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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 means better flooring is necessary to prevent injuries to heavy sows in open pens.   By some estimates, lame sows can cost producers from $180 -$400 for each animal suffering from foot-related problems.  

Well designed slats promoting good animal welfare possess several common characteristics. They are manufactured from high-density concrete, have a level, flat top for ease of walking and a uniform slat opening.

Manufacturing high quality begins with the slump of concrete. The less water added to the concrete, the stronger the slat. Dry-cast concrete, having a zero slump, only uses enough water to begin the chemical reaction.   When excess water is added to make the concrete easier to form, the excess moisture evaporates; creating pores in the concrete and reduces its strength and durability. The lower cement-water ratio in dry cast slats yields a finished product with higher strength and durability with fewer repairs needed over its useful life.  

Dry cast, machine-finished slat production requires fewer molds than comparable wet cast, hand-finished slats. Fewer molds mean less variation and a more consistent final product with a flat, level top and uniform slat openings. The level surface provided by flat top slats reduces joint injuries from twisting and slipping on uncomfortable floors. Uniform slat openings prevent the pigs' legs from getting caught in a narrowing opening and damaging their toes and claws.   Keep slats in good condition by using quick setting, abrasion resistant mortars to repair any exposed aggregates as normal wear occurs. Cover surfaces around feeders and waterers with an epoxy overlay coating to protect the concrete from acid compounds and heavy pig traffic. For more information on repairing concrete slats download “The Field Guide To Slat Repair and Replacement.”  

Well made concrete slats and proper maintenance provide pigs and sows with comfortable flooring to reduce foot and leg injuries.      

"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 tasks to keep the system operating correctly."    

Flush, Don't Bleed
A standard industry practice involves "bleeding-off" a percentage of the recirculation water to prevent a buildup of scale on the pads. Scale is the mineral deposit left on the pad when the water evaporates. While bleeding-off is better than nothing, a much better practice is to dump all the water from the trough and replenish with fresh water that in turn helps to flush the containments out of the cool cell pads. How often the trough needs to be drained depends on the hardness of the water and how often the evaporative system operates. Monitoring the PH level is a useful method to determine when to change the water with readings above 8.5 indicating an excessive mineral buildup.

Use Preventive Chemical Treatments.
Paired with frequent water flushing, adding descalers and microbicides to the recirculating water pays big dividends in extending pad life. Descalers help keep minerals in suspension for more efficient flushing while microbicides reduce the growth and buildup of algae, bacterial and fungal slimes on the pads.   Never use chlorine bleaches to kill algae. Chlorine attacks the glue in the pads causing delamination.

Adjust the Float.
One of the most common reasons for premature failure occurs when water logged pad bottoms become soft and sag down.   Just because water doesn't spill out of the trough when the system shuts down doesn't mean the float is adjusted correctly. When properly set the water level should be 1" below the bottom of the pads. It is critical to check the water level in new installations after running the system for several days.

Be on the lookout for trough levelness to change as the building settles and the framing shifts. Also, as the pads age, they retain more water making float valve adjustments necessary.  

Clean the Trash Out
Trash and debris in the pump trap and water line filters reduce the amount of water circulating through the system. A telltale sign of reduced water flow is dry or streaked pads at the end opposite of the pump. Failing to remove debris from the trash basket on a jet pump also reduces its useful life. Clean the holes in the distribution pipe whenever dry streaks appear on the pad. Open the ball valve on distribution pipe opposite the pump end and run the system to flush out any gunk from inside the pipe at least once a month.  

Winterize the System.
Shutting off the water supply and draining the system are the basics for preparing an evaporative system for winter. In addition, remove the pump from the system and move it to inside storage. Just disconnecting the plumbing fittings and leaving the pump in place leads to damaged impellers and cracked housings.  

Performing basic maintenance allows evaporative cooling systems to operate efficiently and delays costly pad replacement.          

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): Additional, 4 Nipple Horizontal Water Bar. Pigs were fed according to the standard, three phase feeding program in place in this commercial unit, and were offered ad libitum access to water and feed throughout the trial. Providing additional access to water with the water bar incrementally increased water disappearance by 0.03 gal/pig. In addition, a positive response in average daily feed delivered (ADFD) was observed in Periods 1 and 3 (14.8% and 9.2% higher, respectively, P<0.05); and 5.2% overall (P<.10) for WB versus SC pigs.   Moreover, ADG was 8.8% greater for WB versus SC pigs in Period 3. Overall, this study provides evidence that the provision of an extra water bar in the nursery phase can translate into 1.4 lbs more feed delivered per pig resulting in 1.1 lbs more gain per pig in 28 days.

