The goal of research being conducted through the NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Swine Welfare is to develop an automated swine welfare assessment system.

Researchers with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) are evaluating the long-term effects on welfare and productivity of providing environmental enhancements to piglets during their first weeks of life. In an effort to improve the lifetime productivity of pigs, researchers with WCVM are exploring the effect of early life management strategies on longer term welfare outcomes.

Pig heard health is about to improve in a big way, thanks to a new vaccine developed by the Western College of Veterinary Medicine to prevent Strep zoo and avoid treatment with antibiotics. Streptococcus equii zooepidemicus, or Strep zoo, is a difficult to diagnose bacterial disease that can cause sudden death without warning, or soon after pigs develop fever and go off feed, but, in either instance mortality rates will be high. In response, researchers with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine have created a new vaccine to prevent the infection.

A new initiative being developed by the Western College of Veterinary Medicine will help address the shortage of swine veterinarians across Canada. In response to the shortage, particularly in swine, the Western College of Veterinary Medicine is launching a new swine medicine advancement, recruitment and training, or SMART program.

An Associate Professor with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine is encouraging people involved in swine production to protect their pigs by getting the annual flu shot. With the further relaxation of restrictions in Canada designed to reduce the spread of COVID, patterns of influenza infection are expected to return to more normal this year, as was experienced in the United States last year.

A program launched by the Western College of Veterinary Medicine two years ago to provide summer work experience to veterinary students could be expanded to other veterinary colleges. The Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) is recruiting students for the third year of its WCVM Pharmhouse Summer Student Swine Experience Program.

A professor with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) says the challenges associated with translating a disease diagnosis into treatment varies with new swine diagnostic extension service

The Western College of Veterinary Medicine and the Prairie Swine Centre, with support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and 14 industry partners, are exploring the prospects of using play to improve the emotional well being of pigs and improve their resilience and performance.

A Professor with Western College of Veterinary Medicine predicts, as the use of antibiotics decreases over the coming years, there will be a greater need to diagnose specific pathogens.

Research conducted by the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, in partnership with the Prairie Swine Center with funding provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and 14 industry partners, indicates grower-finisher pigs can be stimulated to engage in play.

The Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) reports the use of intrauterine vaccination as an alternative to needles to protect sows, gilts and their piglets from PED is showing promise. Researchers with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine and VIDO are exploring the use of intrauterine vaccination as an alternative to needles.

Pork producers around the world are expected to be the main beneficiaries of research aimed at developing new subunit vaccines to protect pigs from a common bacteria that reduces the ability of the intestines of pigs to absorb nutrients, resulting in slower weight gain.

The Western College of Veterinary Medicine is encouraging a continued focus on biosecurity on Canadian hog farms amid a later than normal peak in cases of influenza. Typically, the number of cases of influenza in people and in pigs tend to peak in the fall in November-December and again in the late winter or early spring in February-March. By now, numbers would normally be on the decline.

A swine diagnostic service launched just under one year ago is helping swine veterinarians use diagnostic results to formulate treatment strategies. Last May the Western College of Veterinary Medicine and Prairie Diagnostic Services, both located on the campus of the University of Saskatchewan, partnered in the launch of a new swine diagnostic extension service.