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With the summer heat settling in it's not uncommon for ventilation problems to start showing up in broiler houses and swine gestation/ breeding buildings. Even facilities that have performed well in the past may experience issues.   One of the best yardsticks for evaluating a ventilation system is...

Inappropriate or poorly maintained slatted floors are the most common causes of physical injuries to pigs. Pigs with foot or joint pain will not get up as often to eat and drink resulting in lower Average Daily Gain and reduced performance.   The industry movement to group gestation housing also...

"When it comes to evaporative cooling most of the equipment problems we see are failures to do routine maintenance," explained Tyler Marion, an engineer with Hog Slat Inc. located in Newton Grove, NC. "Evaporative cooling is really a pretty simple concept, but you have to perform basic maintenance...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The key objective of this study was to determine the effect of additional access to water on nursery pig performance over a 28-day period. A total of 2,017 weanling nursery pigs were allotted to one of two treatment groups: Control (SC): Dual Standard Cup Waterers; or Test (WC): A...

Video tour of a 5000-sow farm located on a mountaintop near ShenNonh Dali in the Sichuan Province of China.

This remote sow unit produces and tests breeding stock from an 896 crate farrowing house, 4400 stall gestation building, 50 place boar stud, GDU/ Iso barn, and 15-room testing facility. Hog S...

The simplest way to check feed volume is to climb up and look inside. Not anyone's favorite chore, wet or icy ladders can make this dangerous and at best it is an educated guess. 

Bin Flag level indicator mounts on the outside of a bin rotating to yellow when feed level drops below postition.

Le...

The introduction of a contagious disease to a farm represents a severe economic impact on a flock. Contaminated clothing, equipment, and footwear remain one of the primary causes of bird exposure to disease-causing organisms. Managing traffic should be a top priority on your farm to prevent the in...

Using LED style lighting reduces electrical usage by 75-80% compared to incandescent bulbs and 50-60% over spiral CFLs. In most situations, the financial payback period will be between one to two years.  

While all LED lights will achieve this expected energy savings, Once, Inc. offers their Agri...

Many of the chemical products used in poultry and swine production are delivered through the water system.   Some simple best practices will keep your water-driven, volumetric proportioner, or as it more commonly called a medicator, in good working order.

1.Use a mixing device in the stock tank.....

A low-pressure sprinkler system should not be confused with the standard fogging systems. While fogging systems deliver a fine mist, low-pressure sprinklers produce a larger water droplet that does not hang in the air but drops straight to the floor. As the droplets hit the birds, they are stimula...