Effects of Intelligent Carbon Fiber Heater on Pig Behavior, Production Performance, and Energy Consumption

Abstract

HighlightsIntelligent carbon fiber heaters (ICFH) increased the tendency of sows to expose their udders toward the heating area.During the first week after birth, piglets with ICFH used the heating area more frequently and spent less time in the areas close to sows than piglets with incandescent heat lamps (IHL).ICFH helped to reduce the piglet crushing rate.Farrowing houses with ICFH can save 40.6% of the electricity usage compared to IHL.Abstract. Current Chinese heating systems (primarily incandescent heat lamps, IHL) for piglets are energy-consuming, fragile, and short-lived. To overcome these disadvantages, the objectives of this study were to (1) develop an intelligent carbon fiber heater (ICFH) and (2) conduct field experiments to evaluate the performance of the developed heater. The ICFH mainly consisted of an intelligent control unit, a carbon fiber tube, and a heater cover. Three treatments, i.e., ICFH, ICFH with light (ICFHL), and IHL, were respectively assigned to three farrowing pig houses. Pig behaviors, production performance, and electricity usage were recorded in two complete farrowing batches. The results showed that the sows in the ICFH and ICFHL treatments exposed their udders toward the heating area more often than their backs (p < 0.01). Piglets at 1 to 3 days of age in the ICFH and ICFHL treatments increased their time in the heating area by >4.3% (p < 0.01). The proportion of piglets within 0.08 m of the sows was highest for the IHL treatment during 1 to 3 days of age (p < 0.01) but similar among the treatments after day 3 (p = 0.45). The piglet crushing rate in the ICFH and ICFHL treatments was reduced by >2.2% (p < 0.01), while daily weight gain was not significantly different among the treatments (p = 0.16). Using ICFH and ICFHL can reduce electricity usage by 40.6%. It is concluded that the newly developed heater is beneficial for pig thermal comfort, production, and energy savings. Keywords: Automatic sensor technology, Carbon fiber heater, Piglet crushing, PLF.