The Rural Voice, 1998-04, Page 36at his farm, assisted by Bergsma.
The farm uses mainly Bodmin
boars with Duroc, York, Landracc
and Hampshire/Duroc breeds, and
uses artificial insemination. Most of
the females arc selected from their
own herd, mostly long and large
frame York/Landrace backcross Fls
and F2s. Vanden Heuvel emphasized
the value of building immunity in his
herd, saying that choosing gilts from
within his own herd means they will
have developed immunity to diseases
on the farm. They do not use shower -
in, shower -out practices on their own
farrn and they use a three-week
weaning age to pass on the sows'
immunity to the piglets. "We reap the
benefitsfrom this throughout the
herd," he said.
The farm keeps many older
sows, pointing out sows with
five parities or more may have
more stillbom pigs but their total pigs
produced may still be high. "We can
get this longevity because the sows
have a high immunity level to the
hugs we have at the farm. If the sows
stay fit during their life they will
farrow easier."
Bergsma, who oversees the farm's
256 -crate farrowing barn with her
sister Joan, went through the
procedures she uses to get maximum
results. For instance, she checks on
the comfort of baby pigs by
observing their lying patterns and
uses bran on the creep mat to keep it
dry and warm, and working to
prevent drafts.
With fostering, she tries to ensure
that liners are even
and takes into
consideration the
age of the sow and
her history. She
uses a cut-off time
of five days to add
or subtract pigs
from a litter. She
starts creep
feeding at 10 days,
top dressing with
Ferro Treat.
Stephen Thom-
son, who operates
two 2000 -head
nursery barns in
Oxford County
smells hot, such as fan bearings or
heaters that smell smoky from too
much dust. Regular maintenance can
save money and prevent inconvenient
breakdowns, even fires. Keep spare
parts on hand to help save time and
animal comfort.
Smell for foul odours in young
pigs' pens that may indicate early
stages of scours. If the air is heavy
smelling and hard
The pigs' demeanor will tell you if
they're comfortable, speakers said.
said the best advice he can give is to
use your senses. When you enter the
barn, pay attention to anything that
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32 THE RURAL VOICE
to breathe, then
the fan speed is
too low. Too
much humidity
and dust will lead
to lung problems
in young pigs and
pneu-monia will
set in, causing
slow growth or
death. Thomson
said he likes
relative humidity
to be 50-65 per
cent.
"Smell the feed
each time you get
a new batch deliver -ed," he advised.
Any foul smells could be caused by
moulds or rancid ingredients. Also,
different flavouring ingredients could
tip you off to the wrong feed
delivered to the wrong bin. "Any of
these could be a disaster to a fragile
baby pig."
Listening to odd or out of place
sounds can quickly identify
problems, Thomson advised. Fan
bearings that squeal or grind or a feed
auger that won't shut off or heaters
that run all the time can indicate
problems.
"Listen to your pigs. They can tell
you a lot about how they are feeling,"
he said. Unhappy pigs will be
squealing a lot and will be restless
and agitated when they should be
content.
"Listen to their breathing. If you
hear a laboured or wheezing breath,
then take action by treating with an
appropriate medication and adjust the
ventilation," Thomson said.
Pigs that are stressed squeal
distinctly. Overcrowding may cause
stress. Allow three square feet per pig
in the nursery. If there are signs of
stress, be prepared to remove the pig
if need be and treat it. Try to return
the pig as quickly as possible so it
will be accepted back into the