Dr. Joe Connor

Dr. Joe Connor, Carthage Veterinary Service, Carthage, IL.

“This is a great way to convert existing facilities into auto-sort barns. Pigs adapt to this flow pattern readily without much added work on the stockman’s part. You have the advantage of sorting with the alley barn and it eliminates the concern about feeder competition because feeders are distributed throughout the barn. You can also comfortably start pigs by returning gates to the original layout. This is a major breakthrough.”
– Dr. Joe Connor

Dr. Michael Brumm, University of Nebraska

			Dr. Michael Brumm

“I hear a lot of good things about FAST(II) Alley. I’ve talked to many people who are considering these barns and there is a lot of enthusiasm. When you are using FAST(II) Alley, your costs are considerably less because you can have a 1,000 head barn with one scale versus two scales for a food court barn. Also, the pig self trains with FAST(II) Alley. The majority of the people that I talk to are buying a sorter because they are going after sorting for market. They simply say, ‘When the truck comes I need X number of pigs ready to go’ and FAST(II) Alley fits that mentality very well.”
– Dr. Michael Brumm

Swine Vet Center, St. Peter, MN

Good option for remodeling. “There are a lot of barns that are 8-10 years old with some – but not all — of the gates shot. Many of these producers have looked at bids for converting the whole barn into a food court style sorting barn versus just replacing the gating. Now there is an option for a sorting barn that’s obviously much cheaper. It allows you to get into sorting cheaper than if you removed and replaced all of the gating.”
– Dr. Tim Loula

			Dr. Ross Kiehne

Eliminates concerns about ADG “I like FAST(II) Alley because pigs always have access to feed. No matter where they are in the barn, they are always close to feeders.”
– Dr. Ross Kiehne

			Dr. Paul Yeske

Less effort to train pