Josep Casanovas

From their respective academic and on-farm positions, Josep Gasa and Josep Casanovas discuss a study on the performance and welfare of sows exposed to auditory environmental enrichment.

From their respective academic and on-farm perspectives, Josep Gasa and Josep Casanovas comment on a recent study about the effect of postweaning feed intake.

Drying and warming the piglets favors their survival only in farrowing units with moderate or suboptimal temperatures (<25ºC).

Does more available space for finishing pigs improve production? Should we aim to have homogenous weight groups? This study assesses the effect of different elements on finishing performance.

Cross-fostering is a common practice in farrowing units. However, the emergence of hyperprolific sows has caused us to rethink the issue.

From their respective academic and on-farm perspectives, Josep Gasa and Josep Casanovas comment on a recent study regarding the effect of heat stress on sows: Which weeks does it affect the farrowing rate the most? What about the weaning-to-first-service interval? Are there differences depending on parity?

Low birth weight increases mortality during the lactation period and affects the productive life of piglets until slaughter. This article attempts to answer the question: Is pre-weaning mortality related to a birth weight threshold?

Preventing the entry and spread of diseases should be an objective on any swine farm, so adequately designing biosecurity aspects is key. In this article, we continue to discuss biosecurity measures with two experts: Lara Ruiz and José Casanovas.

In this article, we look at which elements of biosecurity should be considered in the design of a sow farm, although they are applicable to any farm.

In the best case, farrowing within a batch usually happens over the course of three days, and in the worst case can last longer than a week, creating different lactation lengths...

Does feeding time affect reproductive performance?

Do gilts with greater backfat thickness produce more milk?

How much space is needed to optimise performance with the current slaughter weights?

The two measures studied would allow to reduce liveweight variability at slaughter by 10-15%.

The use of a thermometer or other technologies not so usual such as thermography for diagnosing sensitive situations cheaply, easily and objectively.

By writing down the sow’s number directly onto a piece of paper or a card we do not lose information