Development of a Commercial Scale Air Treatment System
An air cleaning technology based on biotrickling filtration developed in previous phases of the project was scaled up and tested at the PSC swine grower-finisher facility. Results showed that the air treatment units were effective in reducing the levels of ammonia, dust, and odour from the air stream at...
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Ken Engele
Creep Feeding in the Farrowing Room: Do the Outcomes Depend on Weaning Age?
Creep feed could benefit older weaned piglets by supplementing nutrients in sows’ milk. Additionally, it could aid the transition to solid feed at weaning, perhaps more of a benefit to the younger weaned piglet. In our experiment, body weight at nursery exit was greater in piglets offered creep feed...
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Ken Engele
Practical Environmental Enrichment Strategies for Piglets
Pigs are intelligent and curious from birth, and the lactation and nursery periods are critical for their mental and physical development. Despite this, research on suitable enrichments for piglets is lacking. Research that has been done found that piglets given enrichment had increased play and exploratory behaviours...
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Ken Engele
Assessing Particle Size and the Cost of Grinding
Particle size reduction improves feed efficiency in all stages of the production cycle in pigs. Based on studies by researchers at Kansas State University (KSU), an average particle size of 700 to 800 microns (um) is recommended. However, this recommendation is based on studies conducted using corn-soybean meal based diets. To our...
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Ken Engele
Reducing Water Consumption in Swine Barns: Alternatives for Animal Drinking and Barn Cleaning
Evaluation of selected water conservation measures involving drinkers and different cleaning procedures revealed that 60% reduction in water wastage was achieved with a drinking trough (with side panel and constant water level) to nipple drinkers. The use of conventional nozzle for pressure washing led to...
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Ken Engele
Temperatures Within a Truck Transporting Pigs During Winter and Summer Months in Western Canada
Transportation, which is an unfamiliar to the pig - is one of the most critical periods in pig handling before slaughter. It possibly involves economic losses due to deaths, ‘suspect’ animals on arrival at the processing plant, and reduced meat quality. Losses are reported to be higher in...
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Ken Engele
Can Trailer Design Effectively Reduce Disease Transmission?
In response to an industry need for a livestock vehicle that addresses both increased animal welfare and biosecurity during transport, a prototype air-filtered trailer was designed and assembled. The project set out to select the best possible option for a swine transport trailer which reduces...
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Ken Engele
Interaction of Dietary Energy and Phytase on Performance of Weanling Pigs
Approximately 60 to 80% of the phosphorus (P) in cereal grains and oil seeds is bound to phytate and unavailable to monograstics, including swine. Supplementing swine diets with the phytase enzyme improves P availability and retention. The phytate molecule complexes other minerals, proteins, and starch, however, the research examining the...
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Ken Engele
Engineering Controls Reduce Hydrogen Sulphide Exposure in Swine Barns
Three engineering control measures were developed and tested for effectiveness in protecting swine barn workers from exposure to hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas during manure handling events. A remote manure pit plug pulling system allowed the worker to pull the manure pit plug from outside the room. A water sprinkling apparatus was...
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Ken Engele
Response of Growing-Finishing Pigs to Dietary Energy Concentration
In this trial, feeding lower energy, lower cost diets had no effect on ADG or on loin thickness, but did improve feed efficiency, and reduced backfat thickness. This indicates that lower energy diets may be used to increase net income. This experiment was conducted in an environment of high...
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Ken Engele