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Prairie Swine Centre is an affiliate of the University of Saskatchewan
Prairie Swine Centre is grateful for the assistance of the George Morris Centre in developing the economics portion of Pork Insight.
Financial support for the Enterprise Model Project and Pork Insight has been provided by:
Behaviour of Pigs in Large Group Auto-Sort
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Prairie Swine Centre by admin on March 7, 2016 | No Comments
Large group auto-sort systems pose some significant challenges to pigs n terms of eating behaviour. The feeders are a ll located in a food court which can only be accessed through a single sorter scale. The cost of moving to the feeders is greater than in a small pen, where pigs may only have to move a metre or so to find feed. Despite these restrictions, pigs pass through the sorter and eat in a typical diurnal pattern similar to that seen in small pens. However, pigs in large group auto-sort pens only enter the food court 2-4 times each day, and have fewer meals (5 vs 10-15) than in small pens. They compensate by eating longer during each meal. They also move freely about the food court, eating from several feeder spaces every day. Young pigs, who require more time to eat, may display a higher mid-day rate of eating indicative of restricted feeder space. We believe a key to making food courts work s to make sure the pigs know that food s present by introducing them to the food court rather than the loafing area. The food court should be spacious so that pigs have access to a of the feeders, and a feeder space shou d be prov ded for every 10-12 p gs
View the full version text at LGAS
Swine Feed Efficiency: Influence of Temperature
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on February 22, 2016 | No Comments
Pig performance, including feed efficiency, is maximized when animals are kept within their thermoneutral zone. When describing the environmental conditions that the animal is raised in, it is important to realize that there are several factors influencing pig comfort. “Effective” environmental temperature is a better measure than “air” temperature, as it takes into account relative humidity, air movement (velocity), flooring type and condition, insulation of the building, evaporative cooling, and huddling of pigs. Pigs of different size and age have different thermoneutral comfort zones, as younger, smaller pigs have higher temperature requirements and have a smaller tolerance for temperature changes.
Source: Tom G. Miller, Iowa State University, IPIC 25f 2012
Full full document IPIC25f SFE Influence of Temperature
Smart Pig Handling
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Welfare by admin on February 19, 2016 | No Comments
Smart Pig Handling provides training to new herdpersons on how to safely and effectively handle pigs while minimizing stress on both themselves and their animals.
Producers can contact their provincial pork organization (in Canada) for an extended version of the training, which can be customized to their farm type. For more in-depth “Low Stress Pig Handling” information and training, contact Nancy Lidster at dnlfarms@xplornet.com or 1-306-276-5761.
The development of this video was supported by Alberta Pork, Sask Pork, Ontario Pork and EPQ. It was also supported by Growing Forward 2, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative, and the Government of Alberta. This project’s main support came from the FCC Ag Safety Fund administered by the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association with funding from Farm Credit Canada.
Smart Pig Handling – Part 1 – Basic pig behaviour
Smart Pig Handling – Part 2 – Principles of pig handling
Managing Winter Ventilation
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Prairie Swine Centre by admin on February 9, 2016 | No Comments
One small difference when it comes to winter ventilation, is that for a period of time, in late fall and also in early spring, staff need to be more vigilant on a day to day basis to ensure room temperature fluctuations are kept to a minimum. This usually means daily vigilance monitoring first and second stage ventilation fans and either installing or removing fan covers until the temperature stabilizes late fall and late spring.
Weaning Sows Directly into Group Housing: Aggression, Welfare & Production
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments
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 needed as pressure to reduce stall use is likely to continue. This study compared the effects of three mixing strategies on sow performance in group sow housing.
ENRICHMENT FOR SOWS AND PIGLETS
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments
The revised Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Pigs was released in March of 2014 (NFACC, 2014), and includes several changes that impact production practices and housing on Canadian farms. The most significant changes to the code are related to pain control at castration and tail docking, sow housing, space allowances and enrichment. The code requirement for enrichment states that, “Pigs must be provided with multiple forms of enrichment that aim to improve the welfare of the animals through the enhancement of their physical and social environments.”
The requirement for enrichment is looked on with skepticism by some, who they may see the requirement as an unnecessary exercise to please consumers, requiring more time and money and without benefit to pigs or production. This presentation will hopefully dispel these notions. There is an extensive amount of research on enrichment to show that, when given appropriate enrichments, pigs can benefit from reduced fear, aggression and vices, and improved growth. Also, there are many enrichments that can be produced on‐farm at low cost which are durable and effective.
