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The Maschhoffs are one of the largest family owned pork producers in the United States. I had the opportunity to spend three days at their home office learning about different parts of the swine industry and what they do as a company. I think their Animal Care page does a good job of explaining the many steps they take to ensure they are providing the highest quality of life for their animals. Some things they mention include internal and external PQA programs as well as preventative methods so their animals are less likely to get injured or sick.

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ANIMAL HEALTH

At The Maschhoffs, our health strategy is one that prioritizes prevention over treatment. As such, biosecurity protocols are a vital part of ensuring healthy pigs stay healthy.

In the event that a treatment option must be pursued, we entrust those decisions to our regional health services teams. These local veterinarians pursue a strategy that prioritizes individual animal wellness, while also protecting the overall herd.

Proper use of antibiotics is an important treatment option that our veterinarians utilize when appropriate. At The Maschhoffs, we use antibiotics to provide our animals with every opportunity to recover from illness. We will not sacrifice our level of animal care by withholding antibiotics as part of a viable treatment strategy.

As part of our animal health program, we have strict protocols in place to ensure there are no medication residues in the U.S. food supply. While we verify the withdrawal periods are adhered to on our side, pork produced from our animals is tested at the harvest facility according to USDA standards. With these safeguards in place, consumers can be confident that all U.S. pork is free of antibiotics.

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At The Maschhoffs, our health strategy is one that prioritizes prevention over treatment. As such, biosecurity protocols are a vital part of ensuring healthy pigs stay healthy. In the event that a treatment option must be pursued, we entrust those decisions to our regional health services teams. These local veterinarians pursue a strategy that prioritizes individual animal wellness, while also protecting the overall herd.

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This is Erin Brenneman, also known as @sowmomma. She uses her social media accounts to share accurate information about pig farming. I chose her as an expert for Animal Handling in pigs because she always takes the time to explain what and why she is doing things a certain way, mostly in the farrowing barn. Another way that she is able to connect with her followers is that she did not grow up on a farm so she can relate her information about pigs to people that do not have experience.

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Stressful handling can cause:
1. Slower rate of gain in market animals
2. Fear of humans
3. Poor meat quality

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This picture shows a few common ingestive behaviors in swine. The amount of light shows how pigs are diurnal eaters, meaning that they eat during the day. At the top you can also see that there are two pigs in this picture. Eating in groups is another common ingestive behavior in swine.

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Most chemical and tactile communication occurs between boars and estrous females. The estrous female releases hormones the stimulate response from a boar, boar may then nudge at or try to mount a female (tactile). https://www.merckvetmanual.com/behavior/normal-social-behavior-and-behavioral-problems-of-domestic-animals/social-behavior-of-swine

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Tail position in pigs is the closest they use to visual communication. This may be by curling the tail or holding it straight down. However, they mostly communicate vocally/auditory by grunting to each other with different pitch and length of grunts communicating different things. https://www.merckvetmanual.com/behavior/normal-social-behavior-and-behavioral-problems-of-domestic-animals/social-behavior-of-swine

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1. The piglets will nudge at the mother’s belly to stimulate milk let down.
2. Piglets will vocalize as they start to nurse.
3. Piglets establish a teat order shortly after birth and will continue to go back to that specific teat to nurse.

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According to the course book, Principles and Applications of Domestic Animal Behavior, a pig’s snout is a structural/sensory bias. They are able to use it to uproot food items and have a superior sense of smell. However, this does not limit them from learning certain things.

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1. The mother pig will lay down and present their teats for nursing.

2. The mother will grunt in a rhythmic pattern as the piglets nurse.

3. The mother will roll on to her belly or stand up to signal the end of nursing to the piglets

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This article discusses an operant conditioning experiment where pigs are trained to work for their food. In some cases they receive the same predictable feed, in others, the feed type varies each time. The hypothesis predicted that the pigs would prefer the unpredictable, varied food type. However, this was not supported.

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The Milner Library proxy server will allow authorized individuals to use the indexes and databases when connecting through a computer off-campus.

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This video shows a female pig that is not in heat. The worker is pushing down on her back, and she does not want to stand still. When a female pig is in heat, she will stand immobile.

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Male pigs will try to mount females and other male pigs to try to breed.

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Pigs can run approximately 11 miles per hour!

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I chose to make my Padlet about pigs. I chose pigs because they are the reason I decided to major in agriculture. I started showing pigs the summer after my senior year of high school, and it was a good opportunity for me to not only experience something new, but also to learn the basics about swine and their behaviors. This Padlet will allow me to further explore swine behaviors as well as relate the basic knowledge I have to the bigger picture of how the swine industry has evolved and why farmers use the methods they do when raising pigs. This will also benefit me from an agricultural communications standpoint by helping me to find resources to use when explaining technology such as farrowing crates and confinement barns to consumers.

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If pigs do not get used to solid feed before being weaned, feed intake significantly decreases leading to intestinal problems, making this a sensitive period. https://www.deheus.com/news/knowledge/weaning-piglets-without-any-problems-769

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This picture shows a sow nursing her piglets. Maternal behaviors are heritable in pigs with certain breeds such as Yorkshire being more likely to have positive maternal behaviors. This is important economically because sows that easily lay down and nurse their piglets allow the piglets a better chance a growth.

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This article discusses behavioral changes in various heat in humidity as observed in pig’s eating habits. Heat stress response was one of the main things found to be caused my genetic variation. Production efficiency is improved when breeding stock is selected for heat tolerance.

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The Milner Library proxy server will allow authorized individuals to use the indexes and databases when connecting through a computer off-campus.