Group housing is group housing, right?

Loose sow housing is loose sow housing, right?

Wrong.

We've seen it so many times. Other companies are promoting their equipment that only work with their own version of "loose" sow housing. The only problem is that a majority of current design offerings keep sows in stalls for just under half of their gestation.

But it’s not just our opinions on which options are best for sows, the facts speak for themselves.

Successful breeding is key to a strong bottom line; it's a simple fact.

But what isn't so simple is efficiently executing that successful breeding.

We're here to tell you why the utilization of boar pens can affect your success rates and therefore
directly impact your bottom line.

It should go without saying, but the idea and ethos behind group housing is to get sows out of stalls.

The industry's move toward greater transparency in our animal husbandry practices has coincided with increasing public concern over meat sources. This pressure, combined with an industry adopted Code of Practice (since 2014) in Canada, and various legislative initiatives in some states is leading more and more producers to move to group housing over stalls.

When it comes time to build a new barn including an ESF system, the process can seem overwhelming. If a new barn is in your future, or even if you hope that it is in your future—it is worth checking out this infographic and article explaining what you can expect from the process.  

In the hog industry, cleanliness is next to godliness. But keeping things clean in the barn can be a chore when you are working with substandard materials. That's one of the reasons we are so passionate about using high quality penning and gating materials like PanelTIM. With a product like PanelTIM you can feel good about your investment, knowing that your barn environment will be easier to clean, and your pigs won't be able to destroy the product. Listen as Marc explains the reasons PanelTIM penning and gating is especially helpful in hog barns. 

Olymel L.P. is Canada's leader in the production, processing and distribution of pork and poultry meats and is Canada’s largest hog producer. The company has made feeding the world its mission, which it pursues passionately with products of impeccable quality. The company employs over 12,000 people and has production and processing facilities in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan. Olymel exports nearly a third of its total sales. Its annual sales are on the order of $3.5 billion.

When you are training gilts for ESF pens, you need a certain type of personality working with those girls. But it may not be the type of personality you expect.

It seems like we never know what kind of late summer we are going to get. It could be hot and dry, it could be unseasonably cool. For most people, hot and dry summer days are a reminder to relax and lounge around the pool, but if you're a barn owner, you should be thinking about how you can use those hot summer days to clean your barns. Here are some tips to help your summer barn cleaning run a bit more smoothly.

When it comes to building a new sow barn, there are a lot of considerations that factor into the final design. One of the things we've learned as we've designed barns for our customers is that everyone has a wish list. We've also learned that while many customers know they want a less stressful setup, they may not necessarily know that barn technology can help with that goal. With that in mind, here is an infographic with five technologies that should not just be on your "wish" list, but your "must-have" list. 

In the last few years Meishan boars (pronounced May Shan) have grown in popularity with producers across North America, and it isn't just for their dashing good looks. While Meishans aren't much to look at—they honestly look like a mix between a basset hound, a pug, and a pig—their breed characteristics are well-suited to open checks and boar stations with automatic heat detection.