Determining the NE Content of Diets and Ingredients
Feed has a large impact on the efficiency of production. Over 65% of the total hog production cost is due to feed. Energy is the most expensive component at 90%, so characterizing the available energy in a feed is required to estimate its overall feeding...
Creep Feed Provision in the Farrowing Room Provides Benefits to Piglets Showing Evidence of Intake
By supplying feed in farrowing (creep feed), the piglets should benefit by being introduced to solid feed, having supplemental nutrition and by helping the gastrointestinal tract adapt to new proteins and nutrients. Some studies have found that no benefits were noted when piglets were provided...
Dietary Omega-6 to Omega-3 Fatty Acid Ratios Affect Body Fat Mobilization During Lactation
Litter sizes have increased due to improved management practices and genetics, though pre-weaning mortality is even higher now. This may be due to sows not being able to keep up with the energy demands of the litter. Over subsequent parities, loss of body condition and...
Effects of Transport Duration on the Stress Response and Pork Quality of Pigs
Transporting pigs in Canada has many challenges. These include extremes of temperature and long transport durations that can cause stress in pigs, affecting welfare, transit losses and meat quality. Transport times of 6, 12 and 18 hours were studied on meat quality and stress physiology,...
Loading Facilities for Market Hogs: Saskatchewan’s Top 10
Loading facilities can result in longer loading times, increased incidence of rough handling and prod use if poorly designed. Stress associated with this can affect meat quality, carcass and also increase the amount of downer pigs and losses. Ten Saskatchewan barns were observed to see...
Assessment of Lameness, Productivity and Longevity in Group and Individually Housed Gestating Sows
There may be several major welfare issues in facility design and sow management for group sow housing. One of the most important welfare issues is lameness. It is the second major cause of culling after reproductive failure. visual scores can be used to measure lameness...
Impact of Repeated Applications of Liquid Swine Manure and Biogas Production By-Products on Soils and Crops
Different methods of swine manure use are of interest Crop response to swine manure biodigestate produced by biogas production compared to the conventional liquid swine manure and urea fertilizer was looked at. Applying long and short-term fresh and processed liquid swine manure to Saskatchewan soils...
Evaluation of Heat Exchanger, Ground Source Heat Pump, and Conventional Heating Systems
A production cost that can be further reduced is energy cost. This can be done by reducing overall energy consumption or using energy more efficiently. Space heating is an area of interest for energy reduction. The performance of a heat recovery ventilator, a conventional heating...
Using Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles to Control Emissions – Pig Performance, Manure Properties, and Production Cost
Filtration and mixing methods using zinc oxide nanoparticles were effective in controlling odour, ammonia and hydrogen sulphide emissions from swine facilities. This is important to the health and safety of the workers and the environment as well. The feasibility of these methods in commercial swine...
Development of Diets for Low Birth-Weight Piglets to Improve Post-Weaning Growth Performance and Optimize Net Returns to the Producer
A cost to the commercial pork production is variability in growth. Birth weights have a large variance from 0.40 kg to 2.5 kg. The smaller pigs rarely demonstrate compensatory growth and have a lagging rate of gain throughout all growth stages, often needing an additional...
Weaning at 28 Days. Is Creep Feeding Beneficial?
Creep feeding in the farrowing room is often practiced to ensure the transition to solid feed at weaning goes smoothly. This is important as weight loss and increased disease risk are often noted post-weaning due to the stressful transition. Even a limited amount of creep...
Do Peas and Canola Meal have Synergistic Effects when Included in Diets for Growing Pigs?
Canola meal may mask the taste of a field pea diet that has been hypothesized to impact palatability. These two ingredients are often used in diets together as they are produced in Western Canada and have complementary amino acid profiles for their proteins. The interaction...