Food Coloring Marker, Rubber Boot Sow Muzzle Big Winners At Pork Show

Food Coloring Marker,Rubber Boot Sow Muzzle Big Winners At Pork Show HOG EQUIPMENT & IDEAS Hog Equipment & Ideas (351) 20-5-36 Two low-cost inventions took first and second-place honors at the recent Ontario Pork Congress Innovations Competition. Dan Scheele, Ingersoll, took first place out of 22 entries with his low-cost method of marking hogs for shipping. He previously used stick markers or commercial spray dye, both of which he felt cost too much. So he started using regular food coloring as a marker. He just puts it in a regular spray bottle. The food coloring costs about one-third of commercial sprays and lasts a few days in summer and up to a week in winter. John Schoonjans, Forest, Ontario, came up with a low-cost, simple-to-make muzzle for bad-tempered sows in labor. He uses an old rubber boot with the foot part cut off and two holes cut in the top for a piece of twine. The boot tube slips over the sow's snout and ties behind her ears. Schoonjans leaves them on nervous sows until they're finished farrowing. Sows get used to the muzzle in five or 10 minutes and can still use a nipple waterer, says Schoonjans, who notes that the muzzles keep sows from killing piglets. (Ontario Farmer)

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