OBJECTIVE
Given the well-documented correlation of feed and water intake, the objective of this trial was to determine if the provision of additional access to water would promote higher water consumption, and concomitant growth performance in weanling nursery pigs reared in a commercial environment over a 28-d period.  

METHODS
Pigs (n=2017) were mixed-sex housed in a single room within in a 4-room, commercial wean-to-finish barn, with a shared feeder between adjacent pens. Pigs were equally allotted to 42 pens to yield a stocking density of 48 pigs/pen (144 sq. ft./pen) Pens were allotted to one of two treatment groups as follows: Control (SC): Standard Cup waterers with 2 per pen located on the right and left sides of each pen, or; Treatment (WB): Control + an additional horizontal, 4-nipple Water Bar .  

Pigs were fed according to the standard, three phase nursery program routinely utilized in this commercial facility, and had ad-libitum access to feed and water throughout the 28-day trial. Water disappearance for the SC and WB groups was monitored via individual mainline water meters supplying water to the standard right and left-side waterers, and the additional water bar.  

Pen weights were monitored at the initiation of the study (Day 0) and thereafter at 7, 14 and 28 days. Feed intake was monitored by total feed delivered to each shared pen. All mortalities and removals over the course of the trial were also recorded.  

RESULTS
Table 1 shows the summary of water disappearance as measured by metered gallons of water. Observationally, the addition of the extra water bar increased water disappearance by 0.03 gal/pig/day or 17.6%. It was noted, however, that the overall consumption of water (as measured by water disappearance) was generally lower that expected for pigs of this age. In general, literature reports indicate nursery pigs typically consume 0.3 gal of water/lb of feed consumed.  

Table 2 provides a summary of performance. A positive response in average daily feed delivered (ADFD) was noted in Periods 1 and 3 (14.8%, 9.2% higher, respectively, P<0.05); and 5.2% overall (P<.10) for WB pigs. This increase in ADFD translated into 8.8% higher ADG for WB pigs in Period 3, however no other improvements in ADG or G/ADFD were noted within the three periods or overall.

Conclusion & Recommendations
This study provides initial evidence that the overlay of a 4-nipple water bar to the standard dual cup waterer system to provide additional access to water, and promote increased water consumption has measurable impact on improved feed intake (as measured by total feed delivered).  

Given the potential performance impact of improved feed intake together with the preliminary results of this trial, it is recommended that the study be repeated with the following modifications in order to more accurately assess the effect of increased access to water:

• Addition of feed weigh backs to the protocol to improve accuracy in feed intake monitoring.
• Collection of water disappearance data throughout the full study period.
• Consideration of calibration or replacement of water meters to improve accuracy of water disappearance monitoring.
• Randomization of the test variable (water bar) throughout the room to help better account for water line distances.
• Verification and standardization of waterer flow pressure to recommended levels for nursery pigs (8 fl. Oz./min)

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 Slat designed the unit and supplied AirStorm fiberglass fans; feeding equipment including feed bins, sow drops, and Grow-Disk systems. Hog Slat's SowMAX feed dispensers provide simple, dependable ad lib sow feeding in the farrowing crates.

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.

Level indicators, like the Bin Flag, give a visual alert when the feed drops below a certain point in the bin. They are inexpensive and can connect to an alarm system to send a remote warning. They do not record feed input or usage like a bin weighting system.  

Early attempts at adding load cells to bins had mixed results. Because the load cells were expensive, many systems were set up with load cells on half of the bin legs, or they used I-beams to span between two legs.   Inaccurate readings resulted when feed bridging caused one side of the bin to feed out faster than the other side.   At best, these early systems were 80% accurate and really were more of an expensive early warning system for feed outages than a serious feed management tool.  

The current generation of bin weighting systems gives producers the tools for accurate feed management.

BinTrac® offers a dedicated bin weighing system with a unique load cell assembly in which the bracket functions as the lifting mechanism.   This type of bracket assembly requires less than 1/2" of lift to install, requires no shimming or blocking and can be installed on existing and loaded bins.  

