An important segment of the Banff Pork Seminar is the effort to encourage young scientists and to reward production crews who develop unique solutions to common problems.

Every year, two nominees are selected for the F.X. Aherne Award for Innovative Pork Production, which recognizes systems and tools developed on the farm. The award is named for the late Francis Aherne, a venerated nutritionist from the University of Alberta who played a key role in the growth and development of the Banff Pork Seminar and a mentor to a huge number of the students who went on to become leaders in research and production.

Additionally, the venue serves as the final proving ground for graduate students nominated for the R. O. Ball Young Scientist Award, selected from a group of nominees whose research is posted in the networking area outside the meeting rooms.

This year, the Aherne awards were presented to a family farm from Drayton, Ontario and to a father-son team from a Hutterite colony in Manitoba.

First place in the Ball award went to a student from a U of A, for her work on iron status in the performance of weaner pigs. Second place went to a University of Saskatchewan student who investigated motivations for exercise in stall-housed sows and gilts.

Carl Israel and his sons, Brett and Jamie, were awarded their Aherne jackets for developing a simple creep device that helps barn staff protect piglets housed in freedom stalls when their mothers get up to eat.

Carl Israel said that, using the device made of scrap materials, it takes about two days to train new piglets to head for the heat lamp at feeding time.

Daniel Maendel and his son Justin from Rosebank Colony, near Miami, Manitoba were awarded their jackets for an automatic tattoo gun that operates when feeders are sorted for shipping. The air-powered tool is mounted on the wall inside the automatic feeder and applies the tattoo while the animal is being weighed and fed.

Daniel said it took about two and a half years of testing to develop a “bullet proof” design that was fail safe, stress free and humane, applying a clean tattoo to animals that have reached market weight. As a follow-up, they have also created a similar tool that gives the pigs a gentle tap when they have spent too long in the feeder, encouraging them to move out once they’ve finished their meal. Those pigs that are inclined to linger in the feeder soon learn move on a few seconds after the door opens to let them out.

“It makes the scale work more efficiently, taking away a backlog when you have a pig coming into the scale. It’s basically a training device that programs the pig or gets it in his mind that this is not a playground where he wants to spend a lot of time,” said Daniel.

Rosebank Colony markets under the Tattoo Master and the Profit Master through Crystal Spring Hog Equipment in Ste. Agathe, Manitoba.

U of A professor Ben Willing, moderator for the session during which the Aherne winners and Ball finalists presented their projects, said there was a strong crew of 10 nominees for the Ball Award. Prizes were announced the following morning by U of A professor Michael Dyck.

First place, including a cash prize of $500, went to Victoria Seip from the U of A for her work investigating the impact of iron status on growth performance and antibody production in weaned pigs.

After describing the methods she and her team used in their analysis, Seip said iron deficiency at weaning did not interfere with antibody production in the weaned pigs. However, pigs that were deficient in iron did show a reduction in growth performance, she said.

Mariia Tokareva, a graduate student at the U of S, was awarded second place with a cash prize of $250.

Looking at changes in Canada’s Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Pigs, Tokareva’s team analyzed the factors that would motivate stall-housed sows and gilts to go for a run in the alley and compare that with their motivation to feed.

The study is related to a provision in the code of practice that will allow gestation stalls after 2024 but will require that the animals be given some time to leave their stalls and walk around.

The research animals were trained to push a button that would reward them with either food or movement after a certain number of pushes. The analyses were based on the number of times the animals were willing to push the button in exchange for a food reward, which was then compared with the number of times they would push it for a chance to get out of their stall and take a little exercise in the alley.

The results showed that sows paid a higher price for feed than for freedom, while the gilts paid an equal price for each.

Tokareva said the study has implications for the working committee that will make final decisions concerning the new provisions coming in 2024.

Also presented with a award was Tom Stein a senior strategic adviser for Maximus Systems for his work in research. Receiving the George Foxcroft Honourary Lectureship in Swine Production Research. Stein was also a breakout session speaker, Big Data and Technology, He shared nine emerging technologies that are already in use or coming soon. Plus smart technologies – the new brain in the barn. •

— By Brenda Kossowan