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: Farm Health Guardian | Digital Biosecurity in Real Time

Disease risk, biosecurity, and real-time monitoring continue to be major topics across the pork industry. In this episode of Swine Web Industry Perspectives, presented by Farm Health Guardian, we discuss how digital biosecurity and real-time data are changing the way producers think about herd protection, people movement, and operational decision-making.

The conversation explores:

disease risk in modern pork production,

the impact of people movement on biosecurity,

the importance of real-time monitoring,

digital biosecurity technology,

and how Farm Health Guardian developed tools designed to support modern swine operations.

As the industry continues focusing on prevention, preparedness, and operational efficiency, connected technologies and actionable data are becoming increasingly important parts of modern herd health management.