Labor is a limiting factor on many swine operations. Here are five solutions that stood out on the trade show floor at World Pork Expo to aid in:
- sorting and loading pigs
- biosecurity efforts
- treating pigs using water-soluble medications
- monitoring and measuring feed inventory
- moving boars or dead stock safely
Sorting System Saves Time, Feed and Money
When was the last time your team looked forward to an easy loading day? It can typically take four or five people about two hours to sort and load a truckload of pigs. But with the automated sorter from Central Ag Distribution, that same truckload can be sorted in about 45 minutes by one person.
Jeffrey Morten, USA sales manager, says this automatic sorter weighs pigs every time they leave their group pen to go into the “food court.” The pig is weighed and the appropriate gate opens to let that pig into the pen with the correct diet for that group.
This keeps group weights consistent and helps notice lights more quickly. Instead of having to visually appraise pigs on sorting day, the pigs are already grouped by size. This helps with forecasting and shortens time needed in the barns to do so.
“It lessens anxiety all the way around — both for the people and the pigs. Loading just goes so much smoothly,” he says.
Downtime and Disinfection Tracking Helps Keep Logistics Moving
Biosecurity is critical to pigs’ health, but there are a lot of details to keep straight. Anthony Novero, chief technology officer at Farm Health Guardian, says if communication about disinfection isn’t clear for supplies entering the farm, then time and labor is wasted.
Farm Health Guardian is a management tool for farmers and food companies to improve biosecurity and disease prevention, saving time and reducing costs. It includes facial recognition technology that has two interlocked devices on either the incoming or outgoing door, depending on the state of the disinfection cycle. It shares the status of the cycle and lets employees know when it’s possible to move things out safely. It also helps monitor the room’s temperature.
Water-Soluble Medications Create a Ripple Effect of Efficiency
Water-delivered medications eliminate time spent preparing and giving injections and minimize stress to both the caretakers and the pigs because pigs don’t have to be handled individually, says Nic Lauterbach, Pharmgate Animal Health technical services veterinarian.
“The pigs stay calm, they keep drinking, eating and growing,” he adds.
These medications often have a small dose, so it’s possible for one caretaker to move the product, mix the medication and deliver it to the whole pen through the waterer.
Monitoring and Measuring Feed Inventory Saves on Labor
Feed is usually an operation’s biggest expense, and out-of-feed events happen far more often than you might think. Only 20% of all feed outages are caused by actually running out of feed. The remaining 80% of feed outages happen when there are issues with manual feed bin slides.
BinSentry provides a way to monitor and measure feed inventory and bin slide management using sensors and proprietary software to monitor bins in real time. It can create alerts to out-of-feed problems or issues about to occur.
“Asking farmers or techs to climb feed bins and visually estimate feed levels inside of bins is a safety risk and a poor use of time,” says Ben Allen, CEO of BinSentry. “Visual estimates of feed levels inside of dark bins are notoriously inaccurate. This type of work is perfect for sensors that can instantly and accurately report feed levels without wasting valuable human resources.”
Moving Boars or Dead Stock Can Be Made Easier and Safer
Hauling deceased pigs is no fun emotionally or physically. But the Trackporter provides physical relief.
“It can turn a two- to three-man job into a one-man job,” says Andrew Chandler, purchasing and inventory specialist for ATZ Manufacturing.
It can haul, push or carry dead stock. Chandler explains you hook up an animal and then push the button to move it. It was a low center of gravity to increase safety; can haul tools, heavy parts or supplies; and decreases the need of workman’s compensation claims.
For safety in moving boars, you can stand outside the crate and lead a boar where he needs to go.
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