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Energy costs have nearly doubled per hog over the last decade, and heating, lighting, and ventilation are the biggest culprits. The good news? Many fixes are simple and affordable.

Switching to LED lighting alone can cut electrical use by 75–80% compared to incandescent bulbs, with a payback in one to two years. On heating, gestating sows kept at 8–13°C performed just as well as those in warmer barns, cutting natural gas use by up to 75%. Poorly calibrated ventilation systems and leaky drinkers quietly add thousands of dollars in unnecessary costs each year.

For producers, the takeaway is clear: regular maintenance, smarter temperature setpoints, efficient fans, and tighter barn sealing can meaningfully reduce your energy bill without hurting pig health or performance. Renewable options like solar walls and geothermal systems offer longer-term savings worth exploring too.

During the 2024 PSC producer meetings, held in collaboration with Zoetis and PIC, nutrition researcher at the Prairie Swine Centre Dan Columbus gave a presentation titled ‘Insights into mycotoxins in swine diets’. In this presentation, Dan provided information regarding mycotoxin prevalence, how they affect pigs, issues around sampling ingredients for mycotoxins, and mitigation strategies, including binders, detoxification, physical removal, grain sorting, etc. He also discussed the results of two research trials he did feeding mycotoxins to finisher pigs and grower-finisher pigs.

Switching to group sow housing raises a big question: which feeding system is the right fit? There's no single answer, but understanding the trade-offs makes the decision easier.

Low-cost options like floor feeding and shoulder stalls are simple to manage but come with more aggression, competition, and overfeeding risks. Electronic Sow Feeding (ESF) costs more upfront but automates daily management and enables precision feeding. Free-access stalls offer a good middle ground — low management input and individual feeding — but require the most floor space and carry a higher price tag.

For producers, the best system depends on your budget, barn layout, and management style. If technology isn't your comfort zone, simpler systems can still work well with the right group management practices in place.

Precision Feeding in Gestation: Real Gains, But Some Tradeoffs to Work Through

Feeding gestating sows is costly and has a significant environmental footprint. Researchers at CDPQ and Université Laval wanted to know whether tailoring feed to each sow's actual needs — rather than using one standard ration for all — could improve performance while reducing nutrient inputs.

Over three reproductive cycles, 393 gilts received either conventional feeding or a precision feeding ration adjusted by parity or individually. Researchers tracked body condition, litter performance, and sow longevity throughout.

The results are encouraging: precision feeding reduced lysine intake by 15%, crude protein by 11%, and digestible phosphorus by 17%, while producing about 0.7 more piglets weaned per litter. The tradeoff — sows on precision feeding had slightly more unproductive days and a tendency to be culled earlier after the first cycle.

For producers, this approach shows real promise — fewer inputs, lower environmental impact, and better litter performance. Some fine-tuning is still needed to protect gilt longevity before wide-scale adoption.

Losing piglets to crushing is a real problem. In Canada, most pre-weaning piglet deaths are caused by sows accidentally lying on their young. Researchers wanted to know: is this partly genetic — and can we select against it?

Using records from over 3,000 Yorkshire sows on three Ontario farms, the team developed a breeding value tool to rank sows by their tendency to crush piglets. They found this behaviour is heritable (about 7%), similar to litter size. The top 10% of sows crushed roughly 0.15 more piglets per litter than the bottom 10%.

For producers, this means genetic selection could gradually reduce crushing events — improving both piglet welfare and your bottom line, potentially saving millions across Canada's herd over time.

Precision Feeding in Gestation: Smarter Nutrition for Better Litter Performance

Feeding gestating sows the right nutrients at the right time is a challenge. A one-size-fits-all approach often means overfeeding early in gestation and underfeeding late — neither is ideal. Researchers at CDPQ and Université Laval tested whether precision feeding could better match each sow's actual needs across three reproductive cycles with over 500 gilts.

Four feeding strategies were compared: a conventional program, bump feeding (increasing feed intake in late gestation), precision feeding by parity, and individual precision feeding. Precision feeding by parity stood out — producing 0.6 more piglets weaned per litter, reducing lysine and phosphorus intake by 20%, and cutting nitrogen output by 10%.

For producers, precision feeding by parity appears to be the most practical and promising approach. Individual precision feeding also showed benefits for second-parity sows. Longevity results from the third parity are still being analyzed.

Elevator Farrowing Crates: A Promising Tool to Reduce Piglet Crushing

Crushing is one of the leading causes of pre-weaning piglet death. CDPQ researchers evaluated a new technology — the elevator farrowing crate — where the floor beneath the sow automatically rises about 20 cm when she stands or sits up, preventing piglets under 8 days old from sheltering underneath her.

Results showed a significant reduction in crushing deaths — down 11.3% compared to conventional crates. Some tradeoffs were noted: a slight increase in stillborns (+1.9%), lower weaning weight (-0.20 kg), and reduced average daily gain (-11.1 g/day).

On the practical side, keeping the floor raised makes it easier and faster to catch piglets during care and at weaning — a real time-saver for barn staff.

For producers, this technology offers a meaningful reduction in crushing losses. Regular maintenance of the compressor and pneumatic system is needed to keep things running smoothly.

Feed production accounts for over 50% of GHG emissions in pig farming — making it the biggest target for reducing your operation's carbon footprint.

Researchers found two practical approaches: replacing traditional grains with local co-products (like corn distillers' grains), and improving feeding efficiency to reduce crude protein waste. Both strategies also lower nitrogen emissions from manure.

Since finishing pigs contribute 70% of livestock emissions, that's where these strategies make the biggest difference.

The bottom line: Smarter feed choices — using by-products and reducing crude protein — can meaningfully cut your farm's environmental impact without hurting performance.

Hot Weather Feeding: Practical Strategies to Keep Your Pigs Eating

When temperatures rise, pigs eat less — and that hurts growth performance and sow reproduction. CDPQ agronomists have compiled practical strategies to help limit these effects.

Two main approaches are recommended. First, adjust feeding management: split meals into smaller portions and shift feeding times to cooler periods, ideally between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m. Second, revisit feed composition: reduce crude protein and fibre — which generate more body heat during digestion — and increase fat content to compensate for lower feed intake. Additives like vitamin E, betaine, and sodium bicarbonate may also help counter the metabolic effects of heat stress.

For producers, these adjustments are practical and can be applied right away. Nutritional changes are most effective when planned ahead — before summer heat arrives.

Canadian pigs are getting heavier. Average carcass weight rose from 86 kg in 1999 to over 103 kg in 2019. This creates a challenge: how do you fairly compare pigs that were measured at very different weights and ages? Researchers from the Canadian Centre for Swine Improvement (CCSI) and Quebec's swine development centre worked with nearly 2,000 purebred Duroc, Yorkshire, and Landrace pigs across 13 farm trials. They measured weight, backfat, muscle depth, and intramuscular fat repeatedly as pigs grew from 30 to 160 kg. The team tested several mathematical models to predict what a pig's measurements would look like at a standard weight. A curved growth model (the Gompertz equation) outperformed older, straight-line methods, especially for heavier pigs. They also introduced a machine learning approach that improves its predictions over time as more data is collected.