While physical and atmospheric hazards are considered for th…

While physical and atmospheric hazards are considered for the determination of whether or not a space is a permit-required confined space, configuration hazards such as sloping walls, were left out of the confined space standard due to pressure from the agriculture industry which felt that this would place an undue economic burden on the industry.

It is 4 am on 17 FEB and it is about 35 degrees and snowing…

It is 4 am on 17 FEB and it is about 35 degrees and snowing outside. Your least favorite show pig client calls because his old reliable sow (8th parity) that consistently produces show-winning progeny is in the process of farrowing and he believes she is not making adequate progress. She has delivered 6 pigs so far (she usually produces 11-13 without assistance). She has been in labor more than 4 hours and the last pig came 45 minutes ago. He is understandably upset and wants to know if you can get your lazy self out of bed and come help his sow. As you drive out to the site, you are playing out the likely scenario in your mind:

You are contacted by the manager of a sow farm who reports t…

You are contacted by the manager of a sow farm who reports that he is seeing “pigs born with diarrhea”. He has recently gone through an accelerated rollover to correct a parity distribution problem in the herd. As a result, there are disproportionately more P1 litters than typical.   Preventive measures you recommend will include:

The finishing production manager for one of your swine clien…

The finishing production manager for one of your swine clients is concerned because he has recently observed an increase in the number of pigs that are pale, “bleached-out”, and that have black, tarry feces. He wants to know how he can prevent this problem in the future. Your advice is to: