Blog posts tagged with 'swine feed system'

One of the benefits we list for the Grow-Disk system is a “superior chain.”  The feed chain with molded plastic disks is the main component of the system, physically moving feed to a feeder or sow drop.

I dropped in on Hog Slat’s engineering group to see what I could find out.  I found Tim Hawkins, the project engineer for the Grow-Disk product line. Tim led me to a complicated looking run of 12 corners occurring in less than eight feet with intersecting vertical and horizontal corners.

“The drive unit is off of it now,” Tim explained,  “but we ran different brands of chain through this setup to show accelerated wear. Look at this…..see the metal filings in the bottom of the corner? Those showed up when we ran the last batch of electroplated chain through the unit.  The process of electroplating weakens steel causing it to wear faster.”

“This confirmed the difference between using hardened steel compared to galvanized or electroplated chain.  Hardened steel is high carbon steel given heat treatments of quenching followed by tempering.  The result is tough steel chain that resists wear without being brittle. We can run a hardened chain for days and never see filings like that.”

“With most chain feeding systems you have to adjust for “chain stretch” after the systems have operated for awhile.  We don’t think the individual chain links stretch but as they go around corners constantly rubbing together they elongate because of wear.”

“The only reason, to galvanize steel, is to prevent rust.  With the fat and oils in the feed, the chain doesn’t rust in the tube.  Most brands of feeding chain is galvanized for it’s appearance before installation.  A new bag of Grow-Disk may have some surface rust on it, not a big deal.”

We next looked at how well the plastic disks are fastened to the chain.

“We placed each brand of chain link in a load cell and attached it to a winch, measuring the force needed to pull the disks off the link.”

“Most of the disks pulled off at 300 lbs., although one slipped at only 160 pounds!  We applied over 600 lbs. of force to the Grow-Disk disk before it slipped.”

“First of all, the disks are manufactured from nylon, a stronger, denser plastic instead of polypropylene.
Second, if you look closely at all the chains the connector welds are smooth, except on the Grow-Disk chain….see the little knob?  That knob prevents the nylon disk from slipping…the nylon has to break instead of just slipping.”

“Most feeding chain suppliers buy general purpose chain with the knob removed. By using a chain fabricated “in-house” and designed specifically for feed systems, we can produce a superior product.”

“A strong plastic disk is important because the drive sprocket powering the entire system makes contact with each, single disk for a brief moment.  If an individual disk slips this causes the chain to be slightly out of alignment causing possible jams.”

You can be confident using Grow-Disk chain knowing you are buying the very best even though the cost is usually less.

Hog Slat streamlined distribution system reduces margin stacking.  We manufacture and source products direct to you….eliminating extra dealer margins.

Good product engineering does not add cost to a product but instead takes manufacturing processes into account to reduce costs. It costs no more to spec a hardened chain with knobs intact to provide a better contact for injecting the nylon disk.  The result is a superior product that lasts longer on your farm.

Grow-Disk systems, read more…

Another successful show is in the books for Hog Slat at the 2015 World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa. This year, Hog Slat displayed several new items, including our AirStorm fiberglass ventilation fans, Grow-Disk™ chain disk feed system and the GrowerSELECT® curtain machine. In addition to these new products, we also featured our concrete slats, TriDek flooring, group pen feed stanchions, GrowerSELECT sow drops and more.

Hog Slat hosted a group of Chinese pig farmers that were visiting the United States and attended the World Pork Expo. On Tuesday, as part of their trip, we visited a brand new 2 barn finishing site Hog Slat just completed, located in Lohrville, IA. The group was able to see a new group of pigs that had just been loaded into one of the barns earlier that afternoon, and also examine the inside of the other barn that had not been loaded with pigs yet.
Both of these deep pit barns were equipped with GrowerSELECT Grow-Flex™ feed systems, Hog Slat wet/dry hog feeders and AquaChief cup waterers as part of their equipment package. The group was very impressed with the fit and finish of Hog Slat’s feed system equipment and building construction. To learn more about new construction or remodeling hog barns in the Midwest or other areas of the United States, please visit the Hog Slat sales representative locator, found here.

Hog Slat will be exhibiting at this year’s World Pork Expo with many new and further developed swine equipment products, highlighting Hog Slat’s GrowerSELECT product line.

At the show, Hog Slat will have a large variety of equipment on display in both the exhibition hall (Booth V165 VIB) and at the Hog Slat hospitality tent (Tent G234). Equipment that will be on display includes Hog Slat’s Grow-Flex Feed System, Grow-Disk Feed System, Slats, and an introduction to Hog Slat’s AirStorm fans. We invite you to stop by the Hog Slat booth to see what’s new at the show.

Enjoy FREE ADMISSION to the 2015 World Pork Expo, courtesy of Hog Slat. You may redeem your admission voucher by registering online at www.worldpork.org by May 28th and use voucher code HogSlat2015. Or, present a hard copy of our voucher (available through the Hog Biz, local Hog Slat retail stores, or your local sales contact) during on-site registration the day of the expo.  Expo registration is located in the Animal Learning Center inside Gate 15.

Craving some good BBQ? Stop by the Hog Slat hospitality tent anytime during expo to enjoy Vinny’s BBQ, located in Dakota City, IA. Vinny’s will be serving lunch and dinner both Wednesday and Thursday of the expo.

The World Pork Expo is held June 3rd-5th in Des Moines, IA at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. Visit us at the show in booth V165 in the Varied Industries Building and Hospitality Tent G234. We hope to see you at the show!

As the swine industry searches for alternatives to stall gestation, another option has emerged and is in the process of being refined.  Stanchion Housing refers to short stall-like dividers that are added to open pen gestation to separate and protect the animals as they are fed.  It is a refinement over traditional open pens where sow are fed on the floor and group size must be limited to reduce fighting.

To date all the systems have been designed with standard gestation stalls in which the sows are weaned and remain until they are bred and preg checked.  Typically this would be about a 45 day inventory of the total sow numbers.

Looking at the total number of animals in a breeding group, a decision can be made on total numbers of sows per pen.  Current stanchion systems range from 10 head per pen all the way up to over a hundred.  Many producers choose to break a farrowing group into two or three different pens as this allows for grading and sorting weaned animals by body score.  Placing sows in similar groups reduces fighting and allows for uniform feeding.

After total number of sows per pen is determined, the next design consideration is the amount of square footage per animal.  Current EU welfare regulations require 24 sq ft. and some producers have chosen to follow that guideline, but systems exist that range from this level all the way down to 17 sq ft./sow.

Two critical design elements have proved themselves in the existing layouts.  First, long narrow pens are preferred as this prevents a boss sow from blocking feed stanchions.  The second design feature is placing the stanchions head to head in the center of the pen rather than placing them along the alleys.  Because the stanchions are not in the alleys, the sows can be viewed from the rear during feeding for problems.  It also allows for easier animal movement in and out of the pens as the gates are not part of the stanchions.  In addition, the number of feed lines needed is reduced.

The first stanchion systems featured trickle feed equipment where the feed slowly dribbled in front of the sows at meal time, the idea being a slow placement of feed in front of the sows would hold them in the stalls and prevent boss sows from “wolfing down” their feed and moving up and down the line stealing feed.    In practice, the additional cost and upkeep of a trickle system did not justify its use and has been omitted on new installations.   Current systems use standard feed drops that dump the entire ration into stainless steel troughs or on a solid concrete floor.

Equipment used in a head-to-head layout consists of stanchions that are 40” tall and 19” long.  These dimensions protect the face and ears of the individual sow from aggressive pen mates.  Ideal width has been determined to be 20” as this prevents other sows from crowding in to steal feed.   Early systems used solid dividers; as we gained more experience with head-to-head systems,  the use of open dividers was adopted.   The Hog Slat equipment used to configure this layout is an adaption of our standard gestation stall which has been used throughout the industry for over 30 years.  The stanchions are constructed of solid horizontal rods with angle top and bottom rails, the entire unit bolts together with galvanized floor spacers and double top spacers for added stability. This style of stanchion fits completely with the standard 40” gestation penning used in the rest of the pen layout.   The result is a well-designed system that goes together without a great deal of “field fabrication”. AquaChief cup waterers are added at the rate of one per 11 animals to provide fresh water.

