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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:
Innovation: Self-closing feeding pens for sows in group housing
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Research Watch by admin on November 18, 2011 | No Comments
A study found that sow housing had the best results when sows had a wide run behind them. With this information and a desire to keep construction costs down, Van der Lee Stalinrichting has created a self closing feeding pen. This new pen gives sows more room to move behind the pen and make sows easily accessible for barn workers.
Seeking Better Alternative Housing Systems for Poultry
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Research Watch by admin on November 12, 2011 | No Comments
This article talks about some alternative housing methods for meat and egg producing chickens. There are pros and cons of keeping chickens in a group as opposed isolation. There are benefits and drawbacks of keeping chickens outdoors. The article talks about potential enrichments to meat chickens. The ideal housing system that satisfies consumers and producers is still to be determined.
Hen welfare, egg safety consequences of outdoor access
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Research Watch by admin on November 11, 2011 | No Comments
This article discusses some of the negative effects of raising free range chickens. The article says studies have varying results on mortality rates of outdoor housing vs. confined housing methods. The article discusses the likeliness of diseases in indoor and outdoor housing. The article questions if outdoor housing complies with the five freedoms of animal welfare. Also the article takes an extensive look into egg safety in outdoor operations.
Biomechanical Compromises and Constraints on Locomotion and
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Research Watch by admin on November 10, 2011 | No Comments
Chickens have been getting bigger faster over the past decades. This article discusses a proposed study that would fight obese lameness and breathing problems as a result of chickens having to much body mass. The proposed study is based on four years of research and the researchers are set to make breakthroughs in how chickens are raised. This new research will try to improve chicken welfare while maintaining output levels.
Identification of key performance indicators for on-farm animal welfare incidents: possible tools for early warning and prevention
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Research Watch by admin on November 8, 2011 | No Comments
This article discusses a study that tried to find key performance indicators in animals to help improve early warning signs of welfare issues. Studies were carried out on 18 different herds using old data to see what was happening leading up to the welfare incident.
Alternative Systems for Meat Chickens and Turkeys
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Research Watch by admin on | No Comments
This article discusses a paper written about alternative chicken housing methods. Free range and organic systems are seen to provide good environmental and living conditions to chickens, but also have some potential negitive impacts towards health and welfare. Breed suitability should be the main consideration for choosing animals for specific housing methods.
Helping new cattle adjust to the feedlot
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Research Watch by admin on | No Comments
This article discusses Carter King’s ideas for making the lives of feedlot cattle more comfortable. He feels that by taking a more gentle approach when dealing with cattle, stress levels and pen behaviour can be improved. The article stresses that all people working with the cattle must take a gentle approach to help new cows adjust to the feedlot. The article also discusses the challenges faced when trying to medicate and feed a herd of cattle with specific nutritional requirements.
Watch Bedding Levels In Pig Transport
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Research Watch by admin on November 7, 2011 | No Comments
USDA inspectors require bedding to be present in hog trailers. To cover a standard trailer with 1 inch of bedding 6 bails are required. In warm weather to much bedding can be detrimental to the pigs in transit and it was found that no more than 3 bails is required to keep dead on arrival rates down. In winter it was found that to much bedding would freeze after the first load of pigs and become dangerous to the next loads of pigs causing injury and death rates to increase.
Nutrition affects immunity in poultry
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Research Watch by admin on November 4, 2011 | No Comments
This article summarizes three speakers who spoke about immunity and nutrition at the International Poultry Scientific Forum. The first speaker talked about how immunity, nutrition and stress are interconnected when it comes to the welfare of a chicken. The second speaker discussed how a chicken’s immune system develops over it’s life and the potential benefits of vaccination. The third speaker talked about nutrition-disease interactions regarding gut health in chickens.
Addressing the Challenges of Alternative Housing Systems for Poultry
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A new directive in the EU has forced all poultry producers to switch from battery cages to furnished cages. Furnished cages (FCs) are bigger and have perches and other amenities to improve hen performance and welfare. FC groups are getting bigger, up to 60 hens, as more producers are forced to make the switch and try to remain competitive. Well managed large groups have preformed well. FCs are said to have 8% higher production costs compared to battery cages.