Providing Warmth for Piglets Using Dura Trac Farrowing Floors
Providing warmth for piglets is essential in the development, growth, and raising of a healthy animal. That begs the question, “how do you do that?”
One way to provide warmth for piglets is through the use of Dura Trac farrowing floors. These floors are designed for traction and have a mesh layout which makes the cleanup of piglets much easier. Dura Trac also provides many options for attachments and spaces to keep your piglets safe and warm.
This article will provide some ways to use Dura Trac Farrowing floors to keep your piglets warm. Keep reading to learn more.
What are Dura Trac Farrowing Floors?
ADA Enterprises, Inc. first began making plastisol coated flooring in 1974. This led to creating Dura Trac floors, which were designed for a farrowing, nursery, and finishing barns.
The Dura Trac floor is made to be:
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Comfortable for animals
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Easy to clean up
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Easy to install
ADA Enterprises, Inc. can also customize Dura Trac floors to fit their customer’s individual needs as far as space, heating, and other accessories go.
Overall, Dura Trac farrowing floors are a great option for anyone who is in the field of raising animals. Some animals you could use Dura Trac flooring with could include:
• Ducks
• Geese
• Piglets
• Sheep
Durable + Traction = Dura Trac!
How Warm Do Piglets Need to Be?
Piglets need to be kept warm, or else they could be at risk of hypothermia. In order to keep your piglets warm it is essential to keep them at a temperature of 34 degrees C (about 93.2 degrees Fahrenheit).
The reason piglets need to be kept so warm is that they have no brown fats on their bodies, which is something that can help them generate heat. Therefore, the piglet must use glucose to maintain their blood glucose levels as well as their body temperatures.
ADA Enterprises realizes how essential it is to keep piglets warm, which is why they have created hot water heating that can be directly installed into their farrowing floors.
This allows for easy, controllable heating of piglets in a safe manner.
How to Install Dura Trac Farrowing Floors
Most contractors with Dura Trac flooring say that farrowing floors are actually really simple to install. These floors are self-supportive, making them incredibly simple to install even without a contractor.
If you plan on installing Dura Trac farrowing flooring, make sure to measure your space to determine how many floors you will need. Cleaning Dura Trac floors is very easy as well, thanks to the mesh coating, which allows you to clean any urine or feces that dropped below the floor.
As far as size goes, farrowing floors can be custom manufactured to suit your needs. ADA’s experienced sales and design staff will work with you to make sure you get the perfect farrowing floor installation.
What are The Advantages of Hot Water Heat?
ADA Enterprises manufactures hot water heat plates to be used in the creep area, which allows the piglets to stay warm with uniform heat across the solid coated area of the plate. Standard sizes are 12″ x 48″ and 24″ x 48″, however they can be manufactured to other sizes and for other installations. Typically, the hot water heat plates are used in barns that have steam heat.
The Dura Trac hot water heat plates manufactured by ADA Enterprises have the same plastisol coating as the farrowing floors, which increases your space’s uniformity. In addition to this, to maximize durability, they can be installed flush with the creep floor.
How Are Electric Heat Mats Used with Dura Trac Floors?
In Dura Trac floors, the customer’s heat mats are placed down into a dropped area. This keeps them slightly less flush than the floor, which provides the piglets easy access to the heating but the sow is less likely to kick the heat mat.
If you prefer the heat mat not be flush with the floor, the drop-down area of the creep flooring can be custom designed to your desired requirements. In addition, every Dura Trac Flooring system is custom because they need to fit your specific space.
Once installed, the heat mats are safe and easy to use and will provide easy access to warmth for your piglets.
Are Heat Lamps Safe for Piglets?
eat lamps can be safe for piglets, but it is incredibly important that they are installed correctly. This is for the safety of both your piglets and the livelihood of your Dura Trac farrowing floors.
If you choose to go the route of a heat lamp, make sure that you read directions for your specific lamp for a secure installation.
There are a few reasons why you want to make sure your heat lamp is securely installed, the main reason being that you don’t want it to fall. The biggest concern is that if the heat lamp falls, it could potentially hurt one of your piglets. Other reasons are that the heat lamp will break, or it could damage the floors.
Heat lamps are able to be used above Dura Trac floors as they are plastisol coated. If they do happen to fall, the lamp could burn the area of the floor where it lands. However, with Dura Trac’s coating material, it will self-extinguish, and it won’t burn any other part of the floor.
Can You Heat the Actual Farrowing Floors?
The farrowing floors themselves cannot be heated through the mesh itself. This is the conclusion of several farmers who have actually tried this method and advise against it. The reasoning for this is that the heat radiates down to the mesh pit below.
If the heat is radiating in the mesh pit below, that could create poor air quality for the piglets living in the environment. Instead of heating the mesh, it is advised to either use Dura Trac hot water heat plates or electric heat mats.
It is advised that you heat the piglets from the floors, as that is the best way to get the most consistent heat to all of the piglets. Heat lamps tend to be hotter in one area than another, which is why heat mats or hot water plates are the best options for heating piglets in an efficient and healthy way.
Extra Dura Trac Accessories
Dura Trac has several accessories that you can purchase in addition to your flooring to make sure the environment is safe and healthy for your animals. Some of the most important accessories when it comes to piglets are, of course, hot water heat plates and heating pads. On the contrary, sows need to be kept cool. Therefore, ADA can provide cast iron center areas that help maintain a cooler temperature for the sow alone.
Along with many customization options for your farrowing floors, ADA also offers Dura Trac patch pieces in case there is an area of your floor that is beginning to show wear after many years of use under sows. You can purchase a 30″ x 24″ coated expanded metal section that can cover areas that begin to show wear. Custom sizes are also available.
What Others Have to Say
When visiting ADA Enterprises, Inc’s website, you can find information ranging from the maximum weight these floors can hold (pigs up to 100 pounds each) to how to clean them.
The best information always comes from people who have actually used the product, though. Here’s a portion of one of their testimonials:
“…The weaned pigs on the Dura Trac flooring consistently do better than the others.”
Conclusion
Overall, heating is essential for piglets to make sure they avoid the risk of hypothermia and are heated in an easy and consistent manner. Products from ADA Enterprises, such as hot water plates, make it much easier to keep your piglets warm when using Dura Trac floors.
