Impact of antibiotic-free production on pathogen occurrence and prevalence of antimicrobial resistance
This study assessed the impact of Raised Without Antibiotics (RWA) production practices on on-farm antibiotic use, pathogen occurrence, and the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) through the whole genome sequencing and analyzing of samples (fecal, manure, sow nasal swab, soil). Some farms that provided...
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Ken Engele
Managing High Feed Costs
Feed costs always will be the single largest component in costs associated with pork production. Finding ways to effectively reduce feed costs while optimizing pig performance helps producers economic sustainability. This publication focuses on four key areas including: 1) Diet formulation 2) Diet processing 3)...
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Ken Engele
Investigating novel biomarkers of welfare in swine
Biomarkers are objective and quantifiable characteristics of biological processes. There are many measures taken to evaluate acute experiences that influence animal welfare, such as measurement of cortisol, a hormone that increases in acute stress after aggression. There is currently a lack of reliable biomarkers that...
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Ken Engele
Evaluating the impact of early life management of piglets on lifetime welfare and performance
The first 12 weeks of a pig’s life is a critical period of development, and what a pig experiences during this period of time will shape how an individual responds to subsequent life events, leading to consequences for the overall health and resilience of the...
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Ken Engele
A new method for improving animal welfare oversight: routine monitoring of pig carcasses
Animal care verification requires the accurate evaluation and quantification of animal welfare. Assurance schemes typically rely on farm audits for animal care verification, which are time consuming, incur cost for the producer and can pose a biosecurity risk. One approach to increase the consistency and...
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Ken Engele
Can hybrid rye replace wheat in swine diets?
Modern rye hybrids are less susceptible to ergot contamination than traditional rye, and has greater yield compared with wheat grain, which was a good incentive to evaluate feeding hybrid rye to grow-finish hogs. Rye is known to have greater fibre content than wheat grain, consisting...
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Ken Engele
Effectiveness of functional amino acids in Salmonella-challenged low and normal birth weight pigs
We wanted to determine the influence of birth weight (normal – NBW vs. low – LBW) on pig response to a subsequent disease challenge and on the effectiveness of functional amino acid (FAA) supplementation in ameliorating this response. Weanling piglets were fed one of two...
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Ken Engele
Can slat-compatible enrichment influence the behaviour and response of pigs to a disease challenge?
Rearing pigs in highly enriched environments with a greater space allowance and provision of substrates (straw, mushroom compost, sawdust, wood branches) for rooting and chewing has been found to reduce the disease susceptibility of pigs to co-infection with PRRSV and Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, increasing the speed...
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Ken Engele
Play behaviour and its role to enhance pig welfare and production
This project is funded by the NSERC Industrial Research Chair program, a five-year research program focusing on emerging questions in swine welfare. Goal 2 will investigate whether play can be used as a tool to support positive welfare and beneficial production characteristics in pigs reared...
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Ken Engele
Animal protein-based nursery diets and functional amino acids improve performance and health status of weaned pigs
Nutrition strategies in the post-weaning period are geared towards providing high quality diets (i.e., inclusion of animal-based protein sources) to mitigate the effect of weaning stress and immature digestive and immune systems. Some studies suggest that the inclusion of animal-based protein sources may not be...
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Ken Engele