James Barker North Carolina State University

Publish Date: June 3, 2006

Since the early 1970’s, the swine industry has continued to move toward specialization, mechanization, and enclosed housing for rearing of livestock. One aspect of this specialization is housing systems designed to raise animals with less labor in a more controlled environment that includes automatically controlled ventilation, liquid or slurry manure handling, and feed handling. These systems impose new environmental management requirements related to the health and productivity of both people and livestock. Proper environmental management is essential to ensure realization of the animal health and performance advantages of housing systems compared to pasture or open lot systems. Advantages of properly designed and managed systems include lower mortality, reduced morbidity, and better feed conversion efficiency with minimal degradation of the outdoor and working environments.