Most hog farms could save significant amounts of money on energy, says Mike Armstrong after 15 years of experience checking hog and poultry barns. For example, he cites one hog farm that saved $661 a year by changing lights from incandescents to fluorescents. Another farm saved $1,500 a year by improving fan management. Armstrong, who
Small tweaks may mean big savings in barns
Livestock teams learn from Pigeon King failure
The collapse of Pigeon King International last June has helped identify the gaps in the Ontario’s livestock and poultry industry is preparedness for a major disease outbreak. Al Dam, poultry specialist for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), says he worked 16-hour days, six days a week for six weeks after
Chicken agency farms out five-year plan
The directors of the national marketing agency for chickens took a radically different approach in 2008 to develop their new five-year plan. Rather than working on it themselves, as they had done for the two previous five-year plans, they decided to “outsource” the task and struck an external steering committee to do the work. That
Hog farmers’ PRRS plan may depend on neighbourhood
Hog farmers may need to consider where they’re farming when it comes time to decide how to cope with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS). Those whose barns are close to a lot of other hog farms ought to aim to stabilize their herd and realize that there will be another bout of PRRS, likely
Safety audits find barns loaded with hazards
Insurance-industry audits of barns are turning up some horrifying hazards. Randy Drysdale of the Farm Mutual Reinsurance Plan Inc. at Cambridge, Ont., checks barns and showed some of the unbelievable things he has seen to an audience of about 90 attending the annual swine seminar here recently. One picture was a crowd of electrocuted rats
German hog farms adapt to stall-free, drug-free model
Germany, it appears, could teach Canadian hog farmers a thing or two. And two of its hog producers came here to the annual swine industry seminar recently to do exactly that. German producers have learned through trial and “a lot of mistakes” how to raise hogs in free-stall conditions, said Dr. Friedrich Osterhoff of Ahrhoff
4-H heifer sold in memorium
Meadow Lee Mary Storm, the 4-H heifer raised by the late David Perrin, fetched more than $40,000 as she was auctioned nine times at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair here recently. Paul Perrin donated the heifer in memory of his 14-year-old son, David, who died of silo gas poisoning this fall on the family’s farm
Ontario lamb is in big demand
GUELPH The demand for Ontariogrown lamb is so keen that packers can’t fill all the orders from retailers. Tony Faccioli, owner and general manager of Holly Park Meat Packers in Toronto and president of the Ontario Independent Meat Packers and Processors Association, says he’s turning away retail customers because he needs the lambs to meet
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