SEARCH
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:
Career Opportunity Research Scientist Ethology/Welfare
Posted in: Press Releases by admin on April 20, 2011 | No Comments
THE POSITION: Applications are invited for the fulltime permanent position of Research Scientist – Ethology/Welfare. As the scientific thought leader in this field, you will develop and manage a research program that meets the evolving needs of the commercial pork industry as it balances production with the expectations of society. The successful candidate will collaborate widely across disciplines world-wide and seek practical solutions to questions which have productivity, economic, social and moral implications for a variety of stakeholders in the pork value chain. The Research Scientist is required to obtain adjunct status at the University of Saskatchewan and supervise graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. This position provides an exciting career opportunity for someone interested in conducting market-driven research motivated by a strong desire to interact with and support the pork industry in areas of efficiency, sustainability and animal wellbeing. Current research includes projects on handling & transportation, as well as sow social behaviour and housing. The position is part of the senior management team at the Centre, offering competitive salary and benefits, and the opportunity to work as part of a dynamic team to make a difference in the industry and academia.
THE CANDIDATE: The successful applicant will enjoy working with the swine industry in a research environment and have a graduate degree in applied ethology (PhD) with a strong knowledge of swine behaviour. The applicant will have strong organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills and have demonstrated the ability to work as part of a team as both leader and participant. Knowledge of the North American pork industry is an asset. Both junior and senior level scientists are invited to apply.
THE COMPANY: Prairie Swine Centre Inc. is a non-profit swine production research corporation located 10 km east of Saskatoon. It offers a nationally and internationally recognized program in research, technology transfer and education all directed at the efficiency and sustainability of pork production. The Centre operates a 300 sow farrow-to-finish research herd plus on-farm commercial trials and currently employs 40 full and part-time staff and students.
Applications, including resume and references, should be sent before August 31, 2011 to:
Lee Whittington, President/CEO.,
P.O. Box 21057,
2105-8th Street East,
Saskatoon, SK S7H 5N9.
Phone: (306) 667-7447;
Fax: (306) 955-2510;
Email: lee.whittington@usask.ca.
or
Click Here to Apply Now!
2011 Spring Producer Meetings Powerpoints and Survey
Posted in: Press Releases by admin on April 7, 2011 | No Comments
Your feedback on the 2011 Spring producer meetings is needed! Please take the time to click on the survey link and fill out this short survey so we at the Prairie Swine Centre can meet your needs more effectively.
2011 Spring Producer Meeting Survey
For your information the links to the powerpoint presentations from the 2011 Spring Producer Meetings are below.
Lee Whittington – Overview of Prairie Swine Centre
Denise Beaulieu – Nutrition, Net Energy, Pig starter
Donald Down/Peter Provis – Use of Paylean
Bernardo Predicala – Engineering and Ventilation
Harold Gonyou/Jennifer Brown – Welfare and Behaviour of pigs
Dust in Pig Buildings
Posted in: Environment, Pork Insight Articles, Press Releases by admin on | No Comments
It is well documented in the international scientific literature that airborne dust in pig houses can cause serious health problems for humans as well as for animals. Extensive research has been carried out in different countries during the last few decades to improve the scientific understanding of air quality issues related to intensive animal production. Research and review papers were presented at the international symposium on Dust Control in Animal Production Facilities, held in Denmark in 1999. Different techniques have been used in order to reduce dust burdens in pig confinement buildings, but up to date only the procedure of spraying oil or a mixture of oil and water has contributed to reducing the indoor dust concentrations significantly. This article summarizes the current level of understanding of dust issues in intensive animal production buildings, mainly on the basis of papers presented at the above mentioned symposium.
An Overview of the Canadian Swine-Pork Sector
Posted in: Economics, Pork Insight Articles, Press Releases by admin on | No Comments
The demographics of the Canadian swine industry is such that there is concentration in the hog production with regard to size; this is most evident in Quebec where the data are most fragmented, but this appears to be broadly the case- a small number of large farms produce the bulk of market hogs and hold the bulk of the sows. Secondly, the hog production segment has declined across the country. This is particularly the case in western Canada and Ontario, but also in Quebec. Finally, the pork packing segment is relatively concentrated, with the hog production segment increasingly sized to the packing segment. The potential implication of this is to allow, prospectively, packing system alignment back to the farm level.
