DMancaster Farming Saturday, July 23, 1988 Farrowing Crate Designs Fifty years ago farrowing crates were unheard of. We farrowed sows in conventional pens, or out side on pasture. As outdoor far rowing lost popularity in favor of “confinement" systems, producers continued to look for ideas to minimize labor and save pigs. One of those ideas, the farrowing crate, forever changed the concept of far rowing house management. CONVENTIONAL CRATES As most producers know, the early farrowing crates were wooden or steel stalls, usually 2 feet X 7 feet, bolted to the floor. Caring for the sow and pigs was easier in crates. But more importantly, crates reduced crushing losses which are a constant challenge in conven tional pens. The next major change came when producers bolted the crate to a slotted surface and raised all the hardware a foot or two off the floor. With this modification, a lot of nice things happened. First because of the slotted surface, pigs stayed drier and cleaner. That makes it harder for diarrhea prob lems to get a foothold. And because the pigs lie a foot above the floor, they’re also a foot above the drafts. At about the same lime we were making the switch to raised crates, many producers began to blend some of the “European" ideas into the crates - like bending bottom Knee Lesion.s-a Fingered Bowed Straight 8” Hgt. Straight 10” Hgt, ao= no lesions, 3=severe lesions. TURN-AROUND CRATES In a separate study, Curtis and his co-workers looked at a com pletely different design - a turn around crate. At one end, the crate widens to 44 or 48 inches and at the other end, it tapers to a point. The center section is cither 22 or 24 inches wide. So sows can turn with a minimum of effort. Curtis offered feed in one of four ways: * Feed and water at the wide end. * Feed and water at the narrow end. * Feed at the wide end, water at the narrow end. * Water at the wide end, feed at the narrow end. What did they learn? Given the chance, gilts turn around a lot - almost 12 times a day on the aver age. Gilts in this study turned just as often when feed and water were both on the same end. So the study proves that pigs like to turn. Unfor tunately, performance was not measured. HILL-SIDE , PENS For those that think the farro'w- Pork Prose Kenneth B. Kephart Penn State Extension Swine Specialist rails of the crate away from the sow. Rails with a “bow“ give the sow a little more area when she’s lying down and give the pigs a lot more space to nurse, especially when mom weighs 500 pounds. A slight modification of the bowed rail is a row of “fingers" that also project out from the sow. Another supposedly European design uses farrowing crates nar rower than the standard 24 inches. The goal of using a narrow (20 inch) crate is to keep the sow from “coming down like a ton of bricks” when she lies down, which in turn should reduce crushing losses. Still another modification of the farrowing crate is to shorten it by 12 inches to an overall length of 6 feet. Other than space savings, I’m not sure what the intended advan tage is of short crates. Stanley Curtis at the University of Illinois recently completed an evaluation of various designs of farrowing crates. Here’s what he found: 1. Wide crates increased slill boms (,2/lilter) over narrow crates. 2. Wide crates tended to increase crushing. 3. Long crates increased still boms by .2 per litter. 4. In the straight crate, produc tivity is affected by height of the lower bar. In this study, the 10-inch height seemed the best. 5. Pig survival rate was not affected by crate design. Bottom Rail Day 7 1.6 1.6 1.8 1.4 21-Day Day 14 Pig Wt. 1.9 14.1 2.1 134 2.2 13.2 1.7 13.9 mg crate is here to stay, be advised that many producers arc finding some good things with the “hill side” pen. The hill-side pen, over all, is 6 X 6 or 6 X 7. That sounds normal enough, except that it slopes Bto 12 inches from one end to the other. On the lower end, an 18 inch creep area extends across the entire width of the pen. As the theory goes, newborn pigs will slide into the creep, dry off, and return to sow to nurse when they have a little more vigor, and are in less danger from crushing. So far, the theory seems to be hold ing water. Studies at VPI and Tex as Tech both indicate that sow pro ductivity is at least as good as con ventional crates. Compared to flat pens, crushing losses arc less with the hillside pen. Sows lie with their head up or down, but the udder almost always faces the creep area. The bottom line is that if you’re not cra/y about farrowing crates, the hillside pen would be preferred over a conventional pen. Some lips on construction. Use a totally slotted floor. If you choose woven wire, or plastic coated woven wire, mount the wire ' (Turn to Page D 4) by National Junior Charolais Group Elected MANHATTAN, KS. Offic ers and directors for the American- International Junior Charolais Association (AIJCA) were elected at the group’s 19th Junior National Leadership Conference held June 20-24 at Kansas State University. Todd Williams of Girard, Kan., will be the 1988-89 president with Howard Hecht of Paynesville, Minn., serving as vice president. Rounding out the national junior executive committee are Sharia Adams of Madisonville, Texas, as secretary and Clifford Mitchell of Koshkonong, Mo., as treasurer. Juniors elected or appointed to the 10-membcr board of directors were Waylon “Bub” Miller of Dal las, Texas: Andrea Clemons of Sparta, Tenn.; Meghan Casey of Fort Worth, Texas; Brian Cwach of Yankton, S.D.; Jamie Eggleston CENTRE HALL (Centre) Indian Creek Farm of Stahlstown, Pa., walked away with the Clifford Allen Teets Memorial Award at the Pennsylvania Angus Breeders Show, which was held here on July 7 through 9. Indian Creek Farm showed the grand champion bull, Manhattan of Indian Creek, a 4-5-87 bull sired by Broadway out of R.J. Julie 1975. This bull also was named the junior champion bull. Indian Creek Farm was lop in the get-of-sire class as well with offspring out of Broadway. TTic pi cmier breeder award went to GH2 Angus Associates of York. The farm showed the junior heifer calf champion, GH2 Camilla Bell 3278, a 3-27-88 daughter of Ror Rolls Royce and South Branch Camilla Bell 322. The senior heif er calf champion also was exhi bited by GH2 Angus. Ms Elba Salecn of GH2 is a 9-9-87 daughter of Genetics Madison Avenue and Brost Elba 518. Windac Starbright, 4-2-87 daughter of SCR Lone Star, was the show’s grand champion heifer. Out of Windac Pride 9422, she was shown by Fox Hill Angus of Ken nett Square. The reserve grand champion heifer was JLC Primrose Personal ity 129, exhibited by Jennifer L. Caldcra//.o of York. The 1-29-87 heifer, which was sired by Cobble Pond New Yorker, also was named Junior Show champion heifer and Pennsylvania Hog, Pig Inventory Up 8% HARRISBURG Inventory of all hog and pigs in the United Slates on June 1 is estimated at 56.2 million head, according to the Pennsylvania Agricultural Statis tics Service. . The inventory is 8 percent above a year ago and 15 percent above June 1, 1986. It represents the highest June 1 inventory since 1983, PASS reported. Breeding inventory at 7.53 mil lion head is 7 percent above 1987 and 17 percent more than two years ago. Market hog inventory, at 48.7 million head, is 8 percent above a year ago and 15 percent higher than two years ago. The December 1987-May 1988 nauonal pig crop was 46.6 million head, up 8 percent from last year and 15 percent above two years ago. Sows farrowed during the six month period at 6.0 million were 8 percent more than the previous year and 14 percent more than two years ago. , I- f 4 1 1.1 These are the new officers for the American International Junior Charolals Association. They were elected at the groups 19th Junior National Leadership Conference. of Wessington, S.D.; Mark Hecht of Paynesville, Minn.; David Nas er of Washington, Pa.; Joyce Dow ney of Hope, Ind.; Paul Miller of Spring Grove, Pa.; and Quatro Brooks of Alvarado, Texas. Pennsylvania Angus Breeders Show Results bred & owned junior champion heifer. The grand champion steer was MB New York, a 3-16-87 son out of Cobble Pond New Yorker and Proud Lassie 3164. The steer was shown by Bill Dean of