Effectively Assessing Technology
New technologies are constantly being introduced into barns due to promised benefits and enhanced profitability. However, these innovations can also introduce new challenges and costs, such as the impact of new technologies on worker health and safety. So how do...
Precision Feeding for Gestating Sows
The objective of this project was to assess the impact of an individualized feeding strategy for pregnant sows whose dietary intakes vary depending on stage of gestation and the individual characteristics of the sow, on growth performances, productivity and feed...
Use of Novel Technologies to Optimize Pig Performance
The overall project is assessing several novel technologies which can help producers to monitor health, welfare and feed efficiency while also offering tools to predict and enhance carcass value. There are also technologies for packers to better evaluate carcass and...
Weaning Sows Directly into Group Housing
Social stress from mixing sows has the potential to negatively affect sow production and welfare. Housing sows in stalls from weaning until five weeks after breeding is a common strategy used to prevent aggression and ensure control over individual feeding during breeding, conception and...
Alternatives for control & detection of boar taint in market hogs
Castration of piglets is a common practice in Canada, as in many other countries, to avoid boar taint in pork meat. There is, however, a growing interest in raising non-castrated males for animal welfare reasons and because intact males are more growth efficient than castrates....
Feeder Design Considerations
The minimum width of a feeding space is based on the shoulder width of the largest pig in the pen, plus 10 % to accommodate variation in body shape. The formula used to calculate the width of a feeding space...
Reducing Water Consumption in Swine Barns
Demonstrating Management Practices that Enhance the Sustainability of Pork Production Activity 1.3 – Reducing Water Consumption in Swine Barns The following publications will assist producers in making effective decisions to optimize water usage within their production units.
Auditing On-Farm Best Management Practices
ACTIVITY 3. Auditing On-Farm Best Management Practices Objective: Measure the pork industry’s adoption of best management practices that reduce cost of production, enhance sustainability and reduce labour commitments.
Improving Biosecurity in Swine Transport
While on farm biosecurity measures are increasingly stringent, a major gap that can allow for transmission of disease is biosecurity in transport. As such, new cleaning procedures for trailers must be developed to make sanitizing trailers easy and effective. Problems...
Transitioning to Loose Sow Housing
One producer’s (John Van Engelen, Ontario) lessons in making the transition to group sow housing. As presented to a Group Sow Housing Seminar in the fall of 2017.
Group Sow Housing Resources
The following resources are designed for producers looking to make the transition to group sow housing.
