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
Impact of Prod Use on Highly Stressed Pigs
Pigs were subjected to three different handling treatments as we moved them through a 300m handling course. Despite traveling the same distance as the others, pigs moved at a moderate pace with only a board, quiet voice and gentle slaps, were essentially unstressed by the procedure. Pigs handled aggressively,...
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Ken Engele
Impact of Various Parity Groupings on Welfare and Productivity in ESF Housing
Electronic sow feeders (ESF) provide an automated system for controlling the individual feed intake of group-housed sows. However, this system can prompt increased aggression, especially in the initial period following mixing, as sows compete for access to the ESF. The primary objective of this research was to compare different...
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Ken Engele
Quantifying the Prevalence of Lameness and Hoof Lesions
Th e aim of this survey was to collect information on the prevelance of lameness and hoof lesions on genetic nucleus herds, to help provide baseline information on the prevelance of lameness and hoof lesions in Canadian sows. Six genetic herds were visited, located in AB, SK, MB, ON...
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Ken Engele
Stimulating Exploratory Behaviour – Effect on Creep Consumption
This study investigated whether feed consumption before and after weaning can be increased through stimulating exploratory behaviour in piglets, and whether this is best achieved through provision of enrichment (E), or through presentation of creep feed in a large tray feeder (TF) so as to facilitate synchronized feeding among littermates. Enrichment...
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Ken Engele
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 implantation. However, alternative management options are...
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Ken Engele
National Sow Housing Conversion Project
The National Sow Housing Conversion Project (NSHCP) was conceived as a descriptive project to facilitate the successful conversion of Canada’s sow barns to group housing. The project involved collaboration from industry participants and academic researchers working together on a comprehensive strategy involving demonstration farms, technology transfer materials...
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Ken Engele
Determining Effective Enrichments for Group Housed Sows
Providing enrichment involves making changes to the environment that are intended to increase the range of normal Behaviours and improve the biological functioning and well-being of animals. Enrichment in group housing systems has the potential to significantly improve animal welfare by reducing aggression and injuries, stimulating exercise and the...
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Ken Engele
Practical Alternatives for Castration
The Canadian Code of Practice requires that swine producers provide analgesics to piglets at castration to help control post-procedural pain. However, complete information on the different analgesics available to control post-procedural pain, their effectiveness and optimized procedures for delivering pain control have not been identified. This project...
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Ken Engele
Determining Optimum Space Allowance for Nursery Pigs
Studies were conducted in 2 phases to determine the eff ects of six diff erent space allowances (k= 0.0230, 0.0265, 0.0300, 0.0335, 0.0370, and 0.0390) on nursery pig behavior, growth and welfare from 3 to 8 weeks of age. Phase 1 was a controlled trial conducted at...
by
Ken Engele