Using Creep Feeding as a Strategy to Improve Post Weaning Feed Intake and Piglet Growth
Environmental, social and nutritional stressors are present in weaning of piglets which often leads to weight loss and increased risk of disease. Creep feeding involves providing highly palatable and easy to digest feed to nursing piglets to decrease feeding issues at weaning. Research in this...
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...
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...
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...
Compounding Iron Dextran with NSAIDs at Processing
NSAIDs are often given at processing along with iron dextran and it is tempting to given them together to reduce the number of injections to the piglet. Mixing these products is not allowed under the Canadian Assurance program, though it does happen occasionally so possible...
Using Exploratory Behaviour to Increase Pre-Weaning Creep Consumption
Previous experiments showed how feeder type but not enrichment resulted in a greater frequency of visits to the tray feeder and a higher rate of disappearance for creep feed. Creep feed is important as it may help with the stressful transition of weaning and the...
Managing Sows in Groups from Weaning: Are There Advantages?
Stall housing has received lots of criticism for being so restrictive. It has been demonstrated that sows in groups can perform as well as those in stalls, so gestation stalls are being banned in many countries. An area that needs to be studied is how...