2012 Banff Special Issue of the Western Hog Journal Now Available

Posted in: Press Releases by admin on January 16, 2012 | No Comments

The Western Hog Journal is the leading source of technical and business information for pig producers and the pork industry in Western Canada. Published five times per year, it has four regular issues and a “Banff Special Issue” which contains summaries of presentations given at the Banff. Pork Seminar, one of North America’s premier conferences.

WHJ focuses on providing practical information and advice aimed at improving the efficiency of pig producers, drawing on the expertise of researchers, advisers and veterinarians, with contributors from North America, Europe and Australia.

To view the latest Western Hog Journal click on the link below!

http://prairieswine.com/rsc/western-hog-journal/

Technology Transfer Manager Joins Prairie Swine Centre

Posted in: Press Releases by admin on November 10, 2011 | No Comments

Lee Whittington, President of Prairie Swine Centre, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Kenneth Engele to the management team.  Meeting the needs of pork producers, service sectors, and industry associations through the delivery of a timely and effective Technology Transfer program has been a crucial part of Prairie Swine Centre’s success.  “It’s great to welcome someone with Ken’s background”, notes Lee Whittington, President/CEO – Prairie Swine Centre, “He has excellent understanding of what makes the pork industry tick, and how Prairie Swine Centre can meet the needs of Canadian producers.”

Ken brings more than 14 years of swine industry experience, both on the commercial level, in addition to developing expertise in the areas of assessing the economic impact of hog marketing and research in the swine industry.  At Prairie Swine Centre his work will focus on delivering an effective and timely communication with pork producers, and those organizations that service the pork industry.  Ken will also be responsible for managing the Technology Transfer component of the Canadian Swine and Research Development Cluster.

 The CSRDC consists of 14 research projects acrossCanadadesigned to reduce the cost of production, focus on product differentiation, Ken will be responsible for working with researchers funded by the program to ensure timely, accurate delivery of results from the research to the industry.

As a national Technology Transfer program, Mr. Engele will be seeking to enhance cooperation between the many industry, extension, and government agencies that regularly interact with pork producers

Funding for the position was provided, in part from the Canadian Swine Research and Development Cluster (CSRDC) established within the Growing Canadian Agri-Innovation Program – Canadian Agri-Science Cluster initiatives of Agriculture andAgri-FoodCanada.  The objectives of CSRDC are to facilitate research, technology transfer, and commercialization initiatives designed to enhance the competitiveness and differentiation of the pork industry.

“The pork industry is a dynamic industry that is always on the edge of adopting new technologies to increase efficiencies and sustainability”, notes Mr. Engele, “I look forward to meeting and working with producers and the industry to drive the pork industry forward in the future.”

Prairie Swine Centre Inc., located near Saskatoon, is a non-profit research corporation affiliated with the University of Saskatchewan, and is recognized globally for its contributions to practical, applied science in pork production in the disciplines of nutrition, engineering and applied animal behaviour.

Sign-Up for FREE Publications from Prairie Swine

Posted in: Press Releases by admin on October 20, 2011 | No Comments

Signing up to receive Prairie Swine Centre publications is now simple!!!

Just go to http://prairieswine.com/rsc/signup/ and fill out the sign-up sheet.  You will then start receiving the Centred on Swine magazine and/or Prairie Swine Centre’s bi-weekly electronic newsletter for FREE.

By signing up for current Prairie Swine Centre publications you will receive the latest information on the behaviour and nutrition of swine as well as advancements in swine barn engineering.

The mandate of the Prairie Swine Centre is to produce and distribute knowledge derived through original research, scientific review and economic analysis.  This is reflected in all of Prairie Swine Centre’s publications.

“Friends of the Centre” Campaign

Posted in: Press Releases by admin on September 8, 2011 | No Comments

Objective

To allow a broader group of pork industry individuals and corporations to lend their support to the Prairie Swine Centre.

Motivation

For the past several months and into the near-term most pork producers including the Prairie Swine Centre have faced significant financial challenges.

Concept

“Friends of the Centre”

is way for for pork producers, suppliers, packers, processors and others to show their support. Benefits from having a dedicated swine research facility flows to all parts of the value chain. As a friend of the Centre you will ensure Prairie Swine Centre remains a viable part of the pork industry in the future.

Benefits to our Friends

• The opportunity to play a visible and meaninful role in the continuation of the unique industry-orientated research and technology transfer programs offered by Prairie Swine Centre.
• Friends receive advanced notice of seminars, publications and special events sponsored by the Centre.
• Friends will have their business recognized as “Friends of the Centre” on the PSC Website.
• Friends will also be provided with exclusive opportunities to provide advertorial materials for insertion in newsletters, Centred on Swine publications and the Annual Research Reports.
• Friends will also benefit by knowing that they made a difference when it really mattered.

