Planning for group housing is perhaps the most important step in the conversion process.\u00a0Regardless of the system implemented, the transition to groups requires a significant\u00a0investment of time and money. Understanding what the options are, and imagining how\u00a0these options fit within the long term goals of the operation, are critical steps in making\u00a0the right choice. Good planning is also important to help maintain herd flow and\u00a0generally ease the transition for barn staff and animals.\u00a0This talk presents three main areas to be addressed when considering the transition to\u00a0group gestation. First of all the type of construction project needs to be considered: will\u00a0it be a renovation of current facilities; an addition to an existing building (e.g. providing\u00a0space for loose housing or an increase in overall herd size); or is it a new build? The\u00a0second question addressed is; what feeding system will be implemented? Unlike stall\u00a0housing, where feeding and management options are limited, group housing includes a\u00a0large number of options. Becoming knowledgeable about feeding options, including their\u00a0strengths and weaknesses in terms of cost, barn layout, technical requirements and daily\u00a0management inputs going forward, is crucial when selecting the right system for your\u00a0operation. The third area to be considered is how the transition will take place. This will\u00a0vary depending on the availability offsite barns, parity distribution and disease status,\u00a0among other factors. Some options include keeping the existing herd intact; making a\u00a0temporary reduction in the herd size; or doing a complete repopulation.Making decisions around barn renovations can be difficult but are extremely important.\u00a0There are significant capital expenses and management changes- which will potentially\u00a0impact farm production efficiency and economics for years to come. It is a good idea to\u00a0consider this change as an opportunity to invest in the future, and to improve or properly\u00a0size your business.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Planning for group housing is perhaps the most important step in the conversion process.\u00a0Regardless of the system implemented, the transition to groups requires a significant\u00a0investment of time and money. Understanding what the options are, and imagining how\u00a0these options fit within the long term goals of the operation, are critical steps in making\u00a0the right choice. Good […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,931,930,928],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pork-insight-articles","category-prairie-swine-centre","category-production","category-welfare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19303"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19304,"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19303\/revisions\/19304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}