We need to start thinking about more than essential amino acid requirements
An increased understanding of essential amino acid requirements has led to the ability to reduce dietary protein content while maintaining animal performance. A major assumption behind these low protein diets is that pigs are capable of producing sufficient amounts of non-essential AA (NEAA) to meet...
Investigation of enhanced sanitization and disinfection measures applicable for antibiotic-free pig production system
This project aims to develop enhanced biosecurity measures that can eliminate or reduce the proliferation of disease-causing pathogens in antibiotic-free pig production as well as in conventional barns for all-inclusive disease prevention. Specifically investigating alternative sanitization and disinfection measures that are effective for control of...
Increased adaptation time improves pig response to functional amino acid supplementation
A previous study conducted at the Prairie Swine Centre and the University of Saskatchewan revealed improved performance of pigs under Salmonella infection when fed functional amino acids (FAA) above requirements for growth. Here, researchers attempted to assess whether a longer adaptation period to FAA supplementation...
Impacting greenhouse gas emissions through diet change
Understanding the impact of nonconventional ingredients in swine diets on the environment is important; specifically how they may alter manure output and GHG emissions. Increasing dietary fibre may increase hindgut fermentation and the production of GHG emissions, but might not affect performance of the pigs...
Enrich your pigs, enrich your profits
Enriching a sow’s environment is easy, inexpensive and offers a range of benefits. This was made clear by the project “From Innovation to Adoption: On-farm demonstration of Swine Research”, which was led by Ken Engele at Prairie Swine Centre and Geneviève Berthiaume at CDPQ. One...
Career Opportunity – Maintenance Specialist
Swine Barn Maintenance Specialist Full-time Permanent Apply by: June 30, 2023 Email resume to: tatjana.ometlic@usask.ca Prairie Swine Centre is a non-profit swine production research organization affiliated with the University of Saskatchewan and located 10km southeast of Saskatoon. We offer a nationally and internationally recognized program in research, knowledge transfer,...
Career Opportunity – Animal Attendant I
Animal Attendant I Full-time Permanent Apply by: June 28, 2023 Email resume to: Tatjana.ometlic@usask.ca Prairie Swine Centre is a non-profit swine production research organization affiliated with the University of Saskatchewan and located 10 km southeast of Saskatoon. We offer a nationally and internationally recognized program in research, knowledge transfer...
Forward facing animal welfare research drives innovation
The NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Swine Welfare is a five-year research program based at the University of Saskatchewan focusing on emerging questions in swine welfare. Led by Dr. Yolande Seddon and developed in collaboration with 14 industry partners representing Canadian producers, processors and swine...
Feed processing to reduce ergot toxicity
Ergot has long been known to have detrimental effects when fed to pigs, and a producer’s best option is to avoid feeding ergot contaminated grains. Currently, visual inspection is the most practical method for reducing the risk of ergot toxicity, however sorting based on appearance...
Enhancing biosecurity and welfare of pigs during transport
A previous project examined the development of a new prototype trailer design aimed to protect animals (such as high-value breeding stock) from airborne transmissible diseases during transport. This design tried to integrate as many features as possible identified by stakeholders. This initial prototype was a...