Mercer. Rains Power Driver, a 6-7-87 son of Brost Power Drive, was najned reserve grand champion steer. Exhibited by Bryan Dean of Mer cer, the steer was out of La Clariss PRM 6. BV 800 Boos Cruz 510, shown by Robin Shive of Seven Valleys, was the champion bred & owned steer. Sired by Premier Indepen dence KN, the steer’s dam is Rally Elba 35. The reserve champion bred & owned steeV wa’s RVA Klondike, a 3-2-87 son of Genetics Yukon Jack and Rally Beatrice 5641. The steer is owned by Alli son Angle of Layton, N.J. Robin Shive exhibited the Junior Show reserve champion heifer, Fox Hill Lady Evelyn 7025. The 4-15-87 daughter of Cobble Pond New Yorker is out of Lady Evelyn 3001 of GU. The Junior Show’s reserve champion bred & owned heifer was Windcrcsl Lady Margo 701, exhibited by Wilhcmina Cash of Centre Hall. A 2-1-87 daughter of R&J Knockout 544, the heifer is out of Barbies GAI. Bipperts Dirty Harry, a 2-23-87 son of Harrison, was named the reserve grand champion bull and reserve grand champion junior bull U.S. hog producers intend to farrow 6.2 million sows during Junc-Novembcr, an increase of 7 percent from the same period in 1987 and 14 percent more than two years ago. ». Berks County To Hold Hog Show, Sale LEESPORT (Berks) The Berks County FFA Chapters announce their annual Market Hog Show and Sale to be held at the Leesport Auction on Wednesday, August 3rd. the swine show will include fitting and showmanship classes and type classes. The show will begin at 9:00 a.m. and the sale of the FFA members’ hogs will begin at approximately 6:00 p.nt. About 60 head of market swine will be consigned to this sale. The show will include the selection of a grand champion and reserve champion market hog. “ w , *■ il * , The four officers, along with the board of directors, will be respon sible for planning and carrying out the activities of the 700-member youth organization. of the show. Owed by by W. Bip pcrt and G. Krueger of Coatesville, the bull is out of Kruegers Big Blackbird. The senior champion bull was T&J Rifle 609, owned by T&J Farms and Tom Brass Jr. of Dover. The 5-19-86 son of Har Bang 1774 is out of SBF Rosebud 257. T&J Farms with Tom Brass IV showed the bull calf champion, T&J Gob bler 724, a Broadway son out of R&J Nicole 2005. T&J Farms with JDH exhibited the senior champ ion heifer, a 9-30-86 daughter of Wrangler. Bymley Black Queen is out of Bymley Blackcap. In addi tion, T&J Farms won the junior get-of-sire class. The reserve senior champion bull was HF Jolt 623, a 7-1-86 son of Waldock Shocker and HF Duchess 451. The bull was exhi bited by Huntingdon of Alexandria and Dawn Acres of W. Friendship, Md. Rains Star Buck L 5417, a 5-22-87 son of SCR Lone Star, was named the intermediate champion bull. The bull is out of Rains Miss Karma 174 and owned by Dale Rains. Rams also showed the reserve champion intermediate heifer. Rain Skylight Gal HGA 318 is a 6-18-87 daughter of Fair field Hi Guy and Rams Skylight A3lB. The reserve bull calf champion was Genetics Broadway 1097. A 11-29-87 son of Broadway ami Premier Evinces 050 X, the bull is owned by Genetics Unlimited of Coatesville. Genetics Unlimited also showed the reserve champion senior heifer calf, Scaara’s Valaara of GU. A 9-10-87 daughter o( Pre mier Valedictorian, the heiler is out of Kruegers Scaara The reserve champion senior heifer was M. Camilla Bell 9186 ol GH2, owned by Michael Slraycr ol Dillsburg. A 9-18-86 daughter of Waldeck Shocker, the heifer is out of South Branch Camilla Bell 332. Hilltop Holly, owned by Hilltop Farms of Boydes, Md., was the champion intermediate heifer. A 6-1-87 daughter of Ror Royalty, the heifer is out of Cobble Pond rtolly. The reserve champion junior heifer calf is SBF Lucys Treasure, a 1-11-88 daughter of Gobbler Pond New Yorker. Out of Lucys Playmate 54R of C&K, the heifer is owned by Shallow Brook ol Stillwater. N.J. The show’s junior showman ship class winner was Jason Stem with Jennifer Caldcraz/o coming in second. Robin Shive won the senior division with Lori Cash in second place.
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