Reducing pre-weaning mortality
A major welfare and economic issue in the swine industry is pre-weaning mortality (PWM). Pre-weaning mortality needs to be reduced in order to increase the welfare of the animals and the profits associated with them. There are many management techniques...
Forward facing animal welfare research drives innovation
The NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Swine Welfare is a five-year research program based at the University of Saskatchewan focusing on emerging questions in swine welfare. Led by Dr. Yolande Seddon and developed in collaboration with 14 industry partners representing...
Feed processing to reduce ergot toxicity
Ergot has long been known to have detrimental effects when fed to pigs, and a producer’s best option is to avoid feeding ergot contaminated grains. Currently, visual inspection is the most practical method for reducing the risk of ergot toxicity,...
Enhancing biosecurity and welfare of pigs during transport
A previous project examined the development of a new prototype trailer design aimed to protect animals (such as high-value breeding stock) from airborne transmissible diseases during transport. This design tried to integrate as many features as possible identified by stakeholders....
Does creep feed have any benefits?
Creep feeding is a common practice throughout the pork industry. There are a number of perceived benefits, including provision of nutrients, higher weaning weight, and improved transition at weaning, however, these benefits only occur if the creep feed is consumed....
Long-term feeding of graded levels of deoxynivalenol in grower-finisher pigs
Mycotoxin-contaminated grains are commonly downgraded for use in livestock feed and, while the best strategy for producers is to avoid feeding mycotoxin contaminated grain altogether, this may no longer be possible. Therefore, strategies that allow the use of these grains...
Examining the effectiveness of providing functional amino acids to enhance pig robustness
Pigs are continuously exposed to microbial pathogens and immune- stimulatory antigens that have a negative impact on productivity. Pigs exposed to immune challenge, without exhibiting any clinical signs of disease, show reduced appetite and growth and less efficient use of...
Infrared technologies for identification of market pigs at risk during transport
Digital infrared thermography (DT) is a non-invasive imaging technique that could be a valuable instrument for producers and packaging plants to identify compromised and diseased animals for isolation and treatment, as well as to implement management practices to reduce the...
Effects of long distance transport in the health and welfare of early weaned pigs
The Canadian swine industry relies heavily on the transport of weaned pigs. Recently, the maximum acceptable transport time for pigs in Canada has been decreased from 36 to 28 hours. Weaning is a stressful period for pigs and pigs are...
Evaluation of a modified prototype livestock trailer through road and disease-challenge tests
This project set to develop an improved (prototype) trailer that addresses emerging biosecurity risks and enhance animal welfare during transport. The trailer incorporates an environmental control system that is versatile in nature and equipped with a data logging system capable...
Creep feed source: What is effective and what do piglets prefer?
While creep feeding continues to be widely used in swine operations, the effectiveness of creep feeding to improve pre- and post-weaning performance is up for debate. We conducted a study to determine whether provision of creep feed is beneficial and...
Assessing the impact of intervention measures for reducing antibiotic use
Previous activity in this study aimed to evaluate the impact of the Raised without Antibiotics (RWA) program on pig production focused on quantifying the overall antibiotics use both in participating RWA and non-RWA barns. Next steps involved the assessment of...