Many of the stanchion systems are remodels, the layout of which has to be adapted to existing slat /solid configurations. If building new projects most producers opt for using total slats as this allows for more flexibility in the event of changes in the welfare regulations.

Stanchion systems require a high degree of stockmanship to operate successfully.  Boss sows must be culled ruthlessly and individual care of animals is more difficult than standard stall systems.  However, for many production systems, stanchions are a better alternative than Electronic Sow Feeding. Stanchions allow group housings of animals without the costs and high maintenance associated with ESF stations.

For more information please contact your local Hog Slat rep or contact us by email at frichards@hogslat.com.

With feed costs reaching an all time high, having the right feeder in your swine facility has never been more important.  Historically American growers have enjoyed low feed costs compared to the rest of the world’s producers.  Because of the supply demand created by ethanol and production shortages, we may no longer enjoy this advantage in the world market. Our industry has seen a number of trends (fads?) in feeder design in the past years. Many of these feeders became popular because of their low cost. Large numbers were installed before they were adequately tested. As production data from these feeders was complied, many didn’t meet industry standards for ADG and Feed Conversion.

The charts below show Agri-Stats Top 25’s average for Feed Conversion for both Feeder to Finish and Wean to Finish operations.  We can use them as a baseline to compare to potential savings that can be achieved with good, well designed feeders.

Using these numbers let’s compare potential savings on a typical 1,200 head finishing building with 20 feeders.  For our example let’s assume that the barn is showing an average feed conversion of 2.9 , achieves 2.4  annual turns and replacing the feeders moves the FC to 2.6.

1,200 head x $24.64 saved per pig space =$29,568

To replace those 20 Feeders with Hog Slat 60” feeders would cost $5,940.

To think of it another way, having efficient, easy-to-adjust feeders in a 1,200 finishing building saves $81 in feed wastage per day in our example.  That means you would have to own the feeders for only 73 days to recoup your investment of $5,940!

Of the numerous brands available for replacement feeders why should Hog Slat feeders be your choice? Many of the top 25 production systems in the Agristats records are using Hog Slat feeders. The reasons are simple. For over 25 years, Hog Slat has produced a quality feeder without gimmicks or following fads.

The bolt together construction adds durability that you can’t get with a welded feeder.  Heavy weight hogs bang and push against feeders.  Welded feeders don’t have the ability to flex with the blows and stress cracks can develop.

Hog Slat feeders have a deeper trough than most competitive brands and a feed saver lip preventing pigs from rooting feed out.

Hog Slat’s box feeders provide higher storage capacity than most tube style feeders.  The large storage volume contributes a safety factor for feed availability issues such as bin bridging, broken augers or motors and power failures.

Precise management of the feeder adjustments is absolutely critical to achieving good feed conversions.  Every Hog Slat feeder features our unique Select-A-Flow adjustment which gives producers the ability to make fine graduated changes in feed flow.  Each numbered setting presents 1/16” in feeder gate adjustment.  And because each increment is numbered it is easy to set all the feeders in the barn to the same setting and repeat the settings from group to group.   You can’t get this kind of repeatability using feeders designed with crank type adjustments.

Hog Slat feeders have been the industry standard for the last 25 years.  Replace your existing feeders and stop pouring money down the pit.

Every once in while you run across a product that is such a simple answer to a problem that you just have to say “Wow, why didn’t somebody think of that a long time ago?”

The severe winter of 2010 had us looking for an answer to monitor feed levels in bulk bins. Remember that winter?  Record snow, cold, windy…feed outages were a real problem. Nobody can or should climb an icy ladder in that kind of weather. There are some existing  solutions like load cells and sonar systems, but we were looking for a simpler, less expensive way to check feed levels and protect against feed outages.

So we started looking into a ways to accomplish feed level monitoring…electronic sensors mounted in the bin walls, electric sensor cables hung in the bins, sonar bouncing devices from a fish finder…

One of the biggest problems that we kept coming back to was that all these methods required power be run to the bins to operate them.  Extra expense……harder to install…more of a chance for break downs and failure to occur.

Then along comes the Bin Flag….

A simple, mechanical device that uses a paddle inside the bin to rotate a sight cylinder to indicate when material is present.  Primarily used in industry applications to monitor levels in hopper for materials like sand, gravel, plastic beads…… it is the perfect device to measure feed levels for swine and poultry bulk bins.

