Answer to Question #124904 in Zoology for Sabelo Xolani Mlangeni

Question

The ultimate thermic environment is mainly a function of ambient temperature, humidity and ventilation. Summarise the essential optimum thermic conditions necessary for the pig house?

Answer 1

The Pigs Housing Requirement.

The reason as to why we provide housing to pigs is to give them an optimum environment where they can achieve high growth rates and feed utilization efficiency and still live comfortably under good conditions. Factors which controls the choice of a better housing system includes comfortability of the pigs, climatic considerations, space allocation, distribution and provision of feeds among many more. For a better pig production optimum environmental conditions are enhanced and they are controlled by optimum thermic conditions and nutritional factors.

The optimum thermic conditions includes ventilation, humidity and ambient temperature.

Ventilation

A good ventilation allows for an increase in air movement in and out of the pigs house. These movements disrupts the heat insulation given by a layer of air surrounding the animal, thus, leading to an increase in convective thermal loss. Although an increase thermal loss caused by air movement depends upon factors such as pig’s body weight, the group size and the duration of exposure.

Humidity

Presence of humidity in the air have an important control on the health of a pig increased environmental temperatures especially when an animal relies on a high extent on thermal loss via evaporation of water. An increase in humidity at an optimum temperature makes an animal to depend on cutaneous water loss.

Nutritional factors

The rate of heat production is controlled by the plane of nutrition, thus, critical temperature. An increased level of feeding increases the heat production rate and decreasing the critical temperature.