On each bin, the smart summing box gathers input from each load cell and sends it to the BinTrac Pro indicator control than can be located up to 250 feet from the bin. The BinTrac Pro Indicator displays information from up to four bins with a visual bar graph level indicator and digital readout of current weight, 24-hour feed usage, and recent fill weights.  

Load Cell and Summing Box mounted on a bin. BinTrac Pro Indicator.

By adding a HouseLINK™ module, this information is readily interfaced with the ventilation house controller. Options are also available to collect this data remotely via a wireless LAN system to record current inventories and monitor usage to predict and coordinate feed schedules.      

The Maximus® control system provides accurate feed management as a function of their whole house controller.  

Load cells mounted on bin legs send information to a junction box, which in turn transmits, to an individual relay box located inside the building. The relay boxes, representing each bin, are wired in series to the Maximus controller.  

The Maximus controller logs and displays the primary data on a Bin Overview screen (Fig.1) showing Feed Remaining, Amount of Feed Consumed in the last 24 hours, and Feed Consumed per head.   From there, the operator can drill down to an individual bin screen (Fig.2) to view greater detail. In this screen, the operator can also set various warning levels to trigger feed outage alarms by text or email.  

A new product scheduled for release later this year is an automated feed slide that can be configured to close a slide as one bin empties and automatically open the slide on a second bin. Bin slides can also be remotely opened from inside a building, eliminating the need for a farm manager to go outside and risk compromising biosecurity.  

Like all the functions controlled by the Maximus system, this feed data can be viewed and adjusted remotely from a smartphone, tablet or computer. The operator can also schedule personalized reports to be sent by email to other members of the production team.

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 AgriShift Dim-to-Calm™ system specifically designed for use in swine facilities.  

Domestic swine were developed from wild boar species, which occupy shaded habitats and are most active at dawn and dusk. This fact suggests that swine have a visual system that is best adapted to dim light rather than the bright light of mid-day or darkness of nocturnal light.  

While humans see light primarily in the green and yellow spectrums, swine’s highest sensitivity is focused on the blue and green parts of the scale with little recognition of red shades. In other words, pigs perceive red lighting as darkness.

Dim-To-Calm lighting mimics sunrise to sunset photoperiods

Photoperiod requirements have not been well studied in swine, but it is evident a cyclical light: dark cycle should be provided. At all stages of production, swine benefit from at least eight hours of light and at least eight hours of darkness. The transition from light to dark periods should be gradual, much like natural sunrise and sunset, to reduce stress caused by sudden changes in light.  

AgriShift Dim-to-Calm LED technology provides producers a method to automatically control light intensity, color spectrum and photoperiod length for swine specific lighting. The dimming capability simulates a sunrise to sunset scheme and is regulated through the house controller by use of a slave dimmer or by an AgriShift master control. Additionally, the shifted spectrum provides a service light (red color) that allows workers to have continual access to the facility after hours without disturbing or interrupting the sleep cycles of the pigs. Some producers have also utilized an additional period of light at night during hot weather. By setting up a shorter sunrise to sunset sequence during the cooler evening hours, they can encourage finishing pigs to consume more feed.

10 watt LED fixture with slave dimmer

The AgriShift LED lights are 10-watt jelly jar type fixtures with output equal to a 75-watt incandescent. It's an innovative design with the minimal heat of LEDs allowing the use of a low-profile plastic jar measuring only 2” compared to a typical 5"-7" long jelly jar. Replacement is simple with the provided Edison pigtail connector screwing into the existing light socket, twisting the jelly jar adapter in place and connecting the base lamp to complete the installation. The expected life of the bulb is 50,000 hours and is backed by Once's 5-year replacement warranty.  

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...and that doesn't mean a paint stick! 
Many of these products don't mix well in stock tanks and are difficult to keep in suspension. A small (1/200 hp.) agitation pump does a great job of keeping solids in suspension, is inexpensive to operate and is relatively low-cost at around $60. Maintaining a homogenous mixture in the chemical stock tanks aids in accurate chemical delivery.

2.Flush with clean water...from a clean bucket.  
After you finish injecting a product, take the hose out of the stock tank and let the medicator pull water from a clean 5-gallon bucket. The fresh water will flush any chemical residue from the seals and springs. Cleaning the system also prevents any problems with leftover chemical reacting with the next product used in the system.   3."Click-Clack" doesn't mean it's working... replace the seals.  
While it is easy to diagnose a broken spring or diaphragm when you don't hear the familiar "click-clack," a medicator will continue to operate with damaged seals. Harsh chemicals can weaken or damage the rubber seals over time, allowing the stock solution to leak causing inaccurate dosing rates.   To maintaining accurate chemical delivery, replace the rubber seals annually. There are replacement seals kits available for every brand of medicator on the market. It takes less than 15 minutes to do and the cost for most kits is under $20.

