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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:
Body Condition Scoring for Dairy Cattle
Posted in: Production by admin on January 1, 0000 | No Comments
Identifying cows that are too fat or too thin and taking immediate action helps with disease treatment, milk production, and fertility. It is critical for producers to identify cows with poor body condition scores early to make important treatment or culling decisions in a timely and responsible manner.
The Body Condition Scoring (BCS) system scores animals 1 to 5, from emaciated to fat. Body condition reflects the body fat reserves of the animal. Score dairy cows at the beginning and end of their dry period and 4 or 5 times during lactation.
Cows should be scored both by looking at and handling the backbone, loin and rump areas.
SHOULD THIS ANIMAL BE LOADED? Guidelines for Transporting Cattle, Sheep & Goats
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These guidelines explain when an animal is ready for loading, when it shouldn’t be loaded and when it should be loaded with special provisions.
It also describes transportation regulations.
Odour Control and Reduction in a Pig Feeder Barn Using an Enclosed Dunging Area and Biofiltration
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Biofiltration is one of the techniques used to reduce odours produced in livestock facilities. It uses a filter capable of sustaining microbial life to treat odourous air. Microorganisms in the biofilter break down the odours in air flowing through the system. Several factors influence the performance of biofilters. These include:
-Filter media
-Airflow
-Moisture
-Temperature
-Nutrient availability
ONTARIO LIVESTOCK TRANSPORT EMERGENCY GUIDE
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Objective:
a
PIG AND PORK SECTOR PROFILE
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This sector profile focuses on the how many pig farms there are in Manitoba. It also discusses pork producer’s marketing options, and the market for Manitoba pork. It then mentions the pork processing that occurs as well as the trade partners and number of hogs exported from Manitoba. The final pages illustrate multiple graphs and charts that give an overview of the pork industry in Manitoba.
On-Farm Euthanasia of Swine: Options for the Producer
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Unfortunately, it is inevitable that animals will become ill or injured in such a way that euthanasia will be necessary. It is usually impractical or impossible for a veterinarian to regularly perform euthanasia farms; euthanasia then becomes the responsibility of the producer. The producer should be aware of the available humane on-farm euthanasia methods and how to perform them.
This brochure is designed to assist producers in making decisions about euthanasia while considering pig welfare, economics, safety and public health. Swine producers and their employees should read this
brochure, discuss the different options with their veterinarian and fill out the action plan on page eight.
The action plan should be reviewed annually with your veterinarian and your employees.
When illness or injury occur on-farm, the action taken on the part of the producer usually falls into
4 broad categories:
1. Treatment – If an appropriate treatment is available and practical.
2. Slaughter – If the animal is suitable for transport and human consumption. In Ontario,
a Veterinary Certificate for Direct Transport to Slaughter must be obtained from
a veterinarian if a non-ambulatory animal is to be transported.
3. Sell or Transfer – This option may be appropriate in case of injured or disadvantaged pigs
that may perform adequately in a different production setting.
4. Euthanasia – As a last resort, producers must decide to euthanise animals for humane,
economic and public health reasons.
Use and accuracy of instruments to estimate sperm concentration: Pros, Cons & Economics
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AI success can depend upon sperm quality at collection, sperm age when inseminated, insemination volume, and AI times relative to estrus. However, in addition to these factors, another essential component of AI effectiveness is the number of sperm inseminated. In fact, concentration of sperm inseminated, may actually compensate for many deficiencies involving the technology when using AI, when conditions are less than optimal. Therefore, properly estimating the concentration of the boar ejaculate is critical for efficient boar use and for influencing the effectiveness of the AI technology to optimize farrowing rate (FR) and litter size (LS). Two billion sperm appears to optimize conventional AI for LS and FR when semen that is less than 36 h old, is administered within a
Handling Pigs – Work Smarter, Not Harder!
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Pigs can be challenging animals to move and handle. Aggressive pigs, stubborn pigs and frightened or stressed pigs all add their own unique challenges.
It is well proven that people who invest in learning proper pig handling techniques can save themselves a lot of time and money (in improved pork quality). Honestly, just reducing your frustration and making a difficult job easier makes it worth it. Here are some tips for moving and handling pigs with less stress – good for the pigs and the people!
Effect of boar exposure at time of insemination on factors influencing fertility in gilts
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The use of artificial insemination (AI) has increased rapidly in commercial swine production. Extensive research has been conducted to optimize the reproductive potential of AI to equal or better that of natural insemination. Despite advances however, litter size and farrowing rate are less than optimal in most production systems (PigCHAMP, 2000). In an attempt to improve reproductive parameters in response to AI, considerable labor is performed to maintain boar contact during insemination. It has been shown that during courting, a mature boar produces derivatives of 16-androstene pheromones (Pearce and Hughes, 1987), which are found in the urine and saliva (Hughes et al., 1990). These pheromones were found to have a signaling function involved in stimulating puberty (Pearce and Hughes, 1987) and Mattioli et al. (1986) demonstrated that spraying 5A?-androst-16-en-3-one in front of sows for 2 s, induced a rise in oxytocin. These reports suggest a role of the boar in altering the physiological response of the female. If pheromones emitted from the saliva and urine of boars influence the onset of estrus and oxytocin release, it could be hypothesized that these pheromones may also play a role in influencing sperm transport. Therefore, this study was conducted to test for the effect of boar contact during insemination on volume of semen and number of sperm expelled from the uterus following AI, and on fertilization rate and number of two-cell embryos. The results could provide information on the importance and necessity of providing boar stimuli during AI on quality of insemination, sperm transport, and fertility.
ONTARIO LIVESTOCK INDUSTRY CONTACTS
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For livestock emergencies or questions, please refer to the contacts in the paper