Dietary ω-6 to ω-3 Fatty Acid Ratios Affect Protein Deposition in Nursery Pigs
An experiment was conducted to determine if decreasing the dietary omega-6 (ω-6) to omega-3 (ω-3) fatty acid (FA) ratio would affect protein deposition in nursery pigs during a prolonged E. coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) inflammatory challenge. Following a one week long challenge, six week old...
Dietary ω-6 to ω-3 Ratio Impacts Nursery Pigs
Results from these experiments indicate that altering the omega(ω)-6 to ω-3 fatty acid (FA) ratio can improve nursery pig performance, and protein deposition, potentially by diverting nutrients away from an unnecessary inflammatory response. Additionally, we found no effects on piglet performance or health by...
Can Bovine Colostrum Mitigate the Post-Weaning Growth Lag?
Bovine colostrum is a good source of nutrients and growth factors, and is very palatable. It was added to the creep feed of piglets in the farrowing room and to the phase one diets immediately post-weaning to determine if it would increase feed...
Are My Pigs Eating?
Recent trials conducted at the Prairie Swine Centre, Inc. have confirmed the importance of feed intake by the piglet immediately post-weaning and/or consumption of creep feed in the farrowing room. We have also demonstrated that more than half of the piglets may not...
Will Hogs Provided with Whey Compensate in Feed and Water Intake?
Minimizing feed cost is always important for improving profits in swine production and can sometimes be accomplished by utilizing by-products from other agricultural industries. Whey, a product of the dairy processing industry, has well-known beneficial properties as a feed additive and is typically fed...
Field Testing of an Air Filtration System for Transport
The spread of airborne transmissible disease such as PRRS continues to be a serious threat to the Canadian swine industry as this disease causes significant economic losses to infected herds. Th is project aimed to develop an additional line of defense against infection...
Can Group-Housed Sows Raised at Lower Temperatures?
In this project, an operant mechanism that will allow sows housed in a group system to control their own environmental temperature was developed. Th e mechanism was configured with a manual control switch that the sows can access and operate, which in turn...
Impact of Various Parity Groupings on Welfare and Productivity in ESF Housing
Electronic sow feeders (ESF) provide an automated system for controlling the individual feed intake of group-housed sows. However, this system can prompt increased aggression, especially in the initial period following mixing, as sows compete for access to the ESF. The primary objective of this...
Quantifying the Prevalence of Lameness and Hoof Lesions
Th e aim of this survey was to collect information on the prevelance of lameness and hoof lesions on genetic nucleus herds, to help provide baseline information on the prevelance of lameness and hoof lesions in Canadian sows. Six genetic herds were visited,...
Nanoparticles for Controlling Disease – Causing Microorganisms in Pig Barns
Laboratory-scale tests were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of various types of commercially-available nanoparticles on the levels of microorganisms commonly encountered in swine barns. Results indicate Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles had the highest antimicrobial efficacy among all the nanoparticles tested. Further experiments carried out...
Geothermal Systems for Heating & Cooling in Swine Barns
This study assessed the applicability of a geothermal system in swine production facilities. In-barn evaluation of the impact of the geothermal system on energy use, thermal environment, greenhouse gas emissions, and animal performance was conducted by comparing a swine grow-finish room with geothermal system...
Assessing Whey to Reduce Feed Cost
Deproteinized whey permeate is a by-product of the cheese-making industry. Depending on the type of cheese being produced it can be categorized as “sweet whey” or “acid whey”, the latter contains about 4.7% organic acids. The objective of this experiment was to determine the...
