Work environment: How to ensure healthy and attractive workplaces on your organic pig farm

Cart for vaccinating 3-week-old pigs improves the working environment

Vaccinating pigs that are around 3 weeks old is often a physically demanding and tiring task. The task involves repeatedly bending down to floor level to vaccinate or catch pigs, which are then lifted up, for example when vaccinating orally. When vaccinating a farrowing team of, for example, 30 sows with 14 pigs/litter weighing an average of 6.5 kg, an employee will bend down to 420 pigs on vaccination day and lift them, which corresponds to a total lift of approximately 2.73 tonnes. The Innovation Centre for Organic Agriculture and SEGES Innovation, in collaboration with Kent Laursen Industrial Design and Krarup Agriculture, have developed a vaccination trolley that allows the pigs to reach a more appropriate working height during vaccination.

There are still a few details in the trolley that need fine-tuning, but the actual development of the trolley, in collaboration with the industrial designer, only took a few months.

The employees who have trialled the trolley are very happy with it, as it saves them time and makes the work less physically demanding, which boosts morale.

Castration outside the cabin improves safety and working environment

Castration inside a cabin is risky because the sow can become agitated when she hears the pigs screaming. There is therefore a risk that she will become aggressive and try to break into the hut or attack the employee when he/she leaves the hut. At the same time, the working conditions inside the cabin are inappropriate, for example in terms of working position, lighting conditions and dust particles in the air.

A castration trolley with a castration fixture in a box that is strapped in front of or behind the tractor can ensure better working conditions and safety with employees.

In the video below, Linea Holst explains the advantages and disadvantages of using a castration trailer and why the castration trailer is here to stay at Risbjerg Ecology.

Heavy equipment and repetitive work takes its toll on the body

Work routines that take up too much time shouldn't be perceived as a burden for employees. It costs too much in the long run, both in terms of pain and sick leave, and can also lead to the company losing good, experienced employees who leave to take care of their bodies. Repetitive heavy lifting is one of the tasks that can lead to fatigue in the field. The most well-known example of such a task is the manual feeding of sows.

The instructional video below shows how the physical strain on the body during manual feeding can be reduced. However, repetitive, heavy and awkward lifting should be avoided if possible, so it's important to consider whether automatic feeding is an option on your farm.

Cabin doors can be mounted in brackets or rails

Cabin doors that need to be taken off or put on is another well-known example of a task that results in repeated heavy and awkward lifting. The routine occurs every time pigs need to be locked into a pen or let out again. By mounting the gate in some brackets so it can be swivelled or pushed in front of the pen opening and then secured, you can improve the working environment in the farrowing field for yourself and your employees.

Lightweight gates are another option for improving the working environment. Of course, this requires that your employees perform tasks such as castration in a safe environment outside the cabin. This eliminates the need for particularly resilient - and therefore heavy - cabin doors.

The video below illustrates why the repeated lifting of cabin doors can pose a challenge in terms of the working environment.

Prevent emergency situations (accidents)

Sows and boars pose the greatest risk of acute/hazardous situations on farms with outdoor sow farms. It is therefore crucial to physically secure your employees when performing work routines in pens with sows and/or boars, and it is recommended to have two employees in the field when performing routines such as castration.

Castration of piglets in a trolley outside the cabin is one of the measures currently being trialled. Handling the pigs in the trolley ensures that the employees performing the routine are properly shielded if the sow becomes aggressive. At the same time, the castration trailer ensures that the animals are handled at a good working height, where light, sound and air quality around the employee are also in order, unlike castration inside the farrowing hut.

In the castration trailer, it is possible to use a castration bench, which ensures that the working area is exposed and that the pig is completely still during the procedure. According to a farmer who has long used a castration bench in the farrowing pen, this results in fewer complications for the pigs and better healing after the procedure.

Use PPE when work tasks require it

PPE is prevention at the lowest level of prevention. Therefore, always consider whether the work task can be planned and carried out in a way where PPE is not necessary. According to the Danish Working Environment Act, PPE may only replace more effective preventive measures if these cannot be used for the specific task.

The employer on the farm is responsible for ensuring that all employees use protective equipment for the tasks where protective equipment is required (§3 in the Executive Order on the use of personal protective equipment (retsinformation.dk)).

Tasks where protective equipment must be used:

• Respiratory protection: Must be used when exposed to dust, e.g. when an employee is in the hazard cabin. When trapping pigs, straw is swirled around, creating dust in the air. The mask must be labelled with P2, which covers organic dust etc.
• Hearing protection: Should be used, for example, during routines where animals scream, e.g. when handling piglets during castration. According to the Danish Working Environment Authority's guidelines, hearing protection must be used "when the noise exposure is above 85 dB or when the noise impulses exceed 137 dB". As pigs' squeals can easily exceed 85 dB, the Danish Working Environment Authority recommends that hearing protection is used when handling pigs. Read more in the official industry guide on noise (92992-BAU-jordtilbord-Stoej-landbruget-WEB.pdf).
• Safety footwear: Should always be worn when employees are in pens with sows.

Straw is dusty - what are the risks?

Dust in the air is inherently dangerous, and the finer the dust, the more dangerous it is. Straw dust is organic material and can lead to Allergic Alveolitis, also known as Thrush lung (sundhed.dk). Like other occupational diseases, it often takes a long time before the consequences of not protecting yourself from the dust in the air can be felt as an illness. But if you pay attention, you can sometimes catch the first signs of illness. This can help you remember your mask the next time you work in dust.

Are you coughing a little more than usual, do you have dry eyes or is there dirt in the cloth when you blow your nose? These symptoms are signs that the body's mucous membranes, which naturally shield the airways from impurities in the air, are working overtime. If you or your employees experience these symptoms, use it as a reminder to wear a respirator when there is dust in the air.