Washing Procedures, Auditing Best Management Practices
The top uses of water in swine barns are drinking and cleaning. Reducing water through water conservation strategies will reduce the cost of production and have a more sustainable environmental effect as less manure is produced. Most barns audited pre-soak rooms before washing, though this...
Personal Protection and Training, Auditing Best Management Practices
A safe work environment is the employers responsibility and is very important in the Canadian pork industry. Some protection used commonly includes hearing protection, dust masks and hydrogen sulphide monitors. The monitors should be used in key day-to-day activities, not just in pit pulling. This...
Assessing Trailer Cleanliness
An important step in maintaining biosecurity is proper washing and disinfection of transport trailers. Visual inspection is not aa reliable assessment for measuring cleanliness. Using microbiological culture works, though the plating of media and incubation time make it somewhat impractical as test results take awhile...
On-Farm Biosecurity Auditing Best Management Practices
Audit results across Canada show that producers know the importance of biosecurity. Almost all the farms that participated had only one source of animals entering the facility, showering with a change of clothes and reviewing biosecurity protocols yearly were common too. Areas that can be...
Optimum Space Allowances for Nursery Pigs
Economic viability of farms and the health and welfare of animals are affected by space allowances. There is not much information available on the space allowances of nursery pigs. Maximum feed intake and average daily gain are increased when optimal space allowances are given. The...
Ventilating Converted Sow Rooms
Ventilation has a large effect on barn operating costs and many aspects of the environment. Using the existing ventilation system in converted sow facilities (from stall to group housing) will lead to over-ventilation during the winter as the minimum ventilation fans are designed for higher...
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...