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Industry Partners
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:
Ethology
The Ethology Research Program at the Prairie Swine Centre is dedicated to the field of applied swine behaviour. The program focuses on improving the productivity and well-being of swine in all stages of production through the investigation of behavioural processes and physiological measures of stress.
The Ethology Research Program is designed to address three key areas:
Development of housing, feed management and handling systems that optimize pig performance, considering both construction and operating costs.
Development of management techniques (handling, grouping, selection) that increase productivity and minimize stress and aggression.
Identification of practices that promote animal health through the application and investigation of behavioural processes.
Current projects in the Ethology Research Program include:
- Free space utilisation of group housed sows
- Determining floor space requirements of group housed sows (Agriculture Development Fund, Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture)
- Development and evaluation of physiological tests to assess acute and chronic stress in pigs (Alberta Livestock & Meat Agency Ltd)
- Transportation and handling project (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council)
- Reliability and heritability of temperament traits associated with the stress response and pork quality (Alberta Livestock & Meat Agency Ltd)
