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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:
Code of Practice for Responsible Livestock Development and Manure Management
Posted in: Environment by admin on January 1, 2000 | No Comments
This document provides a guideline for Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (AAFRD) staff to evaluate and provide information for intensive livestock operations. This document also provides the municipal officials with recommended guidelines on which to evaluate intensive livestock operations applying for a development permit.
The purpose of the Code is to provide guidelines for the siting of new and expanding livestock operations with the intent of:
-Providing responsible manure management guidelines
-Protecting groundwater, surface water and soil resources
-Minimizing the nuisance effects of intensive livestock operations
-Providing livestock operators with guidelines to minimize environmental and social impacts
-Providing livestock operators and municipal officials with a reference for conflict resolution
-Providing municipal agencies with guidelines for land use bylaws and policies
-Providing public confidence.
The siting and manure management elements in the Code provide flexibility in designing and operating manure management systems, including the use of alternative handling methods not specifically listed in this document. This document does not specifically define generally acceptable practice referred to in the a
Agricultural Chemical Usage 1999 Swine and Swine Facilities
Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments
The agricultural chemical use estimates in this report are based on data compiled from a survey conducted in the fall of 2000 in 17 selected States, which contain approximately 93% of the U.S. hog inventory.
This report provides insecticide use information on the swine sector of agriculture. All data refer to the on-farm use of chemical active ingredients contained in insecticides applied during the 1999 calendar year. Insecticides are applied to swine and swine facilities to control mange, mites, lice, flies, and other pests.
Chemical data are provided on a rate per head per application and rate per head per year basis. Some
swine received no chemical applications in 1999, whereas, other hogs and pigs received multiple
applications of the same chemical. In yet other cases, swine received applications of several different chemicals. The number of times a chemical is applied varies significantly based on product formulation, method of application and pest stress at particular locations. The rate per head data cannot be used to calculate the actual number of head treated with a particular chemical. Hog and pig inventories are reprinted in this report from a previous NASS release. This table is included for informational purposes only.
Some active ingredients, such as xylene, piperonyl butoxide, and petroleum distillate are primarily
carriers, diluents, synergists, or repellents. These are classified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as pesticides and are included in this report.
This report excludes pharmaceutical products that treat swine for internal pests. A pharmaceutical is
classified as a drug and is regulated by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA). Pharmaceuticals
generally target internal livestock pests such as viruses, bacteria, or worms. Some products can be
classified as either a pesticide or a pharmaceutical because they treat both external and internal pests.
Examples of dual purpose products are Doramectin and Ivermectin. These products can be applied to
swine internally through oral dosage or injection, or applied externally as a pour-on. Also excluded are disinfectants and sanitizers. Only insecticide data were collected and summarized.
Insecticide use information on chemical applications made to swine facilities is also included in this
report. Herbicide and termite chemical applications are excluded, as are all rodenticides.
Response of Growing-Finishing Pigs to Increases in Energy Levels – Poster
Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments
Digestibility of energy and amino acids in high-oil corn
Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments
High-oil corn is used as a source of nutrients, especially energy, to meet requirement of pigs. In the present study, DE content and digestibility of energy and amino acids of high-oil corn was characterized and related to chemical characteristics. The DD content of high-oil corn was 5% higher than regular corn. Corn DE content could be predicted using gross energy (GE) or oil content. High oil corn is clearly a source with a high DE content.
Recent developments in stunning of poultry.
Posted in: Welfare by admin on | No Comments
Play behaviour in group housed dairy calves, the effect of space allowance.
Posted in: Welfare by admin on | No Comments
Under natural or semi-natural conditions, play in calves is typically seen in a social context either as locomotor play or play fighting. Play behaviour has been suggested to be an indicator of good welfare in wild as well as captive juveniles and has been used to assess welfare in different farm environments. In dairy calves kept in pens, lack of sufficient space may inhibit the performance of play behaviour. The present study investigated, firstly, if an increase in space allowance increases the occurrence of play behaviour, and secondly, if calves kept at a low space allowance perform more locomotory play when released individually in a large novel area. A total of 96 dairy calves in six repetitions were housed in groups of four, in pens of either 4, 3, 2.2 or 1.5 m2 per calf from 2 weeks of age. The occurrence of play behaviour in the home environment was recorded continuously for each individual calf during 24 h at 5, 7 and 9 weeks of age. Locomotor play decreased over the weeks (54, 29 and 19 s for weeks 5, 7 and 9 respectively). At 5 weeks of age, calves kept at 4 or 3 m2 per calf performed more locomotor play in the home environment than calves kept at 2.2 or 1.5 m2 per calf. However at 7 and 9 weeks of age no effects of space allowance was found. In addition, the duration of locomotor play was recorded for all calves during an individual 10-min open-field test at 4 and 10 weeks of age. During the open-field test at 10 weeks of age, calves from pens with 1.5 m2 per calf performed more locomotory play than calves on the remaining space allowance treatments. The present study shows that an increase in the available space increases the occurrence of locomotor play in the home environment at 5 weeks of age. It also shows that calves kept in pens with the smallest space allowance performed more locomotor play behaviour when released in a large arena at 10 weeks of age. In summary, an effect of space allowance on early locomotor play was found in calves kept in groups. Under the hypothesis that performance of play associated with positive feelings, increasing space above the minimum requirement of 1.5 m2 per calf to 3.0 m2 per calf in pens with four calves is of significance to the welfare of the animals.