Teagasc

Behaviour & Welfare

Animal Health

Body Composition

Breeding & Genetics

Carcass & Meat Quality

Environment Impact

Field Experiments

Feed & Feed Tehnologies

Housing & System Trials

Performance Trials

Physiological Studies

General facts • A 200 sow integrated herd research farm • Total area of unit: 6,000m2 • Centralised power washing system • Centralised air compressor system • Centralised automated dosing system for water medication • Automated computer controlled ventilation using a negative pressure diffuse air system The pig research facility is composed of five buildings adapted to pig research. The facilities allow for individualized animal control, with automatic feeders, climate, and animal behaviour monitoring. Feeding systems • Two Feed Systems: o Dry Feed (Big Dutchman Dry Exact Pro) & Liquid/Wet (Big Dutchman Hydro Air) o Three feed kitchens: 2 dry feed and one liquid/wet feed o Dry ExactPro: A ‘chain and disc’ system that allows different weighed diets (treatments) to be accurately delivered to different feeders within a house. Each feeder/pen has a sensor which communicates with the feed computer when more feed is required. This feed is then weighed and administered from the feed kitchen. Each system has a double loop allowing faster delivery of different diets o Hydro Air: Compressed air is used to deliver small accurate volumes of feed to the trough, this ensures that the feed line is clean of residues and diet cross contamination after each delivery. Two mix tanks allow for 2 diet treatments. Two fermentation tanks have been added to the system to allow ingredient pre-soaking, fermentation and enzyme use. • Feed Bins: o There are 17 feed bins for sow/weaner completed diets o There are 14 feed bins for finisher completed diets Dry Sow House • A loose housed system with solid lying bays and slatted walkways • Can accommodate 140 dry sows • Total space allocation per sow 2.5m2 • Three Electronic Sow Feed systems: o Two dry sow ESFs: 70 sows per feeder o One served gilt/gilt training ESF feeder • Two diets per ESF plus a micro-doser allowing a total of 3 diets per ESF Service House • The unit operates a ‘Batch Farrowing’ System (three week) • This maximises the use of available piglets and labour efficiency for trial work • House consists of 34 service stalls with associated maiden gilt, cull sow & boar pens • 32 services per batch to allow 28 sows to farrow. • Straw-based mixing area to reduce aggression at mixing post-weaning Farrowing House • Six rooms with 62 places in total o Loose farrowing : 1 room x 6 places (2.5m X 2.1m) o 2 rooms x 7 places (2.5 X 1.8m) o 3 rooms x 14 places (2.5m X 1.8m) • Water heated pads with additional option of heat lamp in creep area • Adjustable feed trough for unused feed collection during trial work • Passage front and rear of farrowing places Weaner Rooms • One stage weaner accommodation from 7kgs to 34kgs • Five rooms: o 2 rooms of 30 pens, 12 pigs per pen, i.e. 360 per room o 3 rooms of 10 pens, 12 pigs per pen, i.e. 120 per room • Enter after weaning (c. 7kg) and transferred to finisher section after 8 weeks (c.34kg) • Fresh water line plus 3 medicated lines per pen and Integrated sprinkler system line for washing • Automated feed delivery system recording the exact weight per feed allocation • Innovative flexible penning system allowing group sizes of 12 / 24 / 48 pigs per pen. • Sealed rooms to allow accurate gaseous collection Finisher Rooms • Six rooms: o 3 rooms of 30 pens, 12 pigs per pen, i.e. 360 per room o 3 rooms of 10 pens, 12 pigs per pen, i.e. 120 per room • Enter at 34kg and transferred for sale at 110kg • Fresh water line, plus 3 medicated lines (& sprinkler system line) as per weaner house • Innovative flexible penning as per weaner house • Sealed rooms to allow accurate gaseous collection Computerised Feed Test Stations • Allows the feed intake of individual animals within a group to be recorded with transponder tags • 12 feed stations per weaner section and 12 feed station per finisher section • Allows an individual batch of pigs to be tested through a growth cycle from weaning to sale Feed Mill • Reception intake, storage, and sampling of raw materials • Grinding, dosing of minerals/vitamins and additives, mixing, and sampling of feed diets • Pelletizer, extruder • Bagging/packaging Other Facilities • Experimental Room: space for 10 Metabolism Units • Experimental Room: for sow care/hoof inspections (with Zinpro Crate), blood sampling • Recovery Room: for sick and injured pigs • Breed Evaluation Room: for testing genetic lines • Gilt Rearing Room: to rear own replacement stock • Three pen/group weighing scales (computer networked) • Services Complex: office, lab, changing rooms, staff canteen