Environmental stresses slow the rate at which pigs grow to market maturity.
A new study has found that the stresses are additive and, therefore, predictable in their impact. Such knowledge, researchers say, may help improve management on hog farms. When all three conditions existed concurrently, the pigs' growth rate fell by 31 percent compared with pigs in the control group that was free of stressors. Cargill Inc. Pigs often face a variety of other environmental stresses on hog farms, but the study clearly suggests that many stresses are additive in nature, thus predicting the detrimental effects of multiple stresses may now be possible, Johnson said. Of course, the ideal management strategy is to remove stressors from the environment.