Farmscape for June 10, 2019

Research being conducted on behalf of Swine Innovation Porc will provide information to help pork producers enhance sow welfare and productivity.
The Prairie Swine Center, the Quebec Centre for Swine Development and the Canadian Centre for Swine Improvement are working in partnership with Swine Innovation Porc to fill knowledge gaps related to the management of gestating sows that influence sow productivity and longevity and piglet vitality.
Canadian Centre for Swine Improvement CEO Brian Sullivan says the effort was prompted by significant industry changes, including the movement from housing gestating sows individually to housing them in groups and the increase in litter size resulting from genetic selection and environmental improvements on farms.

Clip-Brian Sullivan-Canadian Centre for Swine Improvement:
We're looking to gather objective data that can quantify the trends for the last ten years to help zero in on what is most important.
In part this will be looking at the historical data in Canada compared to data that we can access from other countries.
The more detailed information will come from surveying producers here in Canada and then interviewing producers at both ends of the spectrum.
What we want to see is what are the differences from herds that have the best results to herds that may be having greater challenges.
Ultimately we're looking to enhance the well being and survival of sows and their piglets.
This is in the context of changes in industry such as the movement to loose sow housing.
This is of course an important welfare benefit for the animals and it's also very important for the producers and the consumers of pork.

Sullivan says the goal is to understand the factors that impact the sows and their piglets and help identify best management practices to enhance welfare and productivity.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

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