At the recent open house at the Blue Ribbon Sow barn farm near Pansy, MB the barn owner and general manager Craig Sawatzky talked about how new technologies helped them overcome a tragic barn and animal fire and moved forward with a new and converted sow barn.

Ray Funk of Steinbach, MB, a partner in Summit Technologies is the distributor for Maximus Systems or Maximus Controls in Western Canada.

It is always exciting to see new companies start up and focus on helping what the farmer doesn’t only want but need.

Funk described Maximus, as a Canadian control company, relatively new, able to start from scratch and build everything from a new platform electronically.

“The communication and all the technology is new, nothing to make compatible, and allows them to cater to what the farmers want,” he said. “A producer wants a feature, and we request it, and very likely in the next update or a couple of updates later it’s going to be in control. So the whole system is built by farmers. And the electronics are made in Canada. That’s an excellent quality product.”

What barn owner Sawatzky likes about this system is it looks after the entire sow and the barn when it comes to feeding, ventilation, and environment and that no other company does.

In this system, the sow wears an RFID (radio frequency identification) ear tag read electronically as she walks into the feeding station and can eat until she finishes her daily ration. To control the pre-programmed feeding plan when she walks into the station, it reads her ID tag, and the system feeds her accordingly whether only half her ration now, half later, whatever time.

“It’s all programmable by the farmer, so the sow walks in, the scanner reads the ear tag, and she gets her ration. She backs up, goes gets some water and either lays down, or wanders around the pen, and it’s very comfortable,” said Funk.

He said walking into a Maximus system barn, compared to a European made system the sows are much more docile because there is less competition for feed and water.

The European systems call for 60 or 70 sows per feeder, but their systems 18 to 22, so there’s less competition for feed space, and the sows are just much more docile.

One other big difference according to Funk and barn owner Sawatzky agreed is the Maximus system takes it to another level where feed and ration is just one small part of the Maximus system.

“We’re also controlling all the ventilation, monitoring water consumption and when she goes into the farrowing crate, there’s an RFID reader in the farrowing crate, too,” he said. “Historically, farmers used paper, pen, and cards, to keep records. With this system everything is immediate. So everything records when that sow goes in that station, it’s immediate on your phone or home computer. You know where she is, what she’s doing, how far she’s through her ration,” said Funk.

The RFID scan gives her location and automatically that feed care follows her.

Barn owner Craig Sawatzky said how much easier making the transition to group sow housing is than he expected. He along with many others had real concerns.

Producers are finding it if appropriately designed and proper renovations, the employees, prefer this type of system.

“And if we look at the sow data, the sows do as well or better; it’s turning out to be a very positive thing. There is still some cost, right? Existing guys still have to renovate as you saw here,” said Funk. •

— By Harry Siemens