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Nancy Lidster: Pig Handling - Know the History

Nov 06, 2012

Source: DNL farms ltd



Since posting our last blog on June 24, 2012, new people continue to subscribe to the blog and people continue to access the 50+ articles archived here.

In the past we posted a new blog weekly. We’re going to resume posting blogs but less frequently. 

Low Stress Pig Handling has continued to evolve as we’ve watched, videoed, and studied hundreds of handlers. The handlers have helped us see: predictable response patterns in the pigs they’re moving: patterns of handler behaviour that consistently produce easy pig movement: patterns of handler behaviour that cause pig moving problems.

They’ve helped us understand;

-        why the commonly taught approach to moving pigs can cause problems and

-        what successful handlers do differently to produce consistent, positive pig moving results

Why Low Stress approach is needed


We scratched the point of balance in the video.

Examples at the end of the video show groups of pigs moving ahead of a handler through a 90 degree turn and a doorway. Many handlers would have problems with this situation.

Handlers in the video were successful because they read and responded appropriately to cues they were getting from their pigs. Responding to these cues is absolutely essential to effective pig movement. 

Handlers who rely on the point of balance often: miss cues from their animals: crowd too close: cause pigs to circle back or quit moving.

Relying on the point of balance without regard for the full range of pigs’ response patterns and body language cues is an invitation for pig handling problems.

 

That’s enough for now.

Take care
Nancy Lidster

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