U.S. pig farmers continue to contend with challenges amidst rising production costs, labor shortages and shrinking profit margins. These challenges are worsened by the increasing need to modify pig production methods in response to social issues such as legislation, referendums or retailer responses to consumer complaints. Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) tools that provide continuous, automatic, real-time animal monitoring and data collection can address some challenges confronting pig producers. The potential of PLF to transform U.S. pig production is significant. Specifically, PLF can potentially increase productivity on the U.S. swine farm — while contributing to cost reductions, pig productivity, health and welfare, as well as making laborer jobs more accessible and safer.
Currently, PLF uptake has yet to effectively take off on U.S. swine farms. One reason might be that we need to understand critical on-farm user views, like producers and veterinarians. Understanding these perceptions is necessary to understand what PLF is valid, what type of PLF is most wanted and where there could be difficulties with on-farm PLF implementation. Within this study, we assessed U.S. swine farmer and veterinarian awareness, perception and attitude toward PLF.
Study participants
We surveyed swine farmers and veterinarians during annual production meetings across the U.S. Most swine farms and veterinarians are located in Michigan, Iowa and North Carolina. Nearly all of them are commercial swine farms with vast numbers of pigs and many of the veterinarians provide services to livestock producers within and or across different states.
Three-quarters of the swine farmers who participated in the survey were male, with an average age of 45 and 21 or more years of farming experience. The average swine farmer who participated in the study had 9,607 sucking piglets, 39,051 grower or finisher pigs, 15,071 nursery pigs, 1,025 lactating sows, 4,681 gestating sows and 30 boars at the time of the survey. Of those who completed the survey, most identified as farm owners (41%), farm managers (28%) and farm workers (5%). One-third (31%) of those farms are located in Michigan, 10% in Iowa and almost half (49%) in North Carolina.
Half of the veterinarians who participated in the study identified as male, with an average age of 46 and having at least 16 years of veterinary experience. Most of the veterinarians (80%) identified as general practitioners. About 40% of the veterinarians have their office in Iowa, 28% in North Carolina and 2% in Michigan.
Are U.S. swine farmers and veterinarians aware of PLF technologies? Many swine farmers know Electronic Sow Feeders (ESF) and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) as the most suitable examples of PLF technologies. Many farmers need to become more familiar with pressure plates for detecting lameness in sow feeding stations and microphone technology for detecting respiratory problems.
Similarly, most veterinarians were very aware of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Electronic Sow Feeders (ESF) but are least aware of pressure plates PLF technology for detecting lameness in sow feeding stations and PLF technology for automated measurement of individual pig water intake. The high awareness of ESF and RFID may be because these two technologies have been used inside swine systems for the past few decades and there are regulatory requirements for their use on U.S. swine farms. In comparison, pressure plates and water drinkers are relatively new and less established on swine farms.
Source: msu.edu
Photo Credit: gettyimages-seastock
Categories: Michigan, Livestock, Hogs