February 21, 2025
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Swine Vet Center shares tips to avoid stress amid the summer heat
Dr. Sam Holst, a veterinarian with Swine Vet Center, spoke to The Pig Site’s Sarah Mikesell at World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa, USA about tips to avoid stress in pigs as temperatures rise across the country.
Why is ventilation so important on swine operations today?
Ventilation is one of the cornerstones of pig health and production. We’ve got pigs indoors, so we’re controlling the climate as best we can with fans, heaters, inlets, etc. The environment that we give to the pig is going to directly impact how well they grow and manage potential disease challenges that they may encounter. Ventilation is really at the core of how pigs are going to perform.
What’s important to consider when transitioning ventilation from cooler weather to warmer weather?
Over the winter, barns are primarily operating in minimum ventilation to control humidity and gas, but as temperatures warm up, we also need to remove heat utilizing additional fan stages to keep pigs as cool and comfortable as possible.
Remove covers from higher stage fans that have been buttoned up over the winter to reduce drafts and make sure that they are opened back up and functional. Spring and fall are always a good time to do some general fan cleaning and maintenance. As little as one-eighth of an inch of dust on fan blades can reduce fan performance by 40%.
It sounds kind of like spring cleaning?
Yes, it certainly is like spring cleaning. It can be helpful to create a checklist that you can follow that includes things like making sure fans are cleaned off, belts are in working order and soffits are functional, open and not blocked up. It’s important as you transition seasons to ensure ventilation equipment is working as we need higher fan stages to remove heat.
What additional tips do you have for keeping pigs comfortable as temperatures climb?
The devil is in the details, so you want to replace old or worn-out fan belts and pulleys and clean off fan blades.
If you use sprinklers or drippers, check that they are functioning well and review the settings. Typically, you want an on time of a couple of minutes or just enough to get the floor space wet. What’s counterintuitive is that we don’t want to leave the water on all the time. We want to get the floor wet then allow it to dry because during that evaporative process is when the cooling effect actually takes place. So set drippers on for two to three minutes then allow 15 to 20 minutes off time for the evaporative cooling period to take place.
The water supply coming into the barn is critical all year round, but it’s especially critical to avoid any kind of water outages during warm weather. You also want to check that you’ve got the correct water flow rates, depending on the size of pig so that we don’t unintentionally limit access to water.
Water is definitely one of the most overlooked items – we need to monitor access, flow rate and even water quality.
How do we keep heat stress events to a minimum?
Ensure fans and other ventilation equipment are in good working order. It’s critical to also make sure generators and other emergency backup equipment like curtain drops are working as well to avoid catastrophic events in the event of power outages.
The key is to be as prepared as you can – there’s less leeway to get issues corrected during hot summer weather
If you want more information about ventilation or avoiding heat stress in pigs, contact your local veterinarian or reach out to the Swine Vet Center team.