Engineering Controls Reduce Hydrogen Sulphide Exposure in Swine Barns
Three engineering control measures were developed and tested for effectiveness in protecting swine barn workers from exposure to hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas during manure handling events. A remote manure pit plug pulling system allowed the worker to pull the manure pit plug from outside the room. A water sprinkling apparatus...
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Ken Engele
Mitigating Deterioration of Swine Facilities
On average, Canadian swine buildings are 20 - 30 years old; over the next few years, these buildings need renovations or may be replaced with new construction. This project set out to identify potential solutions applicable to Canadian conditions to mitigate the rapid deterioration of swine buildings....
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Ken Engele
Effects of Enrichment Objects on Piglet Growth and Behaviour
The purpose of this study was to perform an initial evaluation of pigs’ preferences for several enrichment objects and examine their effects on piglet growth and welfare during the nursery period. Thirty litters were selected at farrowing and assigned to three treatments: enrichment provided post-weaning (EN), enrichment provided both pre- and post-weaning...
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Ken Engele
Practical Alternatives for Managing Castration Pain in Piglets
The objective of this project was to evaluate drugs and administration procedures to help identify effective and practical pain control strategies for piglets at castration across three different studies. Results indicate the analgesic, ketoprofen, has a positive effect on reducing pain following castration when given 30 minutes to 1 h before...
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Ken Engele
High Fibre Diets – Satiety in Sows and Offspring Growth Performance
Feeding high fiber diets to sows during gestation is reported to play a positive role in the swine industry both in terms of animal welfare (improved satiety in feed-restricted pregnant sows) and production (increased weaning weight) during the gestation-lactation period. This study was designed to determine the effect of hydrothermal processing...
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Ken Engele
Pretreatment of Feed Ingredients to Enhance Value
Grains are typically harvested at <15% moisture to maintain quality during storage. When harvested at >15%, artificial drying may be employed but this increases cost. Low-quality high-moisture grains may also be preserved by acidification. These experiments were conducted with the overall objective of determining whether the benefits of acidification on performance and...
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Ken Engele
2019 Prairie Swine Centre Annual Report
The 2019 Prairie Swine Centre Annual Research Report is now available for download. You can view your copy at: Prairie Swine Centre Annual Report \...
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Ken Engele
Evaluation of a Prototype Air-Filtered Transport Trailer
In response to the need by the industry for a livestock vehicle that addresses increased animal welfare and biosecurity during transport, a prototype air-filtered trailer was developed. Design parameters were gathered from a stakeholders’ survey and initial design configuration options were narrowed down using computer simulation. The final design featured a trailer...
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Ken Engele
Interaction of Dietary Fibre and Immune Challenge on Threonine Requirements and Pig Robustness
Sub-clinical disease results in reduced growth and less efficient use of nutrients. With the elimination of in-feed antibiotics for growth promotion it is increasingly important to understand the interaction between nutrition and health and nutrient requirements during disease challenge events. This project set out to more fully understand the interaction between dietary...
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Ken Engele
Development of a Commercial Scale Air Treatment System
An air cleaning technology based on biotrickling filtration developed in previous phases of the project was scaled up and tested at the PSC swine grower-finisher facility. Results showed that the air treatment units were effective in reducing the levels of ammonia, dust, and odour from the air stream at...
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Ken Engele