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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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Alberta ROCT makes drug and weapons busts

Thursday, June 25, 2026

A team of RCMP officers dedicated to keeping rural communities safe made significant drug and weapons busts recently. On June 20, the Rural Organized Crime Team (ROCT), which the provincial government provided $2 million of support for earlier in the month, found drugs and firearms during... Read this article online

Canada’s only commercial olive farm up for sale

Thursday, June 25, 2026

A rarity in Canada, the only commercial olive farm in the country, is going up for auction in August. CLHbid.com will oversee the sale of The Olive Farm and its almost 74 acres of land in Salt Spring Island, B.C. Canadian olive production is very low because of its cold winters, and... Read this article online

Manitoba grain elevators listed as endangered

Thursday, June 25, 2026

Grain elevators in the RM of Brenda-Waskada are considered some of the top 10 endangered structures in all of Manitoba. The Manitoba Historical Society on June 23 published its annual list of “historically significant buildings around our province that deserve to be preserved and better... Read this article online

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