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The Rural Voice, 1994-08, Page 49NEED A SPECIAL PAINT? WE HAVE WHAT YOU NEED .. . E ° ore o ``•��>\ l4.f17' INDIJS I IRIAI. U5r\° MAINTENANCE COATINGS • Water and Waste Treatment Facilities • Water Storage Tanks • Power Generating Plants • Dairy Product Industries • Restaurant & Food • Agribusiness & Fertilizer Plants • Swimming Pools • Manufacturing & Equipment • Institutions • Municipalities • Floor Coating Systems - Aliphatic Urethane Floor Systems - Polyamide Epoxy Floor Systems - Moisture Cured Urethane Floor Systems - Acrylic Epoxy Floor Systems Serving you since 1948. OTineo Interiors WALKERTON HANOVER OWEN SOUND TOLL FREE 1-800-265-1172 F & MUNICIPAL DRAINAG E Specializing in: • Farm & Municipal Drainage • Clay & Plastic Tile Installations • Backhoe & Dozer Service • Septic System Installations For Quality, Experience, & Service call; PARKER PARKER L 1 M 1 T E Wayne Cook (519) 236-7390 R.R.2 Zurich, Ont. NOM 2T0 Advice Hot pigs and wet air! High humidity and air temperatures affect most classes of swine in similar ways, including irritable and aggressive behaviour, and reduced mobility to the point where they will stop eating, totally disregarding any pen or housekeeping habits they may have leamed. The pork industry in other parts of the world has worked with the heat humidity problem for a number of years, and there are things that can be done to reduce stress on the animals and improve performance. Adding water is quick, fast and effective, but only enough to wet the outside of the animal without runoff. The water takes in heat from the animal and evaporates into the air, cooling the pig in the process. In farrowing crates, sows can be wet with drip lines, fog nozzles, hoses and nozzles or small hand operated sprayers. In finishing operations, fog nozzles or sprinkler systems on timers provide quick and effective relief for the animals. If manure volumes are a concern, timers do a good job of reducing water use to get the job done. Fan blades and shutters should be checked to ensure they are clean and working well. The size of the equipment should match the number of animals in the bam. Newer buildings were generally built with greater fan sizes and capacities and are giving better animal performance. In hotter climates, extra fans are added in periods of hot weather, even in opcn, fully naturally ventilated buildings, and do affect animal performance. The barn load is another factor that can be changed. At the present time, with heavier shipping weights,barns may be holding up to two weeks more inventory. In hot humid weather market weight animals on partial slats should have very close to 10 square feet per animal. Performance is much better with one less pig in a pen instead of one too many. The fact that we have to deal with extreme summer weather only occasionally makes it seem like a serious problem to us. In pork producing areas where it is a known and regular condition, planning and experience have shown that it can be well managed.° by Ed Barrie Swine Advisor AUGUST 1994 45