Lack of heat capacity affects the pigs
ProGrow can help detect the heat capacity problems
Do you have a sufficient heat capacity and dry out your livestock house correctly?
A dried-out and heated section is a clear prerequisite for weaning pigs to use the feed to grow. ProGrow can help pig producers detect if there are problems with heating the section. The below shows how lack of heat capacity affects the growth of the pigs.
A pig producer with sows and weaners contacted the professional advisor Anders Amstrup from the feed supplier Danish Agro, as his weaning pigs did not gain weight as expected.
"Through the ProGrow management system installed on the farm, I could see that the pigs did not gain weight during the first eight days," says Anders Amstrup, professional advisor, Danish Agro. (1)
Anders Amstrup found the reason for the lack of growth in the temperature overview. The overview showed that the section was not properly dried-out when the pigs were stocked and that the heat supply was insufficient to maintain the desired temperature. (2)
"The customer's heating system was simply underdimensioned, and the heating pipes in the section were too small. It was, therefore, necessary to heat the house using a blow heater, which was temporarily installed," Anders Amstrup continues.
Not until a few days later did the solution ensure the desired temperature. After five days, the temperature dropped dramatically again when the blow heater was removed from the section. It was a sure sign that the house was not dried-out and heated properly due to the underdimensioned heating system.
"When the blow heater was removed from the section, we saw a distinct decrease in the pigs' water intake. The pigs huddled under the canopy to keep warm and did not get out to drink from the drinking nipples. Consequently, the feed intake was too low," says Anders Amstrup.
Using data from ProGrow, the professional advisor compared the current temperature with the desired temperature. After 15 days, the actual temperature reached the desired level.
"During the first eight days, the pigs had used the feed to maintain their body temperature. That is an extremely expensive solution in terms of feed consumption and daily gain," says Anders Amstrup.
The feed consumption was too high during the entire growth period, and the final weight was too low. Anders Amstrup also estimated that higher mortality and medication consumption are expected in a batch of pigs produced under these conditions.
"ProGrow helped me clarify the reason for the lacking daily gain, and it was possible to follow the consequences of insufficient heating and establish how much extra feed was used in the period," Anders Amstrup concludes.
The information also helped the pig producer assess the costs of an underdimensioned heating system versus an investment in a correctly dimensioned system.
______________________________________
Besides purchasing crops from the agricultural sector, the Danish Agro Group mainly sells compound feed, raw materials, vitamin premixtures, fertilizers, crop health measures, seedcorn, machinery, and energy.
The ProGrow graph shows no weight gain the first 8 days (1)
Actual temperature below temperature the first 15 days (2)