Effect of Gender and Crowding on Variation in Days to Market
Variation in the production chain has a large economic impact. Variation of growth due to gender and crowding during the grower-finisher phase were examined. Less crowding reduced days until market by four days. Holding gilts longer than barrows may be...
Thermoregulation of the Nursery by Early Weaned Piglets Through Operant Conditioning
Growing swine health and productivity is affected by thermal environment, especially in newly weaned piglets as they require warmer temperatures. Pigs were taught how to respond to heat rewards through operant conditioning and control their thermal environment so they can...
The Impact of Feeder Adjustment and Group Size/Density on Weanling Pig Performance
Nursery performance is negatively affected when crowding or reduced floor space increases ear chewing, tail-biting and side-nudging. Crowing often leads to decreased feed intake. Feeder adjustment may work synergistically with adequate floor space to improve pig performance. Reduced crowding is...
Behavioural Diversity in Groups of Juvenile Pigs
Individual differences in pig behaviour may be strategies of coping with a challenging environment. Pig performance varies and this may be related to individual behavioural characteristics. Three main factors were identified regarding personality. These included responses to social displacement activities,...
Sequential Analysis of Belly Nosing of Early Weaned Pigs
Belly nosing has increased since implementing segregated early weaning in order to improve disease control and performance. To investigate how to decrease this behaviour, motivation behind belly nosing was monitored on pigs 7 days after weaning. Pigs who spend more...
Effect of Feed Presentation on the Feeding Behaviour of Grower-Finisher Pigs
The eating speed of pigs should be correlated with the maximum number of pigs to be fed from a single feeder. Competition, feed type, pig size and presentation of feed all influence feeding behaviour of pigs. Dry mash diets prolong...
Incidence of Belly Nosing in Segregated Early Weaning Pigs
Segregated early weaning was implemented to decrease disease in swine operations. This led to a higher incidence of belly nosing and sucking in early weaned pigs as these behaviours increase as age decreases. Management factors such as line differences, pen...
Farrowing and Savaging in Wild Boar Sows
Behaviours such as savaging have sometimes been attributed to the domestication process. In order to decrease loss of piglets due to aggression, savaging behaviours should be further understood. Farmed wild boar sows of three genetic lines were videotaped during farrowing....
Effect of Increasing Group Size on Grower-Finisher Pigs
Housing grower-finisher pigs in larger pens while increasing group size has been increasingly of interest. Group sizes of 10, 20, 40 and 80 per pen were observed in the aspects of health and production. Group size does not significantly differ...
Motivated for Movement – What is the cost of sow exercise?
Preliminary sow performance measures suggest exercising stall-housed gestating sows for 10 minutes, once per week has minimal effects on the productivity of younger sows, but may have a positive effect on older parity sows – increasing the number of live...
PSC Producer Meetings – Day 2
The Role of Diet in GHG Output from Swine Facilities – Denise Beaulieu, University of Saskatchewan Breeding for Pig Robustness – Saskia Bloemhof-Abma, PIC How Does Transport Influence the Welfare and Productivity of Weaned Piglets? – Yolande Seddon, University of...
Water Intake and Wastage from Nipple Drinkers
Among nutrients, water is required in the greatest amount but has received the least attention. Water intake of grower/finisher pigs has been reported to range from 1.9 to 6.8 l/d, depending on body weight and feed intake. However, most ‘water intake’ reported in...
