The 2013-2014 Prairie Swine Centre Annual Report is now available for producer to download at the following link.
2013-2014 Prairie Swine Centre Annual Report
This year’s Annual Report consists of 14 articles examining new management and technologies that help enhance the bottom line of pork producers.
A Canadian survey of genetic nucleus herds showed moderate levels of lameness and a high prevalence of hoof lesions.
More objective methods of lameness evaluation are needed to effectively monitor prevalence across herds…Page 11
Using a flat tray feeder resulted in more feeder visits per pig in farrowing, and prevented a growth check at day 1 after
weaning, compared to piglets given a standard creep feeder….Page 15
In a large herd with ESF housing, significant benefits were found when housing younger sows (parity 1 and 2) separately versus mixing them with older sows. Younger sows in uniform groups showed reduced lameness and maintained higher backfat levels….Page 16
Barn conversions in demonstration sites across the country will be monitored in the National Sow Housing Conversion
Project. The project results will help to inform producers about the costs of barn conversion and best practices for
group sow housing….Page 19.
An operant mechnaism was developed to allow group-housed sows to control their own environmental temperatures….Page 23
Evaluation of a prototype air filtration system installed on a transport trailer showed that the use of selected microbial
filters can effectively capture bioaerosols and prevent entry into the interior or the trailer….Page 25
Growing pigs provided liquid whey in their drinking water deecreased intake of dry feed, and thus overall nutrient
intake was unchanged….Page 27
The porporation of pigs within a room who hadn’t begun to eat by 24 hours post-weaaning, ranged from 0% on some
farms farms to more than 60% on others….Page 30
Top-dressing bovine colostrum, while apparently highly palatable, did not improve performance of piglets in the farrowing room or nursery….Page 32
Reducing the omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acid ratio is more important than increasing omega-3 fatty acid intake alone
for nursery pigs. Decreasing the ratio to 5:1 improved animal performance and protein deposition, whereas increasing
omega-3’s at a constant ratio to omega-6’s had no impact on piglet performance….Page 34
A dietary omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acid ratio of 5:1 improves protein deposition rates when nursery pigs are fed the
same amount of feed relative to a more typical 10:1 ratio. When incorporating omega-3 fatty acids into swine diets it is
important to account for the ratio relative to omega-6’s to optimize performance….Page 37
Neither photoperiod in the farrowing room, nor the time of weaning aff ected the growth rate in the nursery…. Page 39
Overall their were no interactions between dietary energy concentration and stocking density…. Page 42
Providing an extra water source to pigs maintained at a high stocking density improved the feed:gain ratio and overall
income….Page 46
Source: Prairieswine