A Survey of Best Management Practices of Swine Farms Across Canada – Part 2

Sep 30, 2024

This article will continue to focus on the adoption of best management practices; and how we are doing as an industry. Two projects funded by Swine Innovation Porc and carried out by Prairie Swine Centre (PSC) and Centre de développement du porc du Québec (CDPQ) focused on best management practices looking at biosecurity/herd health, feed/feeder management, and personal protection, water use/management, in addition to each phase of production (breeding, gestation, farrowing, nursery, and grow-finish.

Audit results indicate that dust masks, hearing protection and hydrogen sulphide (H2S) monitors are being used to varying degrees in on farms across Canada. Approximately 90% of farms indicate that they provide creep feed. Results from the audit indicate that approximately half of participating farms sort pigs when transferred into the finishing barn. A majority of respondents (66%) indicate we adjust feeders as required. Just over 50% of measured feeders achieved an ideal feeder adjustment while 30% and 14% of feeders were over or under adjusted respectively. Based on some of the results we can see that little changes can make a big impact on the overall profitability of your operation. Currently there seems to be a margin for improvement as we achieve a 40-50% of measured and surveyed best management practices.

Source : Swine Web

Video: 2026 T.K. Cheung Lecture in Animal Science - Dan Weary

T.K. Cheung Lecture in Animal Science: "Using science to assess and improve the welfare of dairy cattle"

Dan Weary is a Professor at the University of British Columbia. Dan did his BSc and MSc at McGill and Doctorate at Oxford before co-founding UBC’s Animal Welfare Program where he now co-directs this active research group. His research focuses on understanding the perspectives of animals and applying these insights to develop methods of assessing animal welfare and improving the lives of animals. His work has helped drive changes in practices (including the adoption of higher milk rations for calves and pain management for disbudding) and housing methods (including the adoption of social housing for pre-weaned calves). He also studies cow comfort and lameness, social interactions among cows, and interactions between cows, human handlers and technologies like automated millking systems that are increasingly used on farms. His presentation will outline key questions in cattle welfare, highlight recent UBC research addressing them, and showcase innovative methods for improving the lives of cattle and their caretakers.