Nancy Lidster: Canada’s Code Does Not Mention Release of Pressure

Apr 21, 2015

By Nancy Lidster www.dnlfarms.com

Our purpose is to make the work of moving pigs safer and easier for handlers by helping them understand the patterns pigs follow when responding to handlers.

BACKGROUND:

I have been asked to outline my concerns about the pig handling content of Canada’s new “Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Pigs”.

Previous blogs in this series have dealt with general concerns about the flight zone / point of balance model used by Canada’s codes and other training documents, primarily:

The word “flight” encourages handlers to use fear to move pigs AND thinking in terms of the handler`s bubble instead of the pig’s flight zone makes it easier to recognize and manage pig response patterns.

The flight zone diagram was developed to show how to move a single cow through a curved single file chute. Most on-farm pig moving situations do not involve moving single animals or animals confined in chutes. Trying to apply the flight zone diagram will cause problems in most on-farm situations.

We’ll now look at concerns related to details of the flight zone / point of balance diagram.

Canada’s “Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Pigs” is at:

http://www.nfacc.ca/pdfs/codes/pig_code_of_practice.pdf

DETAILS OF THE FLIGHT ZONE DIAGRAM: Cause for Concerns

Handler positions “a” and “b” of the flight zone / point of balance diagram:

Figure 1 is the flight zone / point of balance diagram found on page 58 of Canada’s “Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Pigs”.

Handler positions “a” and “b” are identified in the lower left corner of Figure 1.

Figure 1:

According to Figure 1:

the handler has to be just inside the pig’s flight zone – at position “b” – to start the pig moving

if the handler moves out of the flight zone – to position “a” – the pig will stop moving

Figure 1 implies that as the pig starts to move away from the handler:

the pig’s flight zone moves away from the handler as well

the handler has to move right with the pig to avoid leaving the pig’s flight zone and thereby causing the pig to stop moving

Problems:

The diagram tells handlers to work just at the edge of the pig’s flight zone.

– many handlers can’t tell where they are relative to the edge of the flight zone

– many handlers overlook the “edge of flight zone” bit and assume the pig will do whatever it has to to get away from the handler.

According to the late Bud Williams, it takes more pressure to start an animal moving than it takes to keep it moving ie. an animal’s flight zone expands when it starts to move. We have to adjust for that.

The diagram and text of Canada’s code make no mention of giving pigs release from pressure.

Release from pressure: reducing the threat

Any time we apply pressure to an animal and ask it to move, we have to give it release from that pressure before we pressure it again:

– to keep the animal calm and willing to cooperate with us

– so the pig can show us where we need to work (ie: let us find the edge of their flight zone / edge of our bubble)

Source: DNL Farm