Overview of why modern swine production uses indoor housing systems for animal health, welfare, and performance.

Everything needed to plan, construct, and manage a swine breeding and gestation facility, including: Housing Management Options, Building Layout and Equipment, Manure Handling, Environmental Control Systems, and Utilities. More than 90 figures, photographs, and tables plus 11 examples complement the text. Five breeding herd inventory worksheets and a boar usage chart complete the book.

Specific recommendations for concrete guidelines for use in your agricultural business.

Properly functioning ventilation systems are vital to today’s pork production facilities, and following a regular process for maintaining their operation can pay big economic dividends. This publication is a winter ventilation checklist to facilitate maintenance and ensure timely inspection of proper equipment and barn components. Typically, this checklist would be used around October to prepare for winter heating and ventilation needs.

Properly functioning ventilation systems are vital to today’s pork production facilities, and following a regular process for maintaining their operation can pay big economic dividends. This publication is a summer ventilation checklist to facilitate maintenance and ensure timely inspection of proper equipment and barn components. Typically, this checklist would be used around April to prepare for summer cooling and ventilation needs.

There’s been long-standing interest in understanding how heat stress limits feed efficiency in swine. In muscle we have found evidence of inflammation, metabolic dysfunction, and oxidative stress. The goal is to use this information to develop practical and economically viable interventions to limit the negative effects of heat stress.

Ventilation is by far the largest source of heating energy loss in swine facilities. To maintain air quality, it is essential to provide proper minimum ventilation without losing excessive energy from the building. Learn how modern controllers interlock equipment operation to avoid conflicts that waste energy.

Understanding energy consumption in swine facilities can help managers know how much energy is being used and how much should be used. Tools for calculating optimal energy use are included in the publication, as well as tips for what to do if usage is higher than the suggested goals.

Wasted heating energy due to over-ventilation is a costly problem for hog producers. Proper sizing of ventilation and use of variable speed fans can improve energy efficiency.

Most farrowing facilities in the United States use stalls and heat lamps to improve sow and piglet productivity. This study investigated these factors by comparing production outcomes for three different farrowing stall layouts (traditional, expanded creep area, expanded sow area) and use of one or two heat lamps.

Using heat lamps, heat mats, and brooders for localized heating can improve energy efficiency in swine housing. Learn about small adjustments and management considerations for implementing localized heating.

The guide outlines water line system design, water quality diagnostics, cleaning and disinfection protocols, types of water medicators and best practices for administering medications. It is available for download at no cost from the ISU Extension Store. 

Overview of reactive, preventative, and predictive maintenance approaches with specific task schedules for swine facility equipment.

Ventilation fans are the driving force behind the exchange of air that is necessary to create a healthy environment for animals and farm employees.

Good quality fans are essential for proper performance of mechanically ventilated facilities. Learn the basic principles of fan quality, rating, performance, installation, and fans for specialized uses.

Indoor lighting for farm facilities needs to be safe, efficient, and economical. Get an overview of lighting types suited for livestock, poultry, and farm shop facilities.

Find basic information about several farm lighting options for security, worker safety, livestock production, and work after dark. Also gives a brief overview of energy efficiency for lighting options.

Critical safety protocols for ventilation and gas monitoring during manure pit agitation and pumping operations.

Identifying common winter ventilation issues and practical solutions to ensure proper air mixing and temperature uniformity.

Ventilation got you stumped or maintenance just keeps adding to your ever growing list of daily tasks? Take a break and learn about the key concepts on ventilation and equipment operation that you need to know to help develop a ‘ventilation intuition’ to better prioritize, inspect, and prevent challenges.

Explanation of the different ventilation stages in swine barns and how to transition between them based on weather and pig needs.

Practical demonstration of measuring air speed and environmental conditions to evaluate ventilation system effectiveness.

How poor ventilation and air quality contribute to tail biting behavior and strategies to prevent it through proper barn management.

Heat stress continues to have negative impacts on pig performance across all stages of production. Learn practical methods to identify heat stress conditions and what parts of the ventilation system can cause problems. Additional detail on best management practices to reduce the impacts of heat stress and increase performance are also included.

Industry experts discuss critical ventilation principles and strategies for optimizing air quality in swine facilities.

Ventilation air filtration systems for swine facilities, including boar studs, sow farms, and gilt development farms, have been shown to be economically viable due to the reduction of disease outbreaks attributed to airborne disease transmission. This worksheet will go through the process of sizing an air filtration system for a swine facility.

Proper ventilation design helps ensure healthy and productive animals, healthy employees, and an efficient facility. This worksheet is intended to guide you through a simplified procedure for selecting the components of a ventilation system.