Ethology Program at the Prairie Swine Centre
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Prairie Swine Centre, Press Releases by admin on April 6, 2011 | No Comments
This powerpoint presentation on the Ethology Program at PSC was presented at the 2011 Spring Producers Meetings held in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The meetings were sponsored by Prairie Swine Centre, Alberta Pork, Manitoba Pork, Saskatchewan Pork, Elanco and Masterfeeds.
From Nanoparticles to Natural Gas: Keeping Barns Efficient and Healthy Places to Work
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Prairie Swine Centre, Press Releases by admin on | No Comments
This powerpoint presentation was presented at the 2011 Spring Producers Meetings held in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The meetings were sponsored by Prairie Swine Centre, Alberta Pork, Manitoba Pork, Saskatchewan Pork, Elanco and Masterfeeds.
Managing Feed Costs
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Prairie Swine Centre, Press Releases by admin on | No Comments
This powerpoint presentation on managing feed costs was presented at the 2011 Spring Producers Meetings held in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The meetings were sponsored by Prairie Swine Centre, Alberta Pork, Manitoba Pork, Saskatchewan Pork, Elanco and Masterfeeds.
Prairie Swine Centre 2011
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Prairie Swine Centre, Press Releases by admin on | No Comments
The Mandate of the Prairie Swine Centre is to produce and distribute knowledge derived through original research, scientific review and economic analysis. To access information on the Prairie Swine Centre in 2011 in an easy to read powerpoint presentation click on the link!
New Website – Easier, faster access to information
Posted in: Press Releases by admin on February 7, 2011 | No Comments
The Centre’s Mandate ‘To produce and distribute knowledge derived through original research, scientific review and economic analysis’ has been substantially reinforced with the redesign of the Centre’s website. With over 5800 production research articles, and virtually every publication published by the Centre in the past 15 years, the website has become a truly one-stop shop for pork production information.
Communication with every aspect of the pork industry is an integral part of why Prairie Swine Centre exists, notes Lee Whittington, President of Prairie Swine Centre. “Although you cannot replace face-to-face meetings and telephone conversations as vehicles for helping individuals to adopt new technology, the internet is the clear winner when you are seeking speed and efficiency of communicating technical subjects.” The website can be found at www.prairieswine.com.
The new website is easier to navigate; for example finding our publications or contacting our researchers can be done in a single click. Lowering cost of production will never go out of style and for that reason the many articles and publications on this subject are grouped together on the home page under the large Survival Strategies STOP sign icon. The real power of the website lies in its new search engine capability. To quickly find relevant articles on a wide variety of technical papers, we have summarized the scientific papers, and made them searchable with PorkInsight a modern search engine. The goal is to assist you in assessing whether or not the new science or management findings can help you on your farm – quickly.
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.
Annual Report 2009 Released!
Posted in: Press Releases by admin on August 20, 2010 | No Comments
Prairie Swine Centre’s Annual Report for 2009 is now online!
- Providing pigs with low protein diet, manipulation of manure pH, and employing a high level of
cleanliness inside barn facilities could potentially reduce ammonia concentrations. - Savings of 1,956 ($200) to 12,468 kWh ($1,250) per year are possible by switching to compact flourescent bulbs.
- No major differences in the overall energy use (natural gas and electrical energy) was observed
between rooms with infrared radiant heater and forced-air convection heater systems. - When handling near-market weight hogs, group sizes of 4 or 8 pigs is preferred for minimizing
stress based on handling and behavioural measures. - Sows housed in the ‘T’ pens used the free space area significantly more than the sows housed in the ‘I’ pens”.
- When transporting hogs to market, pigs in the bottom front compartment had the highest heart
rate measures at unloading, and also produced the highest incidence of DFD pork. - A diet containing 5% flaxseed, fed as a 50:50 co-extruded pea/flaxseed blend increased the
omega-3 content of pork fat. - The utilization of net energy for body weight gain was unaffected by feeding level or by energy
concentration of the diet. - Feeding co-extruded flaxseed to increase the alpha linoleic acid content in loin muscle did not result in levels sufficient to meet label requirements in Canada.
- The non-starch polysaccharide (NSP)-hydrolyzing enzyme increased nutrient digestibility, both
in-vitro and in-vivo. - Fermentable fibre modulates the gut environment, extends health-promoting properties and
reduces ammonia excretion. - Peas and pea-fibres reduced nitrogen excretion and could possibly contribute to improving the gut health of pigs