It meets all the criteria we had established

1)      No electricity to operate

2)      Installs from the outside of the bin and you don’t need to lift the bin to install

3)      Low cost

4)      Flexible: basic method would be install a unit just above the cone to know when it is critical to order feed.  Producers also have the option of adding additional Bin Flags for more advanced monitoring.

5)      Very visible: big added bonus.  You can visually see the Bin Flag from up to 200 feet away.  You know in a glance from across the yard how much feed is in the bins….drive by a site and check feed levels from your truck seat. It doesn’t have to be cold for that to be a bonus.

There are more details online….go to http://www.hogslat.com/bin-flag-feed-level-indicator to order today.

There’s even a way to hook up Bin Flag to your existing alarm to call you when feed levels drop to a critical level.  We’ll talk about that in the next blog or so.

Okay I admit it…it has been awhile since we’ve posted a blog. But I have an excuse…We’ve been working on some new ad campaigns and new swine and poultry catalogs (which you can request a copy of here.) But now we are back…ourlast blog was about the Bin Flag and at the end we mentioned a way to connect it to a phone alarm dialer.

When you pair the Bin Flag with a alarm phone dialer you will receive a phone alarm whenever feed levels drop below the critical level.  Setting the Bin Flag up with most alarm systems is a pretty simple process.   Purchase the magnetic sensor for less than $20 (item #HDL59065-952) and screw it into the Bin Flag.  You then run common phone wire from the sensor to a contact on the phone dialer.   The alarm system will allow you to program a unique message that identifies each particular bin.

Really I’m not so sure this isn’t a more important feature than the visual part of the Bin Flag…normally you have to be at the building site and look at the Bin Flag. But with the Bin Flag connected to an alarm it calls you. So whether you are in the field, on the road, and wherever you have cell service you will be notified when a feed outage occurs and have to time to react and get feed ordered.

You can learn more about setting up the Bin Flag with the Sensaphone and Agri-Alert alarm systems by going to our website and reading the manual we have located under our Resources section.

As the food industry responds to animal welfare issues, many producers have started to consider alternative options to stall-based gestation systems. We took a few moments to speak with Hog Slat’s national sales manager, Fritz Richards, about group housing systems.
Can you describe the options available and the advantages and disadvantages of each?
Hog Slat first took a hard look at the Electronic Sow Feeding or ESF systems. Sows are housed as groups and fed in stations that identify sows individually by means of RFID ear tags. This type of equipment seemed to offer slight advantages that would offset some of the management tools which producers would lose going to group housing from stalls. Such as the ability to feed animals as individuals and maintain dynamic farrowing groups. We looked at both domestic and international systems, touring and speaking with experienced growers. There were some differences that came to the forefront.

Like?
This type of system is a major paradigm shift for US producers. The US industry has developed a very straight forward system of handling gestation sows. Sows are weaned into a stall, bred there and sow condition is managed by individual feeding. ESF is a completely different management style. First, the animals must undergo a two to four week training process with up to five percent of them eliminated as untrainable. Second, because computers, scanners, RFID tags and low voltage lines are necessary for ESF equipment a highly trained staff is required to operate the system successfully. With many production systems experiencing high turnover of farm staff, it becomes very difficult to perform the necessary maintenance and training.

Where do you see ESF working best?
Farms where the owner works in the unit every day and is able to maintain and repair the equipment in-house. The U.S. landscape is not like the situation we saw in Europe where as many as six service technicians are available in an area the size of a U.S. county. Getting timely repairs when the equipment is down should be an important consideration when considering ESF systems.

What other options have you looked at?
Free Access Stalls. In this system, the sows are housed in groups but are provided with access to individual feeding stalls. The stalls have a lockout mechanism on the rear gate that allows sow access and prevents other sows from entering. She is able to exit the stall at any time to go back in the pen area. Most designs feature an option for the herdsman to lock the sows in the stalls for treatment. We feel this may be the ultimate sow housing system.

Are Free Access Stalls available from Hog Slat?
We offer this equipment to producers, but, they need to remember that this is the most expensive option they can install. The square footage requirements per sow are high, (as much as 37 sq ft per sow) and the stalls with a locking mechanism are more expensive than a standard gestations stall.

