Low-stress pig handling for hogs and producers

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

Nancy Lidster compares herding pigs to being “it” in a game of tag in a small, crowded gymnasium: everyone is trying to dodge away in the exact opposite direction to avoid you at all costs.

Lidster has spent the last six years teaching people in the pork industry how to handle hogs with a lot less stress for both human and animal. She is holding several workshops this spring at which producers can learn how to become better and more humane hog handlers. The first workshop takes place on January 31 from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. at the Ramada Hotel in Saskatoon.

Nancy and her husband Don raised pigs themselves for approximately 20 years before Nancy was inspired by a Bud Williams stockmanship seminar she attended. The Williams methods for handling cattle sparked ideas in Lidster about how to handle hogs, and in 2001, the Lidsters emptied their barns to focus solely on teaching low-stress pig handling to others in the industry. They also make training videos on virtually all aspects of pig production, from conception to ventilation.

“It was sort of a matter of self-preservation and frustration,” said Lidster of her decision to attend that first workshop. “Taking videos of our farm, in our barns, and reviewing them to find out what we were missing in the equation to be able to move stock more easily.”

From the early videos, Lidster moved into teaching some of the Williams methods to her fellow producers.

“We found out that, quite often, we figure we’re the only ones in the industry that have a particular problem, but when you get talking, you find out that other people are facing similar challenges,” she said.

Lidster started taking videos of other producers and industry players and analyzing techniques that seemed to work for lower stress handling. Some of those videos are used during her workshops. Lidster also invites producers planning to come to her sessions to submit videos of their own operations for her to watch and analyze prior to attending the seminars.

Workshop topics included working with pigs’ survival instincts; recognizing fear, stress and distress in the animals and what it means; using your position effectively to move the pigs; and setting up to elicit the response you want from the animals.

“We expect pigs to act in ways that they actually don’t act. A lot of times, we’re going to instinctively try to chase them. It’s a matter of understanding how to use our position so pigs will do what we want them to do rather than fight us,” said Lidster.

Registration is still available for the January 31 workshop, but space is limited, so Lidster recommends registering as soon as possible.

If you miss the cut-off for the January 31 workshop, there are other workshops being held throughout the spring, all in Saskatoon at the Ramada Hotel from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. The other workshop dates are: Wednesday, February 28; Wednesday, March 28 and Wednesday, April 25.

To register for any of the sessions, contact DNL Farms by phone at (306) 276-5761 or by e-mail at dnlfarms@xplornet.com.

For more information, contact:

Nancy Lidster
DNL Farms Ltd.
Phone: (306) 276-5761
E-mail: dnlfarms@xplornet.com
Website: www.pighandling.com