Evaluation of impact of antibiotic-use reduction measures on the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance and pathogen abundance in pig production barns
The goal of this project is to compare the effect of the adoption of a RWA (raised without antibiotics) approach with non-RWA operations on the overall prevalence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and pathogen abundance in pig production facilities. We conducted surveillance of AMR and pathogens...
by
Miranda Smit
Best Practices: How Do You Measure Up?
An audit was completed on Canadian pork barns in 2017, with areas for improvement including farrowing systems, nursery facilities, finishing facilities and managing water intake. The optimal farrowing room environment is often achieved, with many of the barns using heat lamps, pads or both, as...
Some Audits are a Good Thing…Really!
An audit was completed in 2017 on best management practices in Canadian swine barns. Results show areas for possible improvements in biosecurity, personal protection and training, washing procedures and gestation housing systems. Many of the participating farms had biosecurity protocols like showering in and out...
Truck Wash Project Aims to End Bioinsecurity
Trailers can be hard to properly clean and are a huge biosecurity risk to the swine industry. Conditions where pathogens could be inactivated were investigated so that this information could be applied to the cleaning process of the trailers. Most pathogens can be eliminated by...
On-Farm Demonstrations Quench Thirst for Water Knowledge
In an on-farm demonstration, nipple drinkers were replaced with water bowls in the nursery to see how water disappearance was affected. Water disappearance was reduced by 33% when the bowls were used and no negative effects on pig growth performance were noted. As water wastage...
When Quality Counts, Count on Technology
Pork quality may be predicted by using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) on the pig's ears. This technique can provide information on meat quality traits like lean and fat content, fatty acid profile and fat depth. It can categorize each of these categories as "high" or "low"...
Science Eyes Success with High-Tech Imagery
High-tech imaging may have a huge impact in many areas of the pork industry. This includes assessing carcass and meat quality along with providing information on live animals. The current method for assessing pork quality is very subjective and is based on colour and water...
On the Road Again: Health Research Targets Transport
Transportation is one of the major biosecurity risks for spreading swine diseases. Proper truck washing is time-consuming, expensive and still not completely thorough enough to eradicate disease. A high pressure hydrovac system may be more efficient in washing thoroughly. Dry heating is also very effective...
Pork Belly Technology that’s Made to Measure
Measuring pork quality is still carried out using time-consuming, manual and subjective methods. Ribless belly is measured through picking it up and assessing how soft or firm it is. If a new technology was created to do this objectively, workers would not need to do...
Conestoga a Big Fan of Pig Cooling System
Since pigs do not have sweat glands, it can be hard for them to cool themselves down. This can be very dangerous to the pigs or even fatal, especially in transport. To help with this problem, ventilation systems and water cooling systems were investigated in...