Maintenance tips on how to prevent heat stress in your swine herd

Pig producers are also feeling the burden of warmer weather.

Automated Production, an ag services company, says it is important and have proper ventilation in order to protect your hogs from heat stress. The company says you want to be sure your fans are working properly as well as fan shutters, fan belts, and tunnel curtains.

“Things like cleaning shutters is a big thing; You know, anytime your shutters get dirty, that’s gonna have more resistance and remove less air. That fan needs to look and feel like it was new. A lot of your big fans are belt-drive fans and even though they may have an automatic tensioner on them, we still need to look at that belt; make sure it’s not worn, and make sure that you know everything is tight. We allow that air coming into the room also, and that’s through usually a tunnel curtain, so you have to make sure that tunnel curtain goes open as it should just make sure the curtain is working.”

He says to be prepared and make sure all of these components are working properly on your farm before the extreme temperatures get here.

Related:

How heat stress affects hogs’ eating habits

Preventing livestock heat stress as temperatures rise