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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:
The Effects of Pen Partitions and Thermal Pig Simulators on Airflow in a Livestock Test Room
Posted in: Welfare by admin on January 1, 2000 | No Comments
Effects of injection position and transponder size on the performance of passive injectable transponders used for the electronic identification of cattle.
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This study examined the efficacy of electronic transponders of different size and location for losses, readability, and recovery. Transponders may be used in a variety of situations to facilitate animal management or maintain identification throughout the animal’s life. In cattle these transponders may be a means of eliminating or reducing branding. Larger transponders (32 mm) were more efficient than small ones (23 mm), although they broke more, they were more readily read and removed. Placing the transponders in the armpit reduced losses, achieved high levels of readability, but took longer to remove at slaughter. These were often removed with the hide, making carcass identification less feasible. Recovery was easiest in the lip, then the ear, and took longest in the armpit. Breakages were less than 1%; losses varied from less than 2% (armpit) to 14% (lip), readability was 95% in the armpit but fell to 60% in the lip. Recovery exceeded 96% in all cases. The armpit location was best with the exception that they were more difficult to recover.
The impact of gentle contacts on ease of handling, welfare, and growth of calves and on quality of veal meat.
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In commercial conditions, fear of people can lead to decreased welfare and productivity of animals. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of positive contacts on the welfare and productivity of calves and the quality of veal meat. 22 calves housed in individual crates were used in the experiment. Half of the calves received minimal contact from the stockperson, and the other half were stroked and allowed to suck the stockperson’s fingers after each meal during the entire fattening period of 21 weeks. Welfare of the animals was assessed thorough behavioural reactivity (reactions to handling, to surprise stimuli, and to novelty), neuroendocrine responses to stress (cortisol in response to an ACTH challenge, catecholamine-synthesizing enzymes), and health (number of medical treatments, abomasal lesions). The productivity of the calves was assessed through growth rates and meat quality. Calves that received gentle contacts were less agitated and tended to defecate less when handled in a cart on wheels than the control calves. There was no treatment effect on responses to ACTH, and catecholamine synthetic potential. Calves given gentle contacts had fewer abomasal lesions than controls. No treatment effect was found on meat pH, meat colour, or growth rates. But the calves that received gentle contacts had higher glycolytic potential (an estimation of resting glycogen level in muscle) of the semimembranosus muscle. In conclusion this study suggests that, although the neuroendocrine responses to stress and number of medical treatments were not improved, gentling veal calves around meals can improve some of their welfare by decreasing reactions to handling and by reducing the occurrence of abomasal lesions.
Behavior of White Leghorn hens after withdrawal of feed
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The feed withdraw (FW) periods imposed on hens during induced molt programs usually are at least 5 d in length, which is about the minimum required to ensure that the flock ceases production entirely, and frequently are considerably longer. This practice has led to criticism of the egg industry by animal advocacy groups, who claim that induced molt FW is tantamount to starvation. Starvation implies harm, so egg producers stand accused of deliberately causing harm to the laying hens in their care. There has been very little scientific investigation, however, of the welfare effects of induced molts on hens. To approximate a commercially induced molt, feed was withdrawn from Hy-Line W-36 hens (65 wk-old) until they lost 35% of their initial body weight. Behaviors of 36 FW hens and 36 control hens were videorecorded on Days 1 to 3, 8 to 10, and 19 to 21 of FW, when FW hens reached 15, 25, and 35% body weight loss. The FW hens then were fed a pullet grower ration until Day 28 after the start of FW, whereupon they were provided a layer ration. Second cycle production of FW hens to 40 wk postmolt initiation averaged 15.5 dozen eggs/hen housed. The FW hens manifested increased aggression on the first d of FW, perhaps indicative of frustration, and then exhibited increased standing, head movement, and nonnutritive pecking on Day 2, followed by reduction of these actions on Day 3. Resting behavior was observed 24 and 40% of the time for FW hens on Day 8 to 10 and 19 to 21 of the FW period, respectively. Nonnutritive pecking was higher for FW hens than for control hens throughout the FW period. Preening was more frequent for FW hens on Day 8 to10, probably due to skin sensitivity near the start of feather push out, which began on Day 11. Behavior during the FW period was consistent with conservation of bodily reserves, but FW hens never lost their capacity for alertness and reactivity. The FW hens had significantly lower mortality during the study than control hens (2 vs 12%, respectively).
Dust Mask Use in Swine Barns Reduce Health Effects
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BACKGROUND
Swine producers are exposed to dusts and gases when working in barns and studies have shown that these workers are at increased risk of developing respiratory symptoms, decreases in lung function levels and increases in airway reactions. Engineering controls are in development in an attempt to reduce the dust and gas levels in this work environment. One method for reducing worker exposure to dusts is by having workers wear a disposable respirator (mask) during barn work activities.
The objective of the study was to evaluate health effects related to wearing a disposable mask in a swine confinement unit.
STUDY DESIGN
Twenty-one subjects between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five years old were recruited to participate in the study. These subjects were male, nonsmokers, with no asthma or allergies and had no previous exposure to a swine barn environment.
The study was conducted to assess subjectsa
Nitrogen Dynamics in Manured Saskatchewan Soils
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The nitrogen dynamics of manured soils in east-central Saskatchewan were studied from a three-year period between 1997-1999. This study attempted to understand the behaviour of manure nitrogen in Saskatchewan soils, in particular examining the potential crop utilization and loss mechanisms of nitrogen contained in swine manure. It identified four potential transformations of ammonia present in Saskatchewan soils: (1) absorbed by plant roots (2) absorbed by microorganisms (3) volatilized by conversion to NH3 (4) be converted to nitrate. Incomplete mineralization of manure organic N result in approximately a 60-70% crop recovery in the year of application when compared to urea. Nitrogen contained in the organic form is much less suseptable to leaching or gaseous escape. Repeatedly yearly applications of manure that greatly exceed the crops ability of nutrient uptake, increase the risk of the movement of nitrate below the root-zone. Low annual application rates of swine manure showed no evidence of elevated deep soil nitrate levels. However, at high annual rates, there was a downtrend of nitrate in the soil, and urea applied at similar N rates showed a similar trend. This knowledge will aid in the development of manure management systems, ensuring proper application rates and application technologies are used to minimize the environmental impact, and maximize nutrient potential of manure.