Manitoba Pork Council has released a new series of videos – Smart Pig Handling – which is expected to become a vital part of employee training in the hog industry. The information in this series will help to lessen stress on both workers and livestock, prevent workplace injuries, improve workplace satisfaction, reduce in-transit losses, improve meat quality, and ensure animal well-being.
“The Canadian Agricultural Safety Association is pleased that Manitoba Pork has taken the lead in providing resources for hog farmers and their workers through the FCC Ag Safety Fund,” says Marcel Hacault, the Executive Director of CASA and a former hog producer. “Understanding animal behaviour and identifying proven handling methods reduces stress on both workers and hogs, promoting safe practices in agriculture, which is a great use of FCC Ag Safety Fund dollars.”
The six-chapter series emphasizes low-stress handling techniques; up until now, there has been nothing like these videos that was so readily accessible to producers in Canada. MPC hopes to have Smart Pig Handling in all barns for the benefit of consistent, standardized training across Canada. The videos are available on MPC’s YouTube channel (MBPorkfan) and on its website; contact MPC or the pork organization in your province to request an extended version of the training videos, which are customizable to any farm type.
“This training video will help equip stockpeople, both new and practicing, with tools to handle pigs in a manner that minimizes stress for pigs and people,” says Dr. Laurie Connor, Department Head of Animal Sciences at the University of Manitoba. “Smart Pig Handling focuses on understanding basic pig behaviour relevant to handling and using that knowledge effectively to create handling scenarios that are calm, safe and get the job done easily. This translates into good welfare and good business.”
The development of these videos was supported by Alberta Pork, Sask Pork, Ontario Pork and FPPQ. It was also supported by Growing Forward 2, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative, and the Government of Alberta. The project’s main support came from the FCC Ag Safety Fund, administered by the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association with funding from Farm Credit Canada.
