Rearing pigs with play opportunities: The effects on disease resilience in pigs experimentally inoculated with PRRSV
Positive emotions can reduce disease susceptibility during infectious challenges in humans, and emerging evidence suggests similar effects in farm animals. Because play behaviour may support a positive emotional state in pigs, this study investigated whether rearing pigs with regular intermittent...
Promoting play behaviour in grow-finish pigs
Play behaviour has been associated with excitement and fun, suggesting that playing animals experience pleasurable states. To determine if the provision of play opportunities could enhance the quality of life of pigs, this study investigated if play can be promoted...
Sow housing during the post-weaning and early pregnancy periods
Research to date is limited on how best to house and manage sows during the post-weaning and early gestation periods from a welfare perspective. A systematic literature review (part 1) on this topic found only a small number of studies...
Effects of replenishment rate of enrichments in pigs with undocked tails
This study compared pre-weaning exposure to environmental enrichment or not, and three slat-compatible enrichment replenishment strategies for pigs post-weaning. Forty-eight mixed-sex pens (six males and six females/pen) of undocked pigs were followed from birth to slaughter. Pre-weaning, half the pigs...
Long term effect of early vs. late enrichment with scented newspaper in growing pigs
Environmental enrichment can reduce damaging behaviours like tail biting, but practical information on enrichments for growing pigs is lacking. A previous study showed that scented newsprint was a promising enrichment type. The current study examined the long-term effect of early...
Quality of Life Handbook – The use of environmental enrichment
The aim of this handbook is to provide suggestions on how to improve the quality of life of pigs in commercial farms in such a way that it won’t require large renovations to the barns. This includes things such as...
Moving forward with improved sow housing: Current progress and prospects
Jen-Yun Chou, the new ethology and welfare research scientist at Prairie Swine Centre, introduced herself to the crowd at the 2024 PSC Producer Meetings. She gave an overview of her previous research focus and travels through the pig world, including...
Advancing swine welfare practices to empower your industry: What the Chair in Swine Welfare is doing for you
Martyna Lagoda, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Saskatchewan working for the NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Swine Welfare under the supervision of Yolande Seddon, gave an update at the 2024 PSC Producer Meetings on the research results and...
2024 PSC Producer Meetings Presentations
2024 PSC Producer Meetings In collaboration with Zoetis and PIC Canada AGENDA “Insights into mycotoxins in swine diets” Dan Columbus, Ph.D. – Prairie Swine Centre In this presentation, Dan provided information regarding mycotoxin prevalence, how they affect pigs, issues...
2024 PSC Producer Meeting – Lagoda – What the Chair in Swine Welfare is doing for you
During the 2024 PSC producer meetings, held in collaboration with Zoetis and PIC, postdoctoral fellow at WCVM Martyna Lagoda gave a presentation titled ‘Advancing swine welfare practices to empower your industry: What the Chair in Swine Welfare is doing for...
2024 PSC producer meeting presentation – Chou – Improved sow housing and upcoming ethology projects
During the 2024 PSC producer meetings, held in collaboration with Zoetis and PIC, ethology researcher at the Prairie Swine Centre Jen-Yun Chou gave a presentation titled ‘Moving forward with improved sow housing: current progress and prospects’. In this presentation, Jen...
Swine welfare a hot topic in cold Banff
Just prior to the start of the Banff Pork Seminar, on January 9, while it was quickly becoming frigidly cold outside, discussions were taking place around animal welfare in modern pork production systems. More than 40 pork producers, industry representatives...
