Electronic eyes that can 'see' whether a sow is pregnant
Monday, December 6, 2010
In Europe, it's EuroTier show time again and here's a sampling of the most interesting concepts launched in Hanover, Germany, Nov.16-19. There were 1,800 exhibitors at the event and an estimated 120,000 visitors
by NORMAN DUNN
For farms that have taken the loose housing road for their dry sows and don't keep them in stalls until pregnancy is confirmed, scanning later on to ensure they are in-pig can easily turn into a porcine rodeo show. But now an automatic scanner has been developed that quietly checks if the sow is pregnant whilst she is feeding.
Magnus Westerkamp has always been a fan of using electronics to help hog producers and save stress for the animals as well. He's managing director of Big Dutchman, an equipment company with a good record of introducing innovative ways of boosting farming efficiency.
Westerkamp and his developers have been running tests with remote controlled ultrasonic scanners for some time and now they've completed a market-ready scanner positioned by compressed air.
The secret, of course, is not to annoy the sow and, to achieve this, the scanner system – called SonoCheck – is mounted on the company's electronic feeding stations. These recognize a sow through her ear clip transponder as she comes in to feed. If the computer has notified the system that this animal has to be checked for pregnancy, the scanner gently drops down to the sow's underline and runs along its belly whilst she is feeding. The check takes just 15 seconds.
The scan results are digitally recorded on video and automatically analyzed by software specially developed for the job by a veterinary institute in Germany.
An "empty" uterus triggers alarms on the stockperson's mobile phone and computer, although naturally the film can always be visual checked, too. The SonoCheck is available as retrofit on feeding stations or as a mobile unit.
Litter splitting encourages more uniform growth
Litter fostering techniques are getting more and more sophisticated. They have to be.
The modern sow is bred to give big litters. And, as well as fostering, there's plenty of interest in artificial sows for getting more milk to weaker piglets.
But one European equipment developer, MS Schippers from the Netherlands, has decided on a completely different approach to easing big litter management. The new Schippers system is built around an innovative farrowing pen design that divides the young hogs into two groups and keeps them separate until weaning. Advantages: a significant reduction in labour input for sorting and fostering; the chance to keep larger and smaller animals apart within each litter and, through this, encourage more uniform growth and less mortality.
"We reckoned there had to be a simpler way around the big litter problem," explains managing director Guus Schippers. "Modern sows have more than enough milk for big litters. The main problem is that there are just not enough teats to go round nowadays. Splitting the litters in the same pen is a solution we are launching at EuroTier."
The Schippers system – already on trial in the leading Dutch swine research farm at Sterksel – features a divided creep, each section having its own access flap to the sow.
"Dimensions have not been decided on so far. But we're working on an automatic flap system which ensures only one of the two groups have access to the sow at any particular time."
And, so far, it seems that no complicated technology will be required to ensure that – under normal conditions anyway – each batch of piglets will return to its respective creep area after sucking and let the other half of the litter have a go at the milk bar.
"Making sure the creep area is kept at optimum temperature, and always well above that of the sow area, seems to work very well in this respect," says Guus Schippers. "Naturally, the supply of some tasty creep feed helps too."
Expert analysis of farrowings online
Worldwide, more and more webcams are being fitted in swine barns for wireless surveillance of crucial links in the production chain, such as farrowing.
Often, as with the University of Helsinki's "Sikatekno Project," where heat-sensitive infrared cameras are used, all that's wanted is a warning that the farrowing is underway. The Finnish system, incidentally, also goes on to play an important role in identifying any cases of piglet hypothermia by keeping the heat camera trained on the piglets for the first days after birth. This "considerably improves survival figures," according to scientists involved.
But a number of research institutes in Germany and the Netherlands have gone a step further and developed software for expert automatic analysis of farrowings on-camera. One direct result is the SowCam system now being tested on northwest German farms and due for introduction at this year's EuroTier show.
SowCam software starts counting the piglets as they appear. At the same time, the period between each birth is timed. When this breaks from the norm and the gap is too long, the system sends a warning that can be seen on the farm computer monitor. The system also contacts nominated cell phones with a message. The cell phone system then allows direct access to the farrowing film online. This gives the person in charge more information to help in deciding whether help is needed or not.
First results from the SowCam system indicate that it cuts time in the farrowing house, but also leads to a much quieter and more restful atmosphere there. Main reason: people are not always hanging about waiting for the next litter to start or having to monitor the farrowing during the whole process.
Another bonus from the SowCam concept is that all films of the farrowings can be kept on record, offering important information for breeding sow selection.
A strategy of better management for sows in Danish herds has enabled selected farms to reduce breeding herd mortality by almost 20 per cent in just 18 months.
One immediate effect is that average annual gross margin per sow and year on these units has increased by as much as C$130. In fact, on one farm with 2,000 sows where sow mortality was whacked back from 18.3 per cent to 11.6 per cent, average annual weaner production per sow has leapt by 1.9 with gross margin increasing from $533 to $664, a jump of just under 25 per cent.
Starting the ball rolling in this respect was the shock figure in 2007 of an average 15 per cent sow mortality for all Danish herds. Backed by the Ministry of Agriculture in Copenhagen, the Danish Pig Research Centre (DPRC) reacted with a campaign called "Sow Life" aimed at reducing such losses by 25 per cent before the end of 2013. First of all, 17 commercial herds were selected as demonstration farms. Each farmer was linked up with an agricultural advisor, farm vet and DPRC experts to map out an individual strategy to help breeding sow survival.
Main measures:
• Careful assessment of gilts and sows prior to insemination with special attention to good feet and legs. Body condition should be medium (hip bones and spine able to be felt with a slight pressure of the hand)
• Ensuring non-slip flooring in all pens
• Introducing sufficient hospital pens for injured sows or those not walking freely, and for sows showing lack of appetite
• Following an individual feeding system for dry sows
• Conducting daily inspections of dry sows. Making sure they get up and move around during the checks
• Recording causes of sows leaving the breeding herd – such as injuries, infertility, poor maternal instincts – and using the information when selecting replacements.
The results have been encouraging. On the project farms, sow mortality has been reduced from a little over 15 to 12 per cent over the first 18 months, which means performance improvement is well on target.
The farms are already being used as demonstration units for other advisors, vets and herd managers with the aim of improving national performance through the ripple effect.
And for large-scale Danish swine enterprises, a similar project – Sow Life II – is being introduced. The units involved here will have herds of over 1,500 sows and more than six staff members. The project aims to implement the lessons in breeding sow care learned in Sow Life, but also to look more into staff training and internal enterprise communications in this respect. BP