield and PSE/DFD pork can be minimized, firstly, by refraining from the use of stress susceptible pigs and, secondly, by limiting the amount and impact of stress during the 24 hours prior to slaughter. The impact of pre-slaughter stress can be limited by careful consideration of: Facility design (pens, chutes, ramps, flooring, gates, transport vehicles); pig environment (temperature, humidity, lighting, smells, sounds);
humane handling practices, as well as conditioning pigs to handling; stocking density; mixing of unfamiliar pigs; Total time of feed/water withdrawal during transport and lairage; Rest in lairage after transport; this requires that all of those who handle and/or transport pigs during the period from the farm to slaughter adhere to these principles.
Risk Factors Associated With Post-Weaning Multisystemic Wasting Syndrome of Swine (PMWS)
Posted in: Production by admin on | No Comments
Nursery pig management has become one of the major challenges of veterinarians in the past few years. The structure of the swine industry has changed such that newly weaned pigs are saleable and nursery pigs are moved and/or sold from one system to the next. With the advent of early weaning and off-site production, there are both healthier and sicker nursery pigs than there have ever been before. When the system is working, the growth rates are phenomenal. When the pigs are ill, there are significant losses due to mortality.
In the late a
Managing Manure as a Fertilizer
Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments
When used properly, animal manure can be a valuable source of plant nutrients and organic matter to improve crop production and soil quality. It can be found in solid, semi-solid and liquid form. Solid and semi-solid have higher organic content than liquid. When using manure as a fertilizer, it is important to understand that only a portion of the manure nutrients are immediately available.
Some challenges facing the use of manure as a fertilizer are 1) Variability in nutrient content and form, which necessitates manure sampling and analysis to determine appropriate rates of application to meet crop nutrient requirements, 2) Manure may not match the cropa
Environmental Justice, Swine Production and Farm Loss in North Carolina
Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments
Investigation of Seepage from Earthen Animal Manure Storages
Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments
Largely because of their low cost, earthen manure storages are the choice of most Manitoba hog producers but currently there are few case studies documenting the effects of these storages on underlying groundwater supplies. This project involves study of six established storages in three distinct geological settings in southern Manitoba. The field component of the study included removing continuous sample cores from the bases of the structures and documenting local geology and groundwater condition. The laboratory component included geological classification of the sample cores and determining the concentration of contamination within the cores by determining the movement of chloride ions in seepage through the soil under the respective storages. Mathematical modeling was carried out so contaminant seepage could be predicted in the future. Contrary to what would be expected based on the usual hydraulic conductivity levels for Manitoba clay and till, the study showed contaminants from the storages moved deeper in clay than in till. These results suggest that fractures in the clay units examined acted as conduits for fluid flow, a factor that should be considered when developing design criteria for these kinds of storages.