What other options are available?
Floor feeding in pens actually predates stalls. This system is designed with five to eight sows per pen, and the feed is dropped directly on the pen floor. This system is successful if managed correctly. Grouping of the sows by size is critical as the strongest animals tend to get the most feed. It is the lowest cost alternative to gestation stalls.

What seems to be the most popular option?
Stanchions are the most popular system we see for new and remodel projects. This is group housing with short dividers or stanchions to protect the individual sow at feeding time. This design lends itself to a wide range of group sizes with a lot of flexibility in pen and building dimensions, which is important with remodel projects.

Why do you think it is so popular?
Stanchion production methods adapt well to current U.S. production practices. A farm’s current staff can manage a stanchion system because it utilizes the same feed delivery system and penning equipment as they are currently using.

What criteria are used in designing a stanchion system?
The first decision is how many square feet per sow will be allocated. Obliviously, square footage in the building is expensive, and this can range from 17 to 24 square feet per animal. This is a business decision each producer must weigh against projected welfare regulations.
A group sizing of 10 to 20 head per pen is common. Equipment is standard 40-inch high rod panels with 18” long divider stanchions, creating a feed space for each animal in the pen. The stanchions are open rod style set at 18” to 21” width. Experience has shown it is not necessary to use solid dividers on the side or front of the stanchion. The rod style protects the ears and head of the sow from aggressive animals and doesn’t restrict air flow as much as solid panels. In addition, rod style penning is more cost effective and has a longer life span.
We also design a breeding area with stalls equal to 45 days worth of sow holding capacity. Sows are weaned into this area until bred and formed into gestation groups.

How is the stanchion system managed?
Sows are fed using an automated feed system with individual drops. Sows anticipate each feeding and start lining up before the feed drops. You don’t see much shuffling between stanchions as they become conditioned to eating their portion and realize the other feeding slots will not have feed after they finish. The earliest systems utilized a trickle feed system where over a longer time, small amounts of feed were dispensed to hold the sow at their feeding space. Trickle feeding was proven to be unnecessary and just added additional cost to the scheme.
While the sows are eating, a herdsman moves along the alley noting animals that are not at the feed trough. He can mark them for later treatment or movement to a hospital area.

Are there any disadvantages?
Yes, animals cannot be individually fed. Sows that “fall out” of a group because of sickness or injury have to be removed to a hospital pen or stall. Despite the disadvantages, this has been a popular choice for many producers desiring to move into group housing.

How many stanchions have been installed by Hog Slat?
Hog Slat has built and installed over 150,000 spaces of stanchion housing in the U.S., from individual farms up to large production systems. We have gathered a lot of field experience completing those projects and can help any producer considering group housing systems.

The 2012 Pork Expo is in the books.  Great weather this year and great food.  Especially the 260 lb pork burger Vinny and crew from Hog Slat cooked up.  This wasn’t just an inedible gimmick either…..the slice I had was very good.

Walking around the trade show, I noticed there were a few companies with products to address the bin bridging and feed outage problems caused by using DDGS and other alternative feed ingredients……mechanical bin whackers in other words. One rep explained that his product was a much better choice than his competitor’s model and “ours is only about $1200 compared to theirs at $2000.” Wow. The price of the anti-bridging device is almost as much as the bin.

Quite a few companies displayed their version of Electronic Sow Feeding (ESF).   One says each feeding station will handle 60-65 sows, the next guy’s will handle 300.   All the computerized systems are easy to use; intuitive I believe was the term they used.  Everybody had a “system expert” who probably lives several states away from your farm.

Remember when everyone had to hook up their ventilation controls up to a computer in their office? Going to run the barn from the house was the idea. Most ended up with the plastic cover left on after a month or two. A couple of years ago, sorting scales were going to change the way finishing pigs were raised. Most of those are sitting outside rusting away now.

No doubt some producers will successfully adopt ESF technology. One thing is guaranteed, not all the companies offering ESF will be at this show five years from now. Choose carefully.

I recently caught up with Mark Daughtry of Prestage Farms in North Carolina to discuss his experience with SowMax farrowing ad lib feeders.  Mark is the Sow Production Manager in North Carolina and oversees about 55,000 sows.  He quickly corrected my terminology regarding the SowMAX.

