Garth Pig Stockmanship Standards
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Thermal Control
Section: Stockmanship StandardsThermal ControlPigs lose heat by four natural methods
 This is useful as it allows us to calculate what extremes we can achieve by the four methods of heat loss. For Example (From Y. Choiniere and J. Munroe 1994): A 7 kg weaner on a wire mesh floor produces around 29.5 watts of energy which it needs to lose. In order for the animal to be kept within its thermal neutral zone without chilling in a standard nursery at 30?C. Latent heat = 10% Conduction to the floor = 17% Radiation = 44% Convection = 28% If we placed the weaner on a heated surface, so that the conduction to the floor was 0%, the pig still has to lose 29.5 Watts. The Latent heat does not change, so we must allow the pig to loose more through radiation and convection to maintain it within the thermal neutral zone. For example: Latent heat = 10% Conduction to the floor = 0% Radiation = 57% Convection = 32% The room can now run at 23?C and the air flow can be increased providing a better environment particularly in the winter.
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