The overarching goal of this research project is to investigate the optimum environmental temperature requirements of sows and grower-finisher pigs to reduce energy costs and greenhouse gases while maintaining their long-term overall productivity and performance. The project consists of four phases; 1) group-housed gestating sows will be kept for 6 weeks either at 16.5 °C (current recommended set-point) or 8 °C (preferred temperature determined in a previous study); 2) determine the preferred environmental temperature of grower-finisher pigs, using the operant mechanism and experimental protocols developed in the previous sow study; 3) grow-finish pigs will be kept for 6 weeks at either the current recommended set-point temperature, or the preferred temperature determined in phase 2; 4) assessment of environmental (carbon) footprint, cost analysis and development of recommendations for practical application of the optimized temperature management in commercial barns.
Optimizing temperature requirements of pigs to reduce energy use in swine production (link to the full article)
