LACOMBE, Alta. — Future technology may tell hog farmers if their animals are sick or stressed before they ever show symptoms.
Scientists at the Agriculture Canada research centre near Lacombe are using infrared thermography to monitor pigs’ health and behaviour.
Livestock welfare researcher Nigel Cook of Alberta Agriculture told an Aug. 19 field day at the centre that, once tagged, the pigs are never touched by human hands.
Instead, each one wears an electronic identification button in the ear. A computer weighs them every time they visit the feeder and measures how much they eat.
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“We can get very accurate measurements of their feed consumption,” he said.
An infrared camera installed directly above the feeder transmits changes in body heat to a computer.
Another camera located on the ceiling takes an image every five minutes to measure the temperature of the group to detect possible sickness.
Researchers also take stress measurements by attaching a cotton swab to a stick that the pigs chew on.
Saliva is then analyzed to see how much of the stress hormone cortisol is present.
The pigs in the study come from the research centre’s 100-sow farrow-to-finish unit and are sent for slaughter once they reach market weight.
However, they are driven in the trailer for an hour before reaching the on-site abattoir so that stress measurements can be taken to see which animals react to transportation.
Meat quality is also assessed after slaughter for possible stress related problems.
