A General Purpose Laboratory for Small-Scale In-Barn Swine Discoveries

HighlightsDesign and construction of mobile swine facility on a flat decked trailer for experimentation.Air infiltration evaluation for an experimental building.Theoretical building shell thermal analysis and heat transfer determination.Abstract. Specialized animal environment experiments needing swine facilities calls for novel technology creation to enable unique experimentation without the drawbacks of traditional swine facilities. In a full-scale swine facility, there are challenges with cost, increased travel time to sites, additional labor is required, the facility cannot be fully controlled, and biosecurity becomes a risk. A small-scale, mobile swine confinement laboratory was designed and built to mitigate the challenges faced in a full-scale barn. The mobility of the laboratory enables it to travel to swine farms to obtain fresh animal specimens, which allows the experiments and data collected to be more representative of an in-barn application. The model facility, built on a flat-bed trailer, has two identical, fully instrumented rooms (L × W × H) of 2.24 × 2.29 × 2.05 m (88.0 × 90.0 × 80.5 in.) with a 0.46 m (18 in.) shallow pit, replicating typical swine finishing rooms. Walls were composed of typical wood-frame construction with interior paneling and metal clad on the exterior. Instrumentation allows the environment and air quality of the rooms, along with other parameters, to be controlled and monitored. The rear portion of the trailer includes an instrumentation room to house necessary computers, controllers, and associated equipment. Commissioning of components and verifying function of equipment were performed, which included quantifying infiltration and performing a thermal analysis for each room. Analysis showed that the infiltration equation was distinct for each room. The use of this laboratory for qualitative and quantitative evaluation of in-barn experimentation on a controlled, small-scale will mitigate the challenges presented in a typical barn. Keywords: Building, Commissioning, Facility, Heat transfer, Mobile, Pig.

Evaluation of Filth Fly Species Composition and Abundance Using Two Monitoring Methods in Swine Confinement Housing

Concentrated swine production can produce large amounts of accumulated waste that may serve as development sites for pest flies. Filth flies are not only a nuisance but can also interfere with animal growth and production and are capable of mechanically transmitting many pathogens to swine on confinement facilities. In addition to production and health concerns, high populations of filth flies developing on concentrated animal facilities may subject producers to nuisance litigation. While litigation against livestock producers associated with pest filth flies has become more frequent and high profile, information on the filth fly fauna in swine facilities in the United States is limited. In this study, filth fly species diversity and population fluctuations were monitored with spot and sticky cards in one sow facility and two finishing facilities in North Carolina. House flies Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae) were the dominant species followed by black dump flies Hydrotea (Ophyra) aenescens Weidemann (Diptera: Muscidae). A difference was seen in total spots on cards placed in more central barn locations than towards the outer walls in the sow facility but not the finishing facilities. Mean spots at only one of the finishing facilities exceeded the conventional control threshold of 100 spots/week, in May and June. Fly numbers decreased naturally in the following months, suggesting that standard control thresholds may not accurately inform filth fly control efforts in swine production. Due to their complementary nature, both spot and sticky cards placed in representative locations throughout barns are recommended. However, more swine-specific information is needed for optimizing monitoring methods.

Reduction of Bioaerosols Emitted from a Swine Confinement Building by a Percolating Biofilter During a 10-Month Period

The release of pathogens into the air from swine confinement buildings are mitigated through preventative measures, such as outgoing air filtration, to reduce the risk of spread to nearby barns and communities. The present study aims to characterize the effectiveness of a percolating biofilter developed by the Research and Development Institute for the Agri-environment (IRDA) to capture airborne contaminants, such as bacteria and viruses emitted from a swine finishing room. Over a 10-month period (summer, fall, and winter), air was sampled upwind and downwind of the biofilter using two wet walled cyclonic samplers. Culture-dependent and molecular biology analyses were used to track changes in microbial concentrations and populations both captured and emitted by the percolating biofilter. Results revealed a minor reduction (median reduction efficiency 14.4%) in culturable bacteria. There was a decrease in total bacteria (qPCR) (75.0%) and other qPCR targeted organisms: archaea (42.1%), coliphages (25.6%), Enterococcus (76.1%), and Escherichia coli (40.9%). The community analyses showed similar bacterial diversity in the air upwind and downwind of the biofilter although more Proteobacteria were present downwind of the unit, likely attributable to the Proteobacteria-rich nutritive solution. Evidence is provided for bioaerosols reduction by a percolating biofilter treating air from a swine fattening-finishing room.

Production Phase Affects the Bioaerosol Microbial Composition and Functional Potential in Swine Confinement Buildings

Bioaerosols from swine confinement buildings (SCBs) pose a challenge to public health,and microorganisms within the SCBs bioaerosols originate from swine feces, of which the microbialcomposition is associated with the production phase. The present study adopted the wholemetagenome shotgun sequencing approach, to assess the effects of the production phase on thecomposition and functional potential of microbial populations in SCBs bioaerosols. Most annotatedproteins were assigned into domain bacteria, within which the predominant phylum was Firmicutes.The taxonomical profiles of bioaerosols from different types of piggeries showed that buildingshousing weaning piglets (WP) exhibited higher abundances of Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria thanbuildings housing finishing pigs (FP), gestating sows (GS), farrowing sows (FS), and breeding boars(BB). Regarding the functional potential, the WP bioaerosol had more genes involved in the proteinturnover and fewer genes involved in the carbohydrate metabolism than bioaerosols from othertypes of SCBs. Furthermore, production phase influenced the antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs)profile of the SCBs bioaerosols. Bioaerosol microbiome of BB, shared a high similarity with GS, andWP bioaerosol microbiome was more similar to FP than other types of SCBs. Our study suggeststhat the production phase plays a key role in the SCBs bioaerosol microbiome.

Self-Reported Occupational Injuries and Perceived Occupational Health Problems among Latino Immigrant Swine Confinement Workers in Missouri

Swine production has changed dramatically, and in the United States production often takes place in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Because of the size and density of these types of facilities, workers may be exposed to serious occupational health risks such as noxious gases, agricultural dusts, elevated noise levels, and zoonotic diseases. This descriptive study examines self-reported occupational injuries and perceived occupational health problems among a convenience sample of 40 Latino immigrant swine confinement workers (92.5% male; M age = 36.1 years; SD = 10.0) in Missouri. Results indicated that seventeen workers (42.5%) rated their health as fair or poor, thirteen (32.5%) had experienced an occupational injury, and eleven (28.2%) reported occupational health problems such as burning eyes, muscular pain, headaches, coughing, nausea, nasal congestion, and sneezing. The majority of workers did not perceive their job to be dangerous. Clearly, more must be done to protect workers, especially immigrant workers, who may not have the same access to information, training, or other protections. Health and safety should be a priority for both farmworkers and farm employers. Practical and policy-based implications and recommendations are discussed.

Implications in the health of workers in swine confinement buildings - effects on the respiratory system

Confinement units are commonly used all over the world to raise pigs. Despite their economic advantages, their microenvironment causes severe adverse effects on the health of farm workers. Respiratory complaints which have been associated with the exposure effects of organic dust and confinement gases on humans who have long-term employment into these settings, are reviewed. These include pulmonary function changes, airways imfiammation, mucosa irritation syndrome and organic dust toxic syndrome. Furthermore, the most important zoonoses which may provoke respiratory symptoms to the swine confinement workers are briefly reviewed. It is believed that these conditions can be prevented by improving air quality, husbandry systems and adopting hygiene measures.