Nursery

Weanling Room Facilities:

Computers in the barn?

Each room is controlled by a system that turns fans and heaters on and off to provide a consistent temperature in all areas of the room (within a range of 2.5C)

This is a transition phase of life where the pig goes from requiring very warm temperatures (29.5C) at three weeks of age, down to 20C by the time they exit the room at 10.5 weeks of age.

Lights, camera, action…

Computer controlled lights are on from 7:00 am - 7:00 pm each day. Pigs are “diurnal” — active during daylight hours. They tend to eat their meals around “lights-on” (breakfast) and “lights-off” times (dinner). Cameras? You may see cameras set up in some rooms for research on pig behaviour.

George Hogg says…
“The computer contains valuable farm records and monitors our ventilation system. No games on this computer — we don’t want to end up with virtual pigs”.

Automated Feeding:

The pigs control when the feeding system turns on. The more they eat, the more feed is delivered to the feeder.

1. Feed is stored in the Feed Bin
2. Feed is moved from the Feed Bin to each room with the Distribution Auger.
3. The feed then drops to the Feeders through the Drop Spouts.
4. When the last feeder is full, the system automatically shuts off.

Pig Flow and Process:

At approximately three weeks of age, the piglets are moved into the weanling rooms. At this point piglets weigh about 6 kg and are divided into groups based on their sex and size.

Management routine is important:

When this group of pigs leaves (on Monday), the room is cleaned and disinfected and allowed to dry one day before the next batch enters the room on the next weaning day (Thursday).

Annie Hogg informs us…
“One of my chores is to sort piglets of the same size into pens together, to stop small piglets from being bullied by big piglets.”

Three week old weaners (6 kg) make the trip across the hall to the weanling room.

Can You Do The Math To Calculate This?

Pigs grow fast! At entry to the weanling room pigs are gaining 200 grams a day, by the time they are exiting the room they are gaining 800 grams a day.

Imagine gaining 3% of your body weight each day. If you were 45 kg on the first day of the week you would be 55 kg by the end of the week!

What would you weigh in seven weeks if you gained 300 grams per day for the first 4 weeks and 500 grams a day for the next three weeks?

Piglet Handling & Behavior:

Observe the pigs in this room and answer some common questions. How many pigs can you put in a pen? (Answer: 16 weanlings in the pens you are looking at) What do you think determines how many pigs are in a pen? (Answer: Size of the pig, the size of the pen)

Do pigs like to eat together: Each pen has a feeder that will allow several pigs to eat at once. This large feeder is important as pigs make the transition from the sow where they ate as a group, to being independent and eating alone or in small groups.

Junior Hogg says…
“Pigs do play, sort of like me and my sister. Pigs play-fight or “scrap” by facing head to head and swinging their head sideways.”

Are Those Pigs Fighting or Playing?

With training and experience you can tell a great deal about pigs just by watching. Are the pigs warm enough or too cold? Are the pigs healthy and content?

Pigs fight to establish their dominance or “pecking order”. Most of the fighting occurs in the first 20 minutes, with the entire process taking about 8 hours. Once established, the order of dominance usually remains intact as long as the group is housed together.