Effects of Altering the Omega-6 to Omega-3 Fatty Acid Ratio in Starter Diets on Piglet Inflammatory Response
Many new stressors are present at weaning, including immune challenges. These stressors can result in an inflammatory response as well as reduced feed intake and growth. An over-production of immune cells can result in increased muscle degradation and reduced protein synthesis. Omega-3 fatty acids have...
Spray-Dried Animal Plasma Mitigates the Negative Impact of Deoxynivalenol (DON) in Nursery Pigs
There is an increase in prevalence of deoxynivalenol (DON) contaminated grains in the Canadian Prairies. DON is the toxin produced by Fusarium fungi, which is affected by the moisture content during flowering and/or harvest. Grains that are contaminated with DON are either destroyed or fed...
Enhancement of Litter Size in Commercial Swine
A large concern in the North American Pork Industry is prenatal mortality. Between gestation days 15-0, 20-30% of coceptuses are lost, with another 10-15% loses between gestation days 50-70. Different techniques to improve litter size have been used such as selective breeding for genes responsible...
Identifying the Cause of Death of Hogs that Perish In-Transit: A Pilot Project at Two Ontario Packing Plants
The cause of death and associated risk factors for in-transit losses are needed in order to reduce mortalities. It is often assumed that deaths are due to stress or heat exhaustion but the actual cause is not usually identified. Hogs that died in Ontario transport...
Effect of Rubber Flooring and Social Grouping on the Utilization of Free Space for Sows in Walk-in/Lock-in Stalls
A gestation stall alternative are walk-in/lock-in stalls, a group housing design that gives sows a choice to the communal area or to remain in the stall while providing individual feeding protection. Most sows use the free space area, but they did not use it for...
Early Detection and Interventions for Reducing Lameness in Gestating Sows
One of the most common reasons for culling sows in lameness. Overall herd productivity, sow welfare and sow productivity can be increased if treatment and prevention of lameness is implemented. In order for sows to generate profit, they must remain in the herd for a...
Investigation of Translactational Analgesia for Reducing Piglet Pain at Castration
Painful livestock procedure concern is increasing, with one of pig productions key issues being castration of piglets. Castration is done in male piglets to avoid 'boar taint' which is the development of undesirable odours that can occur in the meat of adult boars. Piglet castration...
Temperament Traits Related to Stress and Meat Quality: Are they Reliable and Heritable?
Welfare, ease of handling, stockperson labour required to move and productivity are all influenced by the susceptibility of pigs to stress. Severe losses for packers and producers often arise from stress during transport and handling of pigs at marketing. This includes in-transit death losses, reduced...
Development of an Air Filtration System for Swine Transport Vehicles to Protect Against Airborne Diseases During Transport
Transporting breeding stock across Canada is a daily occurrence with farms each having biosecurity procedures to reduce potential disease outbreaks. Infecting breeding stock during transport is a risk, especially through pig dense areas. Measures are needed to protect breeding stock during transport to avoid infection...
Benchmarking and Standardization of Swine Production Systems
Wide variations in building design, barn equipment, construction, management and other operational systems contribute to added costs and inefficiencies in hog barns. These variabilities make it difficult to develop improvement measures and they cannot be applied from barn to barn as they are all so...