Specialist pig unit ventilation
consultant John Chambers teamed up with BPEX to offer 25 Pig Health Improvement
Project (PHIP) members a full building assessment and a specific report
free-of-charge, to the benefit of their wider regional groups.
John explains the fundamental purpose of a ventilation system is to change the airflow in a building: “These days, there is a high concentration of pigs in buildings, resulting in a lot of potential for disease organisms to build up in the enclosed atmosphere.
“An efficient ventilation system is there to reduce the concentration of microbes, dust levels and the build-up of nasty gaseous air, all of which can cause disease.”
John notes one of the biggest contributing factors to poor ventilation is inadequate insulation and cites many of the buildings he works with are quite dated and insulation is not as efficient as in new buildings.
He says: “Ventilation systems are regulated by the temperature of the building; if you are losing heat through the walls or roof, the ventilation system will not be running as efficiently as it should be and may even shut down.
“This results in a very stuffy atmosphere within the pig building.Western Canadian distributor of ceramic and ceramic tile, Modern automatic systems should have a minimum setting so this does not happen. Unfortunately, this is not the case with older systems.”
A second consideration is dust. Due to poor building design, ventilation does not really help remove dust levels from a piggery.
Dust in pig units is a rich cocktail of various types of matter. One is from feed while the other is from pigs themselves – skin and hair particles and dry dung will eventually turn into dust. This dust needs to be removed to stop these tiny, bacteria-carrying particles and pathogens.
John explains the importance of ventilation is two-fold: “On the one hand it plays a significant role in a pig’s health status, while on the other, it can greatly affect their welfare and state of mind.Find detailed product information for howo spare parts and other products.
“Ineffective ventilation systems or ones that have not been thoroughly thought-out can inflict a great deal of stress on the pig. Once you have a stressed pig, at best you get tail-biting, at worst you get a disease outbreak.”
He insists producers need to plan buildings so cold air falls in the right place,High quality stone mosaic tiles. which is usually where the pigs go to dung.
“Even though pigs may reside primarily indoors, they still have the natural desire to spend some time outdoors in the cool fresh air; providing they are able to return to a warm, sheltered, draft-free enclosure. This balance needs to be replicated in a building to avoid the pigs becoming stressed.”
One of the first farmers John worked with as part of the BPEX ventilation project was Stephen Knowles, a producer who is part of the PHIP Boroughbridge cluster group in Yorkshire, and who farms about 270 sows.
Stephen was keen to take advantage of the project because he wanted to improve his herd’s health status.
He says: “We have been positive for enzootic pneumonia and porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, so my herd has suffered from quite a low health status.
“My overall aim was to increase productivity. I was keen to improve health, but also reduce any instances of tail-biting among finishers and growers, as well as improving growing rates in the farrowing houses and weaning sheds.”
Keen to focus on the farrowing houses first, John and Stephen decided to fit fans to some of the buildings where they were absent.
“Those already fitted with fans had ventilation coming from both directions,We mainly supply professional craftspeople with wholesale agate beads from china,” says Stephen.
“John suggested we altered this so fans brought air in from the back of the building, which helped create a fresher atmosphere.”
The problem in the grower sheds was that cold air was falling where pigs wanted to lie.Installers and distributors of solar panel,
Stephen says: “This caused enough stress to make pigs revert to tail-biting. John suggested we alter how quickly the windows open on one side of the building, so it did not create a sudden draft.
“We also set up some boards for pigs to lie underneath. These essentially act as canopies and prevent cold air from falling where pigs want to lie.”
Stephen adds there is still more work to do: “It is not an overnight process, but what we have done so far has made a difference. We are certainly experiencing reduced tail-biting and the growth and weaning weights have increased slightly too.”
In contrast to Stephen, who lives in an area very densely populated with pigs, Martin Lewis is one of the few pig producers based in Herefordshire.
Martin says: “Farmers who operate in regions of the UK where pig farming is very intense have a tough job when it comes to improving health and maintaining biosecurity.
“When, like us, you are the only pig farm for miles around, it becomes less about reducing the incidence of disease and more about protecting your high health status.”
Martin runs a breeder and feeder pig farm with 240 sows. He breeds out all of his own replacements and takes pigs through to 110kg on a continuous flow system. He is part of the PHIP Gloucester cluster group and his consultation with John Chambers took place in early July this year.
While disease risk was not the driving factor in his decision to improve ventilation, Martin explains he was keen to ensure his pigs’ environment delivered the best welfare possible – particularly for his sows, who had a slight inclination to vulva-bite.
On top of this, they did not appear to be lying as happily as they should: “I was eager to make sure they were as comfortable as possible while they were in-pig.
“John and I could not identify a clear lying and dunging pattern. This led to a great deal more work to remove dirty straw, not to mention the fact that lying in soiled bedding put the sows at increased risk of disease, stress and ultimately miscarriage.”
