Increased adaptation time improves pig response to functional amino acid supplementation
A previous study conducted at the Prairie Swine Centre and the University of Saskatchewan revealed improved performance of pigs under Salmonella infection when fed functional amino acids (FAA) above requirements for growth. Here, researchers attempted to assess whether a longer adaptation period to FAA supplementation...
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Ken Engele
Impacting greenhouse gas emissions through diet change
Understanding the impact of nonconventional ingredients in swine diets on the environment is important; specifically how they may alter manure output and GHG emissions. Increasing dietary fibre may increase hindgut fermentation and the production of GHG emissions, but might not affect performance of the pigs...
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Ken Engele
Enrich your pigs, enrich your profits
Enriching a sow’s environment is easy, inexpensive and offers a range of benefits. This was made clear by the project “From Innovation to Adoption: On-farm demonstration of Swine Research”, which was led by Ken Engele at Prairie Swine Centre and Geneviève Berthiaume at CDPQ. One...
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Ken Engele
Feed Processing Reduces Feed Toxicity
Ergot has long been known to have detrimental effects when fed to pigs, and a producer’s best option is to avoid feeding ergot contaminated grains. Currently, visual inspection is the most practical method for reducing the risk of ergot toxicity, however sorting based on appearance...
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Ken Engele
Reducing pre-weaning mortality
A major welfare and economic issue in the swine industry is pre-weaning mortality (PWM). Pre-weaning mortality needs to be reduced in order to increase the welfare of the animals and the profits associated with them. There are many management techniques that can be put in...
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Miranda Smit
Forward facing animal welfare research drives innovation
The NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Swine Welfare is a five-year research program based at the University of Saskatchewan focusing on emerging questions in swine welfare. Led by Dr. Yolande Seddon and developed in collaboration with 14 industry partners representing Canadian producers, processors and swine...
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Miranda Smit
Feed processing to reduce ergot toxicity
Ergot has long been known to have detrimental effects when fed to pigs, and a producer’s best option is to avoid feeding ergot contaminated grains. Currently, visual inspection is the most practical method for reducing the risk of ergot toxicity, however sorting based on appearance...
by
Miranda Smit
Enhancing biosecurity and welfare of pigs during transport
A previous project examined the development of a new prototype trailer design aimed to protect animals (such as high-value breeding stock) from airborne transmissible diseases during transport. This design tried to integrate as many features as possible identified by stakeholders. This initial prototype was a...
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Miranda Smit
Does creep feed have any benefits?
Creep feeding is a common practice throughout the pork industry. There are a number of perceived benefits, including provision of nutrients, higher weaning weight, and improved transition at weaning, however, these benefits only occur if the creep feed is consumed. Feeding simple diets, such as...
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Miranda Smit
Evaluating the impact of early life management of piglets on lifetime welfare and performance
The early life experience of piglets before and around weaning can influence their behavioural adaptation and the development of positive or negative behavioural characteristics that have significant, and likely lasting, implications for welfare, stress resilience and production performance. This research will determine whether providing targeted...
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Ken Engele