“First of all…” Mark said, “the SowMAX is not a sow feeder.  It’s a feed storage device that delivers feed to the sow on demand. It’s like having a bunch of MINI FEED BINS sitting above the feeders ready to deliver fresh feed on demand.

“I’m not sure exactly what you mean.”

Look I’ve been working with sow herds for 24 years in one way or another. The BIGGEST challenge I’ve faced in that time has been training farrowing house personnel to feed lactating sows.  It is extremely difficult to feed sows correctly by hand.

Sows are individuals and depending on their genetic makeup some sows are capable of eating much more feed on a daily basis than the group.  If you were to look at daily feed intake per sow, you would see a normal bell curve.  The bulk of sows will eat somewhere between 18-22 pounds per day, but some of those gals will eat as high as 30 pounds a day! Those are the sows that normally don’t get fed correctly with hand feeding.

If we decide that 20 Lbs is all we will ever feed any sow, then those high appetite sows are going to get short changed.  Those are the sows that will typically wean desirable large litters of heavy pigs.

I like to think of today sows as being like high performance race cars.  If we don’t fuel up a race car, it will not run.  Same with sows, they are capable of high performance as far as producing large numbers of pigs, but we have to get the feed/fuel in them.

How does that change with SowMAX?

SowMAX allows us to feed sows to full appetite without guess work.  Our feeding regiment in farrowing goes like this:

For three days prior to farrowing we feed four pounds of feed through the SowMAX.  We instruct the farrowing personnel to place two pounds, twice a day in the SowMAX hopper.  This gets them up each time and gets them accustomed to activating the trigger lever on the SowMAX.

After farrowing, we continue to hand feed for two more days.  On day three, we fill them up and monitor feed disappearance.

Feed disappearance? What does that mean?

Simply put it means that we fill the SowMAX up twice a day and look the amount feed that is gone in the hopper.  As long as the sow is eating over half of that amount we just fill it up again and go on.  We are only concerned with the sows that aren’t eating; that’s the one that’s having trouble and needs our attention.

“You know Mark, feed is very expensive; what about a producer’s concern that SowMAX may be getting more feed into the sows but that it’s also wasting more feed?”

Our experience has shown the exact opposite.  We waste less feed with SowMAX than hand feeding, and that’s easy to figure out.  With hand feeding if you guess wrong and put more feed in the feeders than she can eat, it spoils and you end up dumping it out.  The SowMAX delivers fresh feed to the feeders….on demand….whenever a sow is ready to eat.   Human judgment is eliminated….we don’t have to try and outguess mother nature. Again, we have those MINI FEED BINS sitting there ready to deliver feed whenever she’s ready to eat.

Do you have farms with other types of systems?

Yes, we have automatic systems where feed is dumped from drops into the feeders several times a day.  There is less physical labor but it really isn’t any better than hand feeding.  You still have to guess on the amount of feed each sow will consume each day.  Plus, as the systems get older they take more maintenance; it seems like we are always fixing a switch or replacing a motor. SowMAX works everyday; no timers, no motors, no switches, nothing to wear out.

With SowMAX, we fill the hopper, and we have some flexibility if something goes wrong.  In a dire emergency, we still have almost a day’s worth of feed storage at each hopper.  We have other systems that use a plastic tube and have almost no storage.  We have a lot more cushion with SowMAX than the other systems.

So with SowMAX, you are able to “fuel up the race cars” What differences do you see in performance?

First, there are only two things that make milk, feed and water.  A sow produces more milk per body weight than a milk cow.  Can you image a dairyman limit feeding a milk cow?  That would never happen, yet we expect a sow to produce to her full genetic potential on limit feeding!  SowMAX allows us to fully feed sows according to their individual appetite and they produce heavier litters.

Second, we quit condition scoring sows coming out of the farrowing crates that are using SowMAX.  Rarely would we have a Two score, they consistently scored as Threes. Because of their better body condition rebreeding is improved.

We have SowMAX in about 5,000 crates in North Carolina.  You can bet that any updates or remodels that we do in the future will include SowMAX feeders also.

To learn more go to http://hogslat.com/sowmax-feed-dispenser on our web store.