Why do some sows prefer to stay out of their stalls? Wednesday, October 6, 2010 Given a choice, some pregnant sows simply choose to stay in their 26-inch wide gestation stalls, according to research conducted by the Prairie Swine Centre in Saskatchewan, published on the website of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians.The study found that 95 per cent of the sows left their stalls at some point to be in a group area but, over 24 hours, about 40 per cent spent less than two per cent of their time outside the stalls. Other animals spent 80 to 90 per cent of their time outside the stalls in a common area with other gestating animals.Animal behaviourist Harold Gonyou observed that the sows that stayed out tended to be older, larger sows and that raised some questions. Are the younger sows avoiding these larger animals and staying in their space for protection against bullying? Or are the 26-inch wide stalls too small for the older animals and so they choose to lie down elsewhere? BP Contradictory views on animal welfare Things about bacon you maybe didn't know
Spain mobilises military against swine fever, says contaminated sandwich could be cause Monday, December 1, 2025 Spain's military was deployed on Monday to contain an African swine fever outbreak near Barcelona which officials suspect may have been triggered by a wild boar eating contaminated food such as a sandwich, sparking a chain of events now disrupting the country's multibillion-euro pork export... Read this article online
How a pig disease posed a hidden biosecurity trap for beef exports Monday, December 1, 2025 It may come as a confronting surprise for cattle producers to learn that a pig disease could have cost them access to a key export beef market, had it made the relatively short hop from Timor Leste since gaining a foothold there in 2019. At LIVEXchange 2025, former chief veterinary... Read this article online
South Korea raises African Swine Fever alert after outbreak at pig farm Monday, December 1, 2025 South Korea said on Tuesday there had been an outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) at a pig farm in the country's largest pig-breeding region, prompting authorities to raise the national alert level to "serious". Some 1,423 pigs were culled due to the outbreak at a farm in Dangjin, South... Read this article online
New research at University of Saskatchewan identifies cause of pig ear necrosis Monday, December 1, 2025 Pig ear necrosis was first described in the 1960s, but since then it’s been nearly impossible to identify the cause of the painful animal affliction. Until now, that is. New research at the University of Saskatchewan has identified the bacteria that causes pig ear necrosis – a fairly... Read this article online
Common gut bacteria identified as cause of pig ear necrosis Monday, December 1, 2025 It's a problem that's made its way through pig farms around the world for decades, with no clear cause or solution. But new research from the University of Saskatchewan (USask) has identified the cause of pig ear necrosis, a painful and troublesome affliction that causes the ear tissue of pigs... Read this article online