While you're at it... clean the inside too.
As long as you are taking the medicator apart, disassemble the entire medicator as far as you feel comfortable doing and soak the parts in soapy water to remove chemical or mineral deposits.  Let the part soak for 24-48, rinse and reassemble.  To remove a heavy mineral buildup, consider using a 50% vinegar soultion or CLR to soak the parts.  Check with the equipment manufacturer before using.

5.Check the suction hose...it works like a straw. 
A cracked or broken suction tube permits air to enter the system ruining accuracy. It's a good idea to periodically snip off the top part of the hose and reattach it to the medicator hose barb to prevent leaks.

These are general recommendations for the most commonly used chemicals.   Some chemical formulations may require more frequent maintenance and cleaning of medicator pumps for proper dosing rates.

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 stimulated to stand up and migrate to feed and water.

The settings in the controller can be configured to match any management scheme by varying the starting and ending set points for dates, times and temperatures in both cooling and activity modes. The following is an example of a typical operating sequence. 

Sprinkling encourages bird migration to feed and water

As the building temperature increases and the building goes into tunnel mode, the sprinkler system begins to activate its first stage setting at 2 degrees above set point.   The system runs for 10 seconds every 30 minutes. The birds react by standing and releasing the heat trapped under their bodies, which is removed by the ventilation system.  

In the second stage, the sprinkler system increases output at five degrees above set point by operating for 20 seconds every 15 minutes. The trapped heat is released more often as the bird's activity increases and the additional sprinkling begins to create some evaporative cooling on the birds.  

At eight degrees above tunnel mode, the sprinkler control enters into its third stage increasing to 20 seconds every seven minutes. Wind speed should be at least 600 feet per minute, creating wind chill and evaporative cooling on the birds minimizing any felt heat stress.

GrowerSELECT control with sprinkler head assemblies

If outside temperatures continue to rise and the barn controller activates the evaporative cooling system, the sprinkler system will drop back to either stage two or three.   The large water droplets hitting the birds continue to stimulate their activity, encouraging frequent migration to the feeders and waterers.  

Increasing the evaporating cooling set point to 12 degrees above when the tunnel doors are activated may save up to 80% of the water normally used during the initial cooling stages.  

The building is also operating at a low humidity level allowing the birds to more efficiently cool themselves through natural respiration.  

Producers may also see increased cool cell pad life, as the system will operate less frequently allowing more time for the pad to dry between cycles.

Georgia Poultry booth at 2017 IPPE show

Georgia Poultry highlighted two new products, scheduled for release later this spring, at this year's show in Atlanta.

Classic Flood Light Kit illuminates control pan to encourage bird activity.

The Classic Flood Light Kit provides supplemental light to attract birds to the end control pan. The elevated activity level increases feed line run time to keep the feeders full, particularly when starting a new flock.

The Classic Flood Light Kit installs under the control unit directly projecting light into the feed pan below. This arrangement eliminates the shadows common with other add-on kits that mount on top or to the side of a control unit.

Six, long-lasting LED lights.

The mounting plate features six; long-lasting LED lights separated into two banks on either side of the feed pan. The kit can be installed on any existing Classic Flood control pan and is hardwired directly into the control unit. This integration into the control unit removes the need for additional power cords or outlets.

GrowerSELECT sprinkler control with drop assemblies.

The GrowerSELECT Sprinkler System offers producers a system to increase bird activity for improved weight gain and more efficient heat removal.  

The system turns on at short preset intervals sprinkling the birds with large water droplets.   As the droplets hit the birds, they stand and release captured heat underneath allowing ventilation airflow to remove it from the building.  

This elevated activity also causes the birds to migrate to the feeders and waterers promoting increased weight gain and improved feed conversion.  

Low pressure (50 psi), rotating sprinkler assemblies cover approximately 450 square feet each and are available in different drop lengths to match varying building configurations.  

The HSWS-01 control unit automatically increases the run time and frequency of the system operation to cope with increasing heat stress as the building temperature increases.  

Look for more information on these new products on our blog, website, and Facebook page later this spring.