Animal Welfare
Caring for compromised swine – an assessment swine marketed through buying stations and development of fitness for transport guidelines
May 31, 2016By Suzanne Millman
Swine welfare during marketing, defined as the phase during which the pig is in transit between the farm and the meat processing plant, continues to be a priority for the swine industry. Buying...
Animal Welfare
Evaluation of Transportation Conditions on Performance of Weaned and Feeder Pigs
November 19, 2015By Dr. Jay Harmon
Transportation of pigs at early ages may result in profit-stripping incidence of mortality and compromised animal welfare due to stress stemming from unfavorable transporting conditions. This...
Animal Welfare
Designer Diets Decrease Aggression and Increase Welfare
November 19, 2015By Donald Lay Jr
The current practice of pregnant sow housing uses individual housing in stalls. However, producers are under a great deal of pressure to return sows to group housing due to various reasons....
Animal Welfare
Optimized Minimal Floor-space for Group-Pen System Using Feeding Stalls and Diet Strategy to Improve Well Being
October 8, 2015By Janeen L. Salak-Johnson PhD
Sow aggression is a common problem associated with group-housing systems especially during feeding and mixing of sows. Grouped-housed sows establish a social hierarchy upon mixing which often reduces...
Animal Welfare
Weaning sows directly into group housing: Effects on aggression, physiology and productivity
July 15, 2015By Jennifer Brown
In the management of group housed sows, keeping sows in stalls from weaning until five weeks after breeding is a common strategy that serves to prevent aggression, control individual feed intake...
Animal Welfare
Development of a practical, cost-effective pain mitigation technique for castration of piglets
June 17, 2015By Erin Fierheller
There is a growing trend towards the development of “welfare-friendly” management practices in production animals....
Animal Welfare
Improving the welfare of group housed sows fed via electronic sow feeding
May 1, 2015By Thomas Parsons
Managing aggression is important to the success of gestating sows in pens. This study was designed to examine different ways of mixing sows...
Animal Welfare
Validation of EEG measures for pain assessment in piglets aged 0 to 10 days
March 2, 2015By Craig Johnson
According to current commercial practice, tail docking of pigs is performed without analgesia and is therefore acutely painful. Negative public perception concerning tail docking without the use of...
Animal Welfare
Systematic Literature Review and Needs Assessment of Housing Systems for Lactating sows and Their Litters
January 29, 2015By Thomas Parsons
The farrowing crate is one of several common animal husbandry practices facing increased public scrutiny across the globe. Like a gestation stall, similar welfare concerns are expressed about...
Animal Welfare
A Comprehensive Literature Review on the Development, Treatment and Prevention of Shoulder Lesions in Sows
October 30, 2014By Jennifer Brown
Shoulder ulcers (shoulder lesions) in sows are most commonly observed in the first weeks of lactation, following farrowing. The prevalence of this problem varies greatly from herd to herd due to a...
