Quality of Life Handbook – The use of environmental enrichment
The aim of this handbook is to provide suggestions on how to improve the quality of life of pigs in commercial farms in such a way that it won’t require large renovations to the barns. This includes things such as...
Moving forward with improved sow housing: Current progress and prospects
Jen-Yun Chou, the new ethology and welfare research scientist at Prairie Swine Centre, introduced herself to the crowd at the 2024 PSC Producer Meetings. She gave an overview of her previous research focus and travels through the pig world, including...
Advancing swine welfare practices to empower your industry: What the Chair in Swine Welfare is doing for you
Martyna Lagoda, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Saskatchewan working for the NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Swine Welfare under the supervision of Yolande Seddon, gave an update at the 2024 PSC Producer Meetings on the research results and...
2024 PSC Producer Meetings Presentations
2024 PSC Producer Meetings In collaboration with Zoetis and PIC Canada AGENDA “Insights into mycotoxins in swine diets” Dan Columbus, Ph.D. – Prairie Swine Centre In this presentation, Dan provided information regarding mycotoxin prevalence, how they affect pigs, issues...
2024 PSC Producer Meeting – Lagoda – What the Chair in Swine Welfare is doing for you
During the 2024 PSC producer meetings, held in collaboration with Zoetis and PIC, postdoctoral fellow at WCVM Martyna Lagoda gave a presentation titled ‘Advancing swine welfare practices to empower your industry: What the Chair in Swine Welfare is doing for...
2024 PSC producer meeting presentation – Chou – Improved sow housing and upcoming ethology projects
During the 2024 PSC producer meetings, held in collaboration with Zoetis and PIC, ethology researcher at the Prairie Swine Centre Jen-Yun Chou gave a presentation titled ‘Moving forward with improved sow housing: current progress and prospects’. In this presentation, Jen...
Swine welfare a hot topic in cold Banff
Just prior to the start of the Banff Pork Seminar, on January 9, while it was quickly becoming frigidly cold outside, discussions were taking place around animal welfare in modern pork production systems. More than 40 pork producers, industry representatives...
Effects of gestation sow grouping practices on aggression and production
A concern with any type of group housing is the aggression performed when mixing unfamiliar sows into a group, as they compete to form a social hierarchy. Ongoing aggression is another related concern. It is important to understand how different...
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...
Weaned piglet mortality during long transport events is affected by season
Limited information is available on factors associated with piglet mortality during weaner transport events. This study aimed to identify transport characteristics associated with the occurrence of in-transit mortality or increased rates of mortality (≥1 piglet found dead on arrival) using...
Weaned piglet transport practices in Canada
The objective of this study was to describe characteristics of weaned piglet transport events that occurred between 2014 and 2018 using records provided by five Canadian swine companies. The dataset included records from 6203 transport events involving the transport of...
Effects of transport duration on the health and welfare of early weaned pigs
Due to the physiological differences between weaned piglets and market hogs, additional data on their response to transport are needed for age-specific evidence-based recommendations. A cohort study was conducted to observe weaned piglets undergoing short duration (SD, <3 h), or...
