Beware the wind chill effect
We have all experienced wind chill at one time or another. Just open the window in the car to cool off in the breeze as the day warms up.The effect is more extreme when water is added to the equation. In this case, evaporation of the water in combination with a breeze can quickly turn you downright chilly.
Pigs can feel the wind chill effect as well and do not have the luxury of managing the thermostat or adding a coat for improved comfort. Normally, wind chill in barns is associated with cool weather at other times of the year. Young pigs in particular, however, can experience wind chill even during warm weather.
The wind chill effect in the barn occurs due to fan cycling and inlet system performance. As higher ventilation levels are required to maintain indoor temperatures, higher air speeds naturally occur in the barn. For a well designed and good quality air inlet system, the slowly increasing barn temperature, combined with the increasing air speed, provides the required comfort level.
Rapid air speed changes occur, however, when the fan speeds up more quickly than necessary, or the inlet allows air to reach the resting zone for animals at too high a speed. Possible measures include modifying the ventilation fan staging, changing fan sizes or controls, or installing air deflector panels to ensure air moves in the pattern required.
The wind chill effect has been seen in all levels of production, throughout most of the year. Only during extreme hot weather can there be some assurance that there is little or no potential for chilling pigs.
Nursery and pigs still in the farrowing crate are most susceptible. In the crate, it is easily observed: Pigs refuse to sleep under the heat lamp or on the heat pad at a young age. (Be sure it's not too high a creep temperature.)
In the nursery pen, animals will consistently sleep in an abnormal location, such as in front of the feeder or water nipples.
Optimum control over inlet air is key to preventing drafts on animals. Fresh inlet air must enter the room and shoot across the ceiling at a speed greater than 650 feet per minute to keep it from falling immediately into the animal space. Air moving across the ceiling at this speed will remain above the animals long enough to become warmed, so that it will not constitute a draft by the time it tails off into a pen or crate. Air in the barn will also be channelled into a circular flow pattern, distributing fresh air more evenly through the barn.
Inlet air velocity can be measured indirectly with a static pressure gauge, which measures the amount of vacuum in a facility due to the action of the exhaust fans. A static pressure of 0.05 inches equates to an inlet velocity of 650 feet per minute. A static pressure of 0.08 inches equates to an inlet velocity of 900 feet per minute. The recommended static pressure range in mechanically ventilated animal facilities is 0.04 to 0.08 inches, equating to the recommended 650 to 900 feet-per-minute inlet air velocity.
At any given ventilation rate, producers can adjust inlet air velocity by changing the size of the inlet opening. The larger the opening, the less the static pressure and therefore, the lower the inlet air velocity. The smaller the opening, the greater the static pressure and inlet air velocity.
Changes in exhaust fan speed will also change static pressure and inlet air velocity. Inlets with counterweighted baffles adjust automatically with changes in ventilation rates to maintain correct inlet air velocity. Even more precise control of inlet air velocity is maintained by actuator-controlled inlet systems.
Inlet management is important year-round. Even in warm and hot weather, proper inlet velocity will keep fresh air penetrating into the barn to maintain circular airflow, keeping animals cooler, yet avoiding the wind chill that can cause health and performance declines.
Ron MacDonald, P. Eng, is with Guelph-based Agviro, Inc.
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Sellers, watch those seasonal swings
Looking at the chart To Market, To Market, producers should be aware of the pattern of monthly marketings through the course of the year and the subsequent effect on prices.This chart shows the average of the last 10 years of U.S. hog slaughter by month (bars). The line shows a four-year average of cash prices indexed as a percentage of their season's high and low.
Two extremes stand out. Average slaughter reached its low in July and by October averaged 20 per cent higher. Simultaneously, average cash prices fell from almost 80 per cent of their season's high to under 30 per cent of their season's low.
As the chart indicates, each month has a different supply scenario and your marketing strategy must allow for dramatic price swings over a few short weeks. Take for example, this spring, on April 6: Omaha cash prices were 32.50 cents per pound. Six weeks later on May 18, hogs traded for 50 cents, a gain of over 50 per cent.
