IHT Group to manufacture, sell hog-cooling technology developed at Purdue
by CM staff
The technology was designed by researchers in Purdue University's Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering and Department of Animal Sciences.
WEST LAFAYETTE and WINNIPEG — IHT Group, a division of Decisive Dividend Corporation based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, is bringing patented cooling pad technology for hogs to the North American market in spring 2024.
The pads are two-foot-by-four-foot aluminum tread plates on top of copper pipes that circulate water. Sensors in the pads determine if the hog is too hot and circulate new water to keep the pad cool. The technology was designed by researchers in Purdue University’s Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering and Department of Animal Sciences.
Record heat across North America impacts not just people but also animals, including farmers’ livestock. Francisco Cabezon, research president at Pipestone Research, which specializes in swine health research and recommendations, said overheating can cause problems for hogs.
“Under heat stress conditions, lactating sows reduce their feed intake and milk output to attempt to reduce their metabolic heat production. In consequence, their piglet growth and subsequent reproductive performance is negatively affected,” said Cabezon, who earned his PhD at Purdue University. “In boars, some negative impacts of heat stress are decreased sperm motility and concentration and an increase in sperm abnormalities.”
Chris Grant, IHT president, said farmers benefit when their swine aren’t affected by heat stress. “Animal welfare and well-being improve when heat stress is reduced,” Grant said. “Farmers will have a larger, healthier animal that can grow better and has a better chance of survivability at the next stage.”
The initial research at Purdue also showed the cooling pads maintained boars’ semen quality by reducing heat stress abnormalities. The pads kept the boars cool even at high environmental temperatures and high humidity. They also kept the boars’ respiration rate low.
IHT Group funded a graduate student at Purdue during the beta test period. Data from those tests is being complied for summarization for analyses.