John explains the fundamental purpose of a ventilation system is to change the airflow in a building: “These days, there is a high concentration of pigs in buildings, resulting in a lot of potential for disease organisms to build up in the enclosed atmosphere.
“An efficient ventilation system is there to reduce the concentration of microbes, dust levels and the build-up of nasty gaseous air, all of which can cause disease.”
John notes one of the biggest contributing factors to poor ventilation is inadequate insulation and cites many of the buildings he works with are quite dated and insulation is not as efficient as in new buildings.
He says: “Ventilation systems are regulated by the temperature of the building; if you are losing heat through the walls or roof, the ventilation system will not be running as efficiently as it should be and may even shut down.
“This results in a very stuffy atmosphere within the pig building.Western Canadian distributor of ceramic and ceramic tile, Modern automatic systems should have a minimum setting so this does not happen. Unfortunately, this is not the case with older systems.”
A second consideration is dust. Due to poor building design, ventilation does not really help remove dust levels from a piggery.
Dust in pig units is a rich cocktail of various types of matter. One is from feed while the other is from pigs themselves – skin and hair particles and dry dung will eventually turn into dust. This dust needs to be removed to stop these tiny, bacteria-carrying particles and pathogens.
John explains the importance of ventilation is two-fold: “On the one hand it plays a significant role in a pig’s health status, while on the other, it can greatly affect their welfare and state of mind.Find detailed product information for howo spare parts and other products.
“Ineffective ventilation systems or ones that have not been thoroughly thought-out can inflict a great deal of stress on the pig. Once you have a stressed pig, at best you get tail-biting, at worst you get a disease outbreak.”
He insists producers need to plan buildings so cold air falls in the right place,High quality stone mosaic tiles. which is usually where the pigs go to dung.
“Even though pigs may reside primarily indoors, they still have the natural desire to spend some time outdoors in the cool fresh air; providing they are able to return to a warm, sheltered, draft-free enclosure. This balance needs to be replicated in a building to avoid the pigs becoming stressed.”
One of the first farmers John worked with as part of the BPEX ventilation project was Stephen Knowles, a producer who is part of the PHIP Boroughbridge cluster group in Yorkshire, and who farms about 270 sows.
Stephen was keen to take advantage of the project because he wanted to improve his herd’s health status.
He says: “We have been positive for enzootic pneumonia and porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, so my herd has suffered from quite a low health status.
“My overall aim was to increase productivity. I was keen to improve health, but also reduce any instances of tail-biting among finishers and growers, as well as improving growing rates in the farrowing houses and weaning sheds.”
Keen to focus on the farrowing houses first, John and Stephen decided to fit fans to some of the buildings where they were absent.
“Those already fitted with fans had ventilation coming from both directions,We mainly supply professional craftspeople with wholesale agate beads from china,” says Stephen.
“John suggested we altered this so fans brought air in from the back of the building, which helped create a fresher atmosphere.”
The problem in the grower sheds was that cold air was falling where pigs wanted to lie.Installers and distributors of solar panel,
Stephen says: “This caused enough stress to make pigs revert to tail-biting. John suggested we alter how quickly the windows open on one side of the building, so it did not create a sudden draft.
“We also set up some boards for pigs to lie underneath. These essentially act as canopies and prevent cold air from falling where pigs want to lie.”
Stephen adds there is still more work to do: “It is not an overnight process, but what we have done so far has made a difference. We are certainly experiencing reduced tail-biting and the growth and weaning weights have increased slightly too.”
In contrast to Stephen, who lives in an area very densely populated with pigs, Martin Lewis is one of the few pig producers based in Herefordshire.
Martin says: “Farmers who operate in regions of the UK where pig farming is very intense have a tough job when it comes to improving health and maintaining biosecurity.
“When, like us, you are the only pig farm for miles around, it becomes less about reducing the incidence of disease and more about protecting your high health status.”
Martin runs a breeder and feeder pig farm with 240 sows. He breeds out all of his own replacements and takes pigs through to 110kg on a continuous flow system. He is part of the PHIP Gloucester cluster group and his consultation with John Chambers took place in early July this year.
While disease risk was not the driving factor in his decision to improve ventilation, Martin explains he was keen to ensure his pigs’ environment delivered the best welfare possible – particularly for his sows, who had a slight inclination to vulva-bite.
On top of this, they did not appear to be lying as happily as they should: “I was eager to make sure they were as comfortable as possible while they were in-pig.
“John and I could not identify a clear lying and dunging pattern. This led to a great deal more work to remove dirty straw, not to mention the fact that lying in soiled bedding put the sows at increased risk of disease, stress and ultimately miscarriage.”
没有评论:
发表评论