Benefits to Prairie Swine Centre

• The Centre gains a voluntary source of funds to partially fill the gap in the business plan created by poor pig prices and the declining check-off funds available for pork associations to allocate to research.
• The Centre gains a group of motivated and interested champions that see value in maintaining a strong industry orientated research program.
• The sharing of costs incurred to generate knowledge is spread over a greater portion of the industry and better reflects the allocation of benefits to multiple members of the pork value chain. This way the number of champions that take ownership for the Centre as well as the knowledge it develops, increases.

To provide your support to the Centre please consider the following voluntary contributions to the “Friends of the Centre” Campaign

$200 individual farm membership
$1500 regional suppliers
$2500 national/international suppliers

Cheques can be made payable to:
Prairie Swine Centre
Box 21057, 2105 8th Street East
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7H 5N9 CANADA
A receipt can be provided upon request.

2011 Annual Research Report Released

Posted in: Press Releases by admin on July 12, 2011 | No Comments

July 12, 2011

Meeting the needs of the commercial pork value chain with new information that — reduces the cost of production, improves product quality, speaks to worker health and safety, lowers emissions and environmental impact, and addresses practical behaviour and welfare questions – the 2010 edition of the Annual Research Report provides insight into a wide range of industry challenges and opportunities.

At 60 pages, this edition includes 14 scientific articles, plus updates on activity in our pig production unit and technology transfer activities for the calendar year 2010.

http://prairieswine.com/rsc/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/AR-2010.pdf

Some of the highlights from this year’s edition include:

• Energy savings of 39-52% using alternative heating/ventilation systems;
• Pigs housed in large group auto-sort systems modify their behaviour;
• Using field peas at up to 60% did not cause any reduction in feed intake;
• Feeding programs for sows can affect how offspring respond to immune challenges presented at weaning;
• Long term feeding of sows with varied dietary n-6 and n-3 fatty acids can affect reproductive performance;
• Not all pig transportation compartments provide the same environment, and can affect pig stress levels and meat quality;

Prairie Swine Centre Inc., located near Saskatoon, is a non-profit research corporation affiliated with the University of Saskatchewan, and is recognized globally for its contributions to practical, applied science in pork production in the disciplines of nutrition, engineering and applied animal behaviour.

The Pig as an Animal Model for Health Research

Posted in: Press Releases by admin on April 27, 2011 | No Comments

Research in pigs benefits human health

Dan Columbus and Lee Whittington, Prairie Swine Centre

Awareness of the benefits of using large animal models in human nutrition and health related research has increased.  In fact, it has been estimated that as little as 40% of research results obtained from rodent models result in successful human clinical trials; the species are just too different for example in physiology and structure. It is becoming increasingly important that health science researchers identify more appropriate animal models; the pig is one of those more appropriate models.  Due to physiological, anatomical, and developmental similarities to humans, researchers have been increasingly identifying the pig as a model of choice for research designed to benefit humans.  One of the main benefits of research in pigs is that, unlike with the more traditional rodent models, utilizing a species of agricultural importance has the potential to apply the knowledge gained from the research to both human health sciences and agricultural industry applications.

Those research initiatives that simultaneously advance both agricultural and medical science are referred to as agrimedical research.  The dual application of research in humans and agricultural species is not a new concept and research in both fields has historically been advanced through discoveries made in the other.  For example, human nutritionists have gained valuable information on nutrient interactions, bioavailability and requirements through work carried out in animals.  Research in neonatal pigs has increased our knowledge of interaction between nutrients and muscle growth and development which could lead to nutritional interventions to improve growth and survival of both low-birth weight pigs and human infants.

Recent work performed at the Prairie Swine Centre in collaboration with researchers in the College of Kinesiology to examine the adequacy of dietary calcium recommendations in sows has furthered our understanding of bone development and remodeling which can be used to develop therapies to treat osteoporosis in humans. In the Colleges of Pharmacy and Nutrition, and Medicine, the piglet model has been used to examine the toxicity of intravenous solutions being provided to sick infants.  Dr. Gordon Zello, Professor of Nutrition, points out that without animal model studies investigating human health could not be advanced as there are additional ethical issues when conducting studies in vulnerable groups, such as the premature infant. These are just a few examples of how agrimedical research can have a direct benefit to both the pork industry and health sciences.

The Prairie Swine Centre currently works with 14 different groups utilizing the pig as a model from dentistry reconstruction to vaccine development, and toxicology to specialized suture validation. There is a further benefit beyond the intended outcomes of improvement of quality of life in humans, and improved productivity and cost in pork production. That benefit is the improved communication and exposure to diversity of ideas and concepts through collaboration between human and animal scientists. This may someday be seen as a renaissance of bringing diverse sciences back together which have grown apart through technical specialization; it reminds me of a quote “The Best way to predict the Future is to Design it” (source: Buckminster Fuller, architect, author, designer and inventor). The future will be brighter when diverse talents are brought together to solve problems.

By necessity, agrimedical research requires a multidisciplinary collaborative approach.  In order to foster collaborations between researchers at Prairie Swine Centre and the University of Saskatchewan Health Sciences, we recently held a symposium on the use of agrimedical models in research.  This symposium, organized in collaboration with the College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, included presentations from both animal and health science researchers to highlight the importance of pigs for human health research and the benefits of agrimedical models.   In response to the symposium, Dr. Kishor Wasan, Professor and Dean of the College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, states “The Prairie Swine Centre provides expertise and relevant large animal models for our health science researchers and the ability to access unique facilities, expertise and of course the pigs. This collaboration helps our scientists move their research forward and makes it more cost competitive.  In particular we see significant strength in collaborating with Prairie Swine Centre on disease and nutrition research.”

Research is a significant investment for both industry and government; therefore, it is increasingly important that research demonstrate benefit to multiple clients, and through that way ensure funding agencies see benefit in continuing to grow their research commitment. Our Mission speaks to our ability to take this trust and support and create value for our stakeholders.

Our Mission

We are a source of innovation – providing solutions through knowledge, helping to build a profitable and sustainable pork industry.

Further Reading List

• Baker DH. 2008. Animal models in nutrition research. J. Nutr. 138:391-396.
• Deglaire A, and Moughan PJ. 2012. Animal models for determining amino acid digestibility in humans – a review. Br. J. Nutr. 108:S273-S281.
• Guilloteau P, Zabielski R, Hammon HM, and Metges CC. 2010. Nutritional programming of gastrointestinal tract development. Is the pig a good model for man? Nutr. Res. Rev. 23:4-22.
• Odle J, Lin X, Jacobi SK, Kim Sw, and Stahl CH. 2014. The suckling piglet as an agrimedical model for the study of pediatric nutrition and metabolism. Annu. Rev. Anim. Biosci. 2:419-444.
• Schook L, Beattie C, Beever J, Donovan S, Jamison R, Zuckermann F, Niemie S, Rothschild M, Rutherford M, and Smith D. 2005. Swine in biomedical research: creating the building blocks of animal models. Anim. Biotech. 16:183-190.

2011 Spring Producer Meetings Powerpoints and Survey

Posted in: Press Releases by admin on April 7, 2011 | No Comments

Your feedback on the 2011 Spring producer meetings is needed! Please take the time to click on the survey link and fill out this short survey so we at the Prairie Swine Centre can meet your needs more effectively.

2011 Spring Producer Meeting Survey

For your information the links to the powerpoint presentations from the 2011 Spring Producer Meetings are below.

Lee Whittington – Overview of Prairie Swine Centre

Denise Beaulieu – Nutrition, Net Energy, Pig starter

Donald Down/Peter Provis – Use of Paylean

Bernardo Predicala – Engineering and Ventilation

Harold Gonyou/Jennifer Brown – Welfare and Behaviour of pigs

Donald Down – Loadout Procedures and Managing Meat Quality

Dust in Pig Buildings

Posted in: Environment, Pork Insight Articles, Press Releases by admin on | No Comments

It is well documented in the international scientific literature that airborne dust in pig houses can cause serious health problems for humans as well as for animals. Extensive research has been carried out in different countries during the last few decades to improve the scientific understanding of air quality issues related to intensive animal production. Research and review papers were presented at the international symposium on Dust Control in Animal Production Facilities, held in Denmark in 1999. Different techniques have been used in order to reduce dust burdens in pig confinement buildings, but up to date only the procedure of spraying oil or a mixture of oil and water has contributed to reducing the indoor dust concentrations significantly. This article summarizes the current level of understanding of dust issues in intensive animal production buildings, mainly on the basis of papers presented at the above mentioned symposium.

An Overview of the Canadian Swine-Pork Sector

Posted in: Economics, Pork Insight Articles, Press Releases by admin on | No Comments

The demographics of the Canadian swine industry is such that there is concentration in the hog production with regard to size; this is most evident in Quebec where the data are most fragmented, but this appears to be broadly the case- a small number of large farms produce the bulk of market hogs and hold the bulk of the sows. Secondly, the hog production segment has declined across the country. This is particularly the case in western Canada and Ontario, but also in Quebec. Finally, the pork packing segment is relatively concentrated, with the hog production segment increasingly sized to the packing segment. The potential implication of this is to allow, prospectively, packing system alignment back to the farm level.

Ethology Program at the Prairie Swine Centre

Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Prairie Swine Centre, Press Releases by admin on April 6, 2011 | No Comments

This powerpoint presentation on the Ethology Program at PSC was presented at the 2011 Spring Producers Meetings held in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.  The meetings were sponsored by Prairie Swine Centre, Alberta Pork, Manitoba Pork, Saskatchewan Pork, Elanco and Masterfeeds.

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