What do we know about creep feeding and piglet performance
Hannah Burlet, Atta Agyekum – At the 2026 PSC Producer Meetings, Atta Agyekum presented new research on creep feeing. Creep feeding can be useful for piglets, especially in large litters, when sow milk production is declining, or when pigs are...
What’s new in nutrition?
Hannah Burlet, Jean-Phillipe Martineau – New research presented at the 2026 PSC Producer Meetings by Jean-Phillipe Martineau from Swine Nutrition Partners highlights several opportunities to improve pig performance while managing feed costs. For nursery pigs, diets with lower crude protein...
Practical enrichments for growing pigs on commercial farms
Miranda Smit, Martyna Lagoda – At the 2026 PSC Producer Meetings, Miranda Smit and Martyna Lagoda presented data from a trial at a commercial barn and a research barn looking at environmental enrichment for pigs. Enrichment gives pigs opportunities to...
Hidden pathways for disease
Hannah Burlet, Jeff Bergermann – At the 2026 PSC Producer Meetings, Jeff Bergermann from Zoetis discussed how disease can enter a pig barn. The presentation reviewed the disease triangle—susceptible pigs, pathogens and a favourable environment—and explained how biosecurity can help...
PSC celebrates 35 years driving innovation for the Canadian pork industry
Ken Engele, Murray Pettitt – The Prairie Swine Centre (PSC) is celebrating 35 years of practical, industry-focused research supporting Canada’s pork industry. Established as a non-profit organization in 1991, PSC grew from a University of Saskatchewan research facility into a...
Evaluating the future of the herd
Hannah Burlet, Mauricio Gonzalez, Steffen Klenk – At the 2026 PSC Producer Meetings, the PIC team discussed careful gilt development, appropriate breeding targets, body-condition monitoring, and strong feed and water management to improve sow performance and retention. Research shows that...
Low crude protein for post-weaning diarrhea
Michael Bosompem, Michael Wellington, Andrew van Kessel – A recent study examined whether lowering crude protein levels in nursery pig diets could help reduce post-weaning diarrhea caused by rotavirus and E. coli infection. Researchers compared standard diets with low-protein and...
PEDv rapid test
Bernardo Predicala – A study evaluated a rapid test kit for detecting Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv) in Canadian swine herds. The study confirmed that the RT-LAMP–based kit could successfully detect North American PEDv strains in infected pigs, providing results...
Novel strategies to control mycotoxins
Alvin Alvarado, Bernardo Predicala – Mycotoxins in grain, especially deoxynivalenol (DON), are a common problem for pig producers. In North America, most grain samples contain some level of DON, which can reduce feed intake and slow pig growth. Researchers tested...
Comparing groups and stalls – what does the data say?
Shuang Luo, Jen-Yun Chou – Many producers worry that a move from sow stalls to group sow housing could hurt productivity, especially due to pregnancy loss or fertility problems. Researchers looked at records from 12 commercial swine farms in Saskatchewan—six...
Successful floor feeding: how to do it right
Jen-Yun Chou – This is Part 2 of the ‘Barn Insights Series’, which focuses on practical solutions to group sow housing. In this second part, Jen-Yun describes her visit to Dave DeVries’ sow barn in Ontario. They use a floor...
Centred on Swine Volume 34 No 2
Topics for this edition include:
