Seal up those barns
As part of the brochure ‘Managing energy cost in the barn’, this section talks about the importance of good insulation and sealing of air leaks such as shutters of ventilation fans. To access this specific section, go to ‘Seal up...
Ventilation systems
As part of the brochure ‘Managing energy cost in the barn’, this section talks about the goals of a ventilation system and how to reduce energy use of the ventilation system, including proper controller settings, energy efficient fans, and air...
Sow mortality in Canadian Swine Herds
Sow mortality is an area of increasing concern as production records indicate a significant increase in spontaneous death losses over the past 10-20 years. This project gathered information on sow mortality in Canadian herds through a literature review, a producer...
Managing High Feed Costs
Feed costs always will be the single largest component in costs associated with pork production. Finding ways to effectively reduce feed costs while optimizing pig performance helps producers economic sustainability. This publication focuses on four key areas including: 1) Diet...
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...
