Water intake
Table showing recommended flow rate and height of nipple drinkers. Tips for saving water include adjusting nipple drinkers to proper height, check flow rates, and repair or replace leaky drinkers and water lines, among others. Water intake (full article)
Now is the time to look at market weights
With feed prices at or near all-time highs now is he time to look at how heavy you should market your pigs. Calculating your optimal market weight is a relatively straightforward exercise, once you have all the required information. Once...
How do we manage high feed prices?
Over the past several years, grain prices have increased significantly with wheat and barley prices close to doubling the values seen in the fall of 2020. Therefore, finding strategies to minimize the impact of high feed prices will be important...
Making the most of your water
Previous work has shown finishing pigs can waste 25% of water from well-managed nipple drinkers, therefore opportunities exist to reduce wastage when flow rates are adjusted on a regular basis. Actual on-farm water flow rates and nipple drinker heights were...
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...
Novel antimicrobials for swine health
Dr. Chris Gray, University of Guelph Summary The main goal of the project has been to enhance the performance and reduce the toxicity of a novel synthetic AMP (HHC-36), employ machine learning (ML) methods for discovering new, more potent antimicrobial...
Establishing value/utility of soluble CD163 as a biomarker for predicting PRRS-induced disease severity in swine herds
Dr. John Harding, University of Saskatchewan Summary There is evidence to conclude that both sCD163 and the thyroid hormones are potential biomarkers of disease resilience. At present, we have stronger evidence for the thyroid hormones and supporting further investigation for...
Development of an in vitro/in vivo correlation method to assess the efficiency of oral drug release from medicated feeds in swine
Dr. Jerome del Castillo, University of Montreal Summary For the last 70 years, feed has been used as a convenient drug administration vehicle for group medication of pigs. Once they satisfy the requirements for regulatory approval, the dietary drug premixes...
Strategies for Reducing Feed Costs – Virtual Town Hall
Taking a direct look at the increase in feed cost, there are different things producers can do to manage this high feed cost situation. This was a focus of a webinar held by Sask Pork, University of Saskatchewan and Prairie...
Best Practices: How Do You Measure Up?
An audit was completed on Canadian pork barns in 2017, with areas for improvement including farrowing systems, nursery facilities, finishing facilities and managing water intake. The optimal farrowing room environment is often achieved, with many of the barns using heat...
Some Audits are a Good Thing…Really!
An audit was completed in 2017 on best management practices in Canadian swine barns. Results show areas for possible improvements in biosecurity, personal protection and training, washing procedures and gestation housing systems. Many of the participating farms had biosecurity protocols...
Where Does the Gut Go From Here?
Gut health is measured by how well it can assimilate nutrients and act as a barrier for pathogens. The microbiome is very diverse, containing several hundred species and around two million genes. Pigs are born sterile, with their microbiome forming...