Effect of Dietary Calcium and Phosphorus in Sows on Bone Development in Piglets
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Prairie Swine Centre by admin on January 18, 2016 | No Comments
Adequate nutrition, including minerals, is important for gestating sows, particularly gilts, as growth and development of their piglets needs to be supported while their own growth is maintained. Nutrient requirements obtained from older studies may not be applicable to the modern, highly prolific sow as they were based on sows farrowing smaller litters. Analysis of data collected from 1994 to 2004 showed that genetic improvements resulted in approximately 1 to 2 piglets more per litter in commercial sows. Larger litters however, results in decreased average birth weight. The objective of this study was to determine the influence of Ca and P intake by young, gestating sows on the growth and skeletal development of their piglets and determine if smaller birth-weight piglets are at greater risk of mineral deficiency.
GroupSowHousing.com Launched
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Prairie Swine Centre, Press Releases by admin on January 8, 2016 | No Comments
GroupSowHousing.com Launched
Saskatoon, SK, January 8, 2016. Providing pork producers with the latest information on different types of group sow housing systems, a new website groupsowhousing.com has been launched with the goal of assisting the swine industry in the transition from stalls to groups. With recent changes to Canada’s Pig Code of Practice all barns newly built or renovated to house gestating sows must utilize group housing, and all producers are encouraged to move to group housing by 2024. According to Dr. Jennifer Brown the transition to group sow housing needs to be well thought out in advance in order to minimize costs, maintain production and ensure the best possible system is in place for the sows. “It’s not a one size fits all approach, the website is intended to provide information and increase knowledge and confidence in the swine industry as people look towards making the change to group sow housing and away from stalls.”
Groupsowhousing.com sets out to compile the best science on how to manage sows in groups. In addition it provides real world examples of producers who have successfully made the transition to group sow housing. This includes documenting their rationale for the transition to groups, management of the new system, design and construction of group housing, and the costs involved. According to Dr. Jennifer Brown “the producer experience is a key component of the website, as it gives other producers a clear idea of what’s involved in the transition.”
Producers looking for more information on transitioning to group sow housing will find resources dedicated to different feeding systems (competitive and non-competitive), grouping strategies, and training and management of gilts and sows under group systems.
GroupSowHousing.com is part of the National Sow Housing Conversion Project, funded in part through Swine Innovation Porc, much of the information being available in both official languages. This project is funded by Swine Innovation Porc within the Swine Cluster 2: Driving Results Through Innovation research program. Funding is provided by Agriculture and Agri‐Food Canada through the AgriInnovation Program, provincial producer organizations and industry partners.
Prairie Swine Centre Inc., located near Saskatoon, is a non-profit research corporation affiliated with the University of Saskatchewan, and is recognized globally for its contributions to practical, applied science in pork production in the disciplines of nutrition, engineering and applied animal behaviour.
For pdf version please click here National Sow Housing Website Launch- January 2016
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For more information, contact:
Dr. Jennifer Brown,
Research Scientist, Ethology
Prairie Swine Centre Inc
Phone: 306-667-7442
Fax: 306-955-2510
E-mail: jennifer.brown@usask.ca
Application of nanoparticles for controlling disease-causing microorganisms in pig barns
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Prairie Swine Centre by admin on December 18, 2015 | No Comments
Laboratory-scale tests conducted to evaluate the effect of various types of commercially-available nanoparticles on the levels of microorganisms commonly encountered in swine barn environments showed Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles had the highest antimicrobial efficacy among all the nanoparticles tested. Further experiments carried out in the barn indicated that partial filtration of barn air with a filter loaded with ZnO nanoparticles in the ventilation recirculation system achieved reduction in bioaerosol levels at the animal- and human-occupied zones. During sanitation, 10 mg/mL of ZnO nanoparticle solution sprayed on concrete pen floor surfaces showed significant decrease in total bacterial counts on surfaces four hours after application. Microbial population, however, started to increase after new nursery pigs were brought into the room.
Can Flaxseed Replace Antibiotics in Starter Diets?
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Prairie Swine Centre by admin on November 23, 2015 | No Comments
We hypothesized that feeding n-3 FA’s to sows in the form of flaxseed would allow for the removal of Ab’s in starter feeds. Based on the findings from this trial, we can neither accept nor reject this hypothesis, as we found that in our high health herd, Ab’s had no benefit when fed for the first week post-weaning. Results from this trial have clearly shown that in a high health situation, the use of in feed Ab’s post-weaning had no benefit, regardless of weaning age. This experiment has also shown that, at nursery exit (8 weeks old), piglets weaned at 3 weeks of age had heavier body weights than those weaned at 4 weeks of age, which in part may be due to the fact that piglets weaned at 3 weeks had lower WBC, CK and AST counts relative to those weaned at 4 weeks.