Often, the futures will have priced in some of this seasonal pattern - look at June or July futures versus the October and December futures as you are reading this article. But beware: The cash market makes greater changes than the futures market; thus June futures often do rally from their late winter lows and December futures have to drop considerably to meet a weak cash market as high slaughter numbers outweigh demand.
Conclusion: Selling June hog futures in the weak March-April time frame is not a great advantage since seasonal rally is probably due. Conversely, turning up your nose at a discounted October or December futures contract when cash is high often is a mistake. Keep this seasonal chart pinned to the wall beside your quote machine!
Prices pick up
Hog prices roared back to life in April and May, both in Canada and the United States.From a three-year low of 31 cents per pound live in Omaha to a more reasonable 50 cents, the markets responded to:
* A pickup in demand helped along by an early grilling seasonOutlook* Settlement of the Maple Leaf strike. While the strike may have added only one per cent to the U.S. daily kill, it disrupted producers' normal marketing patterns and in my opinion was responsible for weaker prices. Also, the higher slaughter numbers fueled fears that producers had expanded faster than had been reported by the beancounters at USDA.
* Narrowing of the retail spread, allowing more of the retail dollar to flow back to the producer
U.S. cash hog prices often rally to 50 cents in the recovery phase after hitting three-year lows. Short hedges should only be considered on rallies between 65 and 72 cents this summer. The danger appears to be on the supply side for August through February 1999. With supplies expected to mount three per cent above last fall's double-digit expansion, the challenge will be for prices to stay above 30 cents per pound live.I recommend to producers who need price protection to consider selling short October and December futures on rallies to 54 cents and again at 56-57 cents in 25-per cent increments.
Kevin Simpson is a futures and options broker for Midland Walwyn. 1-888-417-4459. The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of Midland Walwyn Capital Inc. The information contained in this report is believed to be reliable, however we cannot represent that it is accurate or complete.
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When the media calls
With growing public scrutiny on pork producers, and declining producer numbers, odds are that a phone near you is going to ring with a reporter on the other end. Whether it's a newspaper, or radio or television station, how you respond will impact directly on the public's perception of you industry.Karen Davidson, vice-president of the agribusiness division for Toronto-based public relations firm Fleishman Hillard, has also worked as a farm writer. Based on her work in media training with agribusiness, Davidson offers producers the following 10 dos and don'ts.
1. Take control. Do a pre-interview with the reporter. Ask about the focus of the story, whether it's news or opinion. Get the name of the reporter and the name and description of the publication or station. Don't feel obliged to answer on the spot. Ask to call back in, say, 15 minutes when you have collected your thoughts, or thought of a better contact for the reporter.2. Have a key message. Keep your message short and simple and repeat it. This is especially important for broadcast media looking for a "sound bite."
3. Use "proof points." Back up your remarks with easy-to-recall "proof points" - an anecdote, a statistic, or other "word picture".
4. Know your audience. Are you speaking to farmers through a farm publication, or to urban readers? If the audience is unfamiliar with agriculture, avoid jargon and trade terms. Be sensitive to language; "processing plant" may be better than "slaughterhouse."
5. Never say "No comment." - it makes you look as if you have something to hide. A better response might be that you are part of a larger organization, and may have to do a follow-up call.
6. Designate a spokesperson. When the farm phone rings, it might be picked up in the kitchen, shop or barn. Make sure everyone in the farm operation knows who the spokesperson is, and refer calls there.
7. Don't speculate or be led into hypothetical questions. Stick to your key message, and don't let yourself be sidetracked. Be careful not to repeat questions with a leading negative word. A famous example was President Nixon's "No, I am not a crook," which was actually a response to the question "Are you a crook?"
8. Keep it positive. Make sure your key message is stated in the positive, and reply to negatively worded questions in the positive.
9. Never lie.
10. Practise. When you have your key message and proof point, try it out on your family. Ever-critical teenagers could come into their own here. Think of all the possible curves you might get. Anticipate tough questions. If your message sounds confusing to you, rework it.
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