Addressing Influenza a Shot in the Arm for Industry
Influenza has a large impact on the Canadian swine industry as it mutates quickly resulting in multiple strains. A genomic analysis was completed on 16 strains that were causing outbreaks in Canada. Once one of the viruses was being dealt...
Sow Housing Strategies: Mixing Well With Others
Sow mixing strategies can affect reproductive performance, sow well-being and the economics of the operation. Mixing sows is a critical aspect of group housing so it needs to be better understood. The three time points that mixing can occur are...
Reducing Post-Weaning Diarrhea: Digesting the Results
Previously, low levels of antibiotics were supplied in feed so that post-weaning diarrhea was reduced. Feed additives may be able to help replace antibiotics and decrease the incidence of post-weaning diarrhea. Three types of prebiotics and an organic acid salt...
Cooling Systems for Pigs a Hot Topic
Transportation needs to be properly ventilated for pigs as they do not have sweat glands and often overheat which can be fatal. Most pig transport vehicles in Canada do not have a cooling system in place. Water misting systems can...
High Hopes for High Moisture Grain Treatment
Acidifying high moisture cereal grains may have benefits in pig nutrition. When acidified low moisture grains were implemented into nursery piglets’ diets, growth performance and feed intake were improved due to nutrient digestibility and gut health improvements. Acidified high-moisture cereal...
Post Weaning Diets: A Simple Solution
Nursery diets are quite expensive as they are complex in order to help the newly weaned pigs perform better. Simple and complex diets were tested on commercial farms, with the cheaper soybean meal diet limiting growth at first, though both...
Researchers Get Testy with Airborne Pathogens
Airborne pathogens can occasionally elude biosecurity measures and are an economic burden for producers. Various filtration devices were tested on how effective they were at reducing the risk of airborne pathogens. A testing platform was built to evaluate different filter...
The Heat is On: Truck Wash System Dissolves Disease
The greatest vector for disease transfer in the swine sector is trucks. Cleaning trucks is expensive and labour intensive and is still a biosecurity hazard. A vacuum system prototype is being evolved to help vacuum contaminants from the truck. Along...
Validating Net Energy of Wheat DDGS
Feed prices are continuing to increase, so novel ingredients are being examined for their potential in swine diets. Wheat DDGS is becoming increasingly available in the Prairies and can be implemented in diets in a step-up inclusion strategy up to...
The Next Game Changer in Feeding Pigs
A precision feeding system can help reduce costs by improving the efficiency of nutrients and feed, while also using traceability to enhance food safety and decreasing the environmental footprint by reducing feed waste. Phase feeding is the alternative and it...
Mycotoxins and the Immune System
Mycotoxins are produced by mould that grows on grains and are toxic and cause diverse effects to livestock. Dilution and feed additives can be used to try to mitigate the effects but their effectiveness is not clear and it increases...
New Tools for Improving Biosecurity
Main sources of contamination that increase biosecurity risks were identified along with practices that may increase the risk of contamination. Packing plant loading docks and farms had the highest level of contamination with trucks increasing microbial transfer risk between areas....
