Identification, Treatment and Prevention of Shoulder Lesions in Sows
Long periods of lying and poor body condition after farrowing leads to more shoulder lesions. Depending on the farm and sows, 10 to 50% of sows are affected by shoulder lesions. Lying laterally puts pressure on the scapula and can restrict blood flow resulting in...
Does the Inclusion of Lyso-Lecithin (Lecired) Improve the Growth of Newly Weaned Pigs?
Weaning is a very stressful period for piglets, with dietary changes being one of the great stressors. They are transferred from an 8% fat liquid milk diet to a 5% fat dry diet that has a much lower digestibility so dietary fat supplements do not...
Water Intake Chart
A chart of recommended flow rate and height of nipple drinkers for phase and weights of swine. Nipples should be set to shoulder height of the smallest pig in the pen. Follow these guidelines to decrease water wastage and save on costs. Water Intake Chart (full...
Injury Prevention is Loss Prevention: Applying Health and Safety Research Helps the Bottom Line
A big problem in pork production is injury to workers. Workers who are in pain often have lower productivity. By addressing workplace injuries, profitability can be improved. Loss of profit can come from sick leave, worker turnover, absenteeism and workers' compensation rates. Analyzing injury rates...
Prairie Swine Centre Testing Nanotechnology Applications in Pig Industry
Nanotechnology uses small particles and has many applications. One of notice is their antimicrobial properties that could aid in biosecurity and gas emissions of swine barns. Previously, they have been used for filtering air and water purification. The nanoparticle zinc oxide was proven to be...
Managing Feeding to Reduce Feed Wastage in Lactation
The largest cost associated with producing pork is feed. Feed wastage and spoilage may occur in lactating sows as they can be fed up to three times a day to maximize litter performance and feed intake. Electronic feeding systems are now commonly used as they...
How do you Decide Whether to Adopt New Technology?
Things to consider when deciding to purchase new technology include productivity impacts, implementation and maintenance costs, manager and worker preferences, animal handling and food safety regulations. Worker health and safety should be strongly considered as well. Health and safety evaluations of new technologies are being...
Effectively Assessing Barn Renovations
A checklist is provided to help make objective barn investment decisions for renovations. Walk around your barn with a flashlight, a ladder and some tools to assess equipment. Four areas that are considered in this checklist are biosecurity, utilities, operation and structural. Walk the barn,...
Fermented Soybean Meal for Newly Weaned Piglets
Soybean meal is limited in its inclusion into young piglets diets as it contains a variety of anti-nutritional factors. Fermentation of soybean meal improves digestibility of nutrients, including amino acids, though variability occurs in this process. This experiment compared fermented soybean meal to standard soy...
Piglet Health and Welfare in the Nursery
Weaning causes piglets to experience acute stress due to sudden changes in the social group, the environment and in diet. It often leads to aggression, weight loss, diarrhea, belly nosing and disease. Weaning in intensive farm units is much different from wild pigs. Stimulating early...