Sunday, August 4, 2013

What To Know Before Choosing Hog Light

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By Lela Perkins


Swine or hog as it is commonly called, is a farm animal with toes that are even in number. It is an ungulate or the species that belong to the former order Ungulata. It traces its origin from the wild boar of unique kind in its own right. These type of animal that do not have the capacity to distinguish even their own kind nor communicate with each other without the right hog light. Neither, they can see their own feeders.

While trying to get the appropriate lights for your animals, you need to have it at the back of your mind that pigs cannot stand bright lights. Dim or natural form is just ideal. Natural illumination gives pigs the vitamin D3 but most of their meals have vitamin D2 so they will not lack vital vitamin D.

You should not even consider the option of using torch for illumination. It gives excess illumination that is not needed by pigs. Dim lights as already mentioned is what they want. If you love your animals, you will want them to have a good rest and break and so you will ensure that where they sleep has no bright lights. It is also advised that you do not illuminate the pens with fluorescent tubes that have flickers since research has shown some bit of sensitivity from pigs to flicker.

It has also been established that pigs productivity reduces during summer. This is attributed to the excess heat and high temperatures during such times. Pigs are very sensitive and so you should mind their comfort. Even though productivity is more on the line traits of the pigs, it is wise to try and control the amount of time they spend in their units. Lighting also plays a part even though in a smaller magnitude. You can help your pigs determine how long they stay inside their units.

Several effects had been observed in relation to the different seasons. The increase day length from 15-18 hours gives the piglets to suck several times. In growers, longer day-time produces higher levels of food intake and may cause disruption in behavior that can decrease the rate of productivity in younger pigs.

Pigs develop stress when there is 24-hour lighting. Their eyes get damaged and they suffer weight loss as well. Important to note, is that pigs are tolerant and adapt easily to non-natural lightings and their behavior is largely affected by the levels of lighting.

There has been current information that pigs in enclosed structures should be lighted with at least 40 lux of lights for 8 hours per day as the minimum requirement. The original statement was that 40 to 80 lux would be enough for the pigs to see and can distinguish the night from the day. But the information was not confirmed as it said that incandescent or fluorescent lights will greatly affect their sense of sight.

Fluorescent lights are brighter than incandescent ones even if they are of same lux level. For best results, you need to know about pigs and the seasons so that you know best when to use which hog light. You would not want to interfere with pigs productivity and you would not also want to waste energy or harm your surrounding.




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