RADA Urges Pig Farmers to Protect Animals From Heat Stress

Senior Livestock Specialist, Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), Maxine Brown, is urging pig farmers to take proactive measures to protect their animals from heat stress as the country continues to experience high temperatures.

“This is not simply an animal welfare issue. It’s a production and profitability issue,” she said, pointing to international research showing that prolonged heat stress can reduce feed intake and growth rates, affect feed efficiency and carcass quality and yield, and reduce reproductive performance in both sows and boars.

Miss Brown was speaking at the Jamaica Pig Farmers Association’s 24th Annual General Meeting, held at the Kendal Camp and Conference Centre in Manchester on Thursday (Sept. 24).

She explained that when pigs eat less because of high temperatures, they grow more slowly, while declines in reproductive performance can result in fewer piglets being produced.

Miss Brown encouraged farmers to ensure that pigs have continuous access to adequate supplies of cool, clean drinking water, while improving ventilation and airflow in pig houses and providing sufficient shade.

She also recommended reducing unnecessary handling during the hottest periods of the day, avoiding overcrowding and, where appropriate, using sprinklers, fans and other practical cooling measures.

Meanwhile, with climate projections suggesting that pigs will increasingly be exposed to extreme heat stress globally in the coming decades, Miss Brown said that treating heat management must become part of the country’s broader approach to climate resilience.

“For Jamaica, this means that we must begin to look at heat management, not simply as an emergency response during an unusually hot period, but increasingly as part of routine farm management,” she noted.

Miss Brown said that effective heat management must go beyond cooling animals during hot days and should include the design and orientation of pig houses, reliable water storage and delivery systems, emergency water supplies, energy-efficient ventilation and cooling, nutrition, genetics and animal health.

She said that RADA remains committed to working with the Jamaica Pig Farmers Association, individual farmers and other industry partners through technical support, training and programmes aimed at strengthening the resilience and productivity of Jamaica’s livestock sector.

She congratulated the Association on its AGM and expressed hope that the deliberations would produce outcomes that contribute to the continued growth, resilience and sustainability of Jamaica’s pig and pork industry.