Allowing Pigs Time to Feel Comfortable When Moving Reduces Stress on the Pigs and the People

A production manager with Olymel specializing in animal handling and training suggests, by slowing down, considering the natural behaviors of the pig and allowing the pigs to feel comfortable with their surroundings, handlers will find moving those pigs to be much easier and less stressful for both themselves and the animals.

"Tips and Tricks for Working with Hogs; Practical Strategies for Handling Hogs" was among the topics discussed as part of Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium 2025 in Saskatoon in November. Kevin Brooks, a production manager specializing in animal handling and training with Olymel Swine West in Humboldt, says one of the biggest mistakes we see is handlers try to move too many pigs too quickly sending a mixed message to the animals resulting in confusion and unnecessary stress.

Quote-Kevin Brooks-Olymel Swine West:

Giving that pig a chance to observe, they're curious animals so if we can give them a chance or a second to feel like they're safe, they can smell or understand their surroundings they'll go forward and they will advance. I think we naturally want to herd animals because we're naturally a herding people and gathering people so we want to gather food and sort so we have to just slow down.

We have to just stop, back up, release the pressure. I think any time we've left a gate open in a barn and we turn around, two minutes later all those pigs have escaped. What happened there? We weren't chasing them but they were curious and wanted to go.

I think if we take that kind of thought process into moving, again win-win. As a manager, let's observe our own farm, see what challenges we have and let's talk about it at the staff meeting because it will be easier and then everyone is going to be a little bit more happy to do that moving. I look at a farm I worked with where loading was the last job people wanted to do.

Now it's the first job people want to do. It's interesting how you can flip the script with just a few techniques.

Brooks observes times are changing and changes made over the past few years in the way pigs are moved have benefited both the pigs and the people. He suggests the biggest mistake made by people who have worked with pigs for a long time is they have alwa