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Better Pork Featured Articles

Better Pork magazine is published bimonthly. After each edition is published, we share featured articles online.


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

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Ag groups call for pause to AAFC cuts

Friday, March 20, 2026

Close to two dozen Canadian ag groups wrote to Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald to ask for an immediate pause to the scheduled cuts at AAFC research facilities. The federal government is closing seven ag research sites and eliminating 665 positions to support the prime minister’s goal... Read this article online

CGC issues multiple licenses on March 18

Thursday, March 19, 2026

Two Canadian and one American grain handler received licenses from the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) on March 18. One of the Canadian companies, Red River Seeds in Morris, Man., the leading buyer of rye grain in Western Canada, received two licenses. One of those licenses is a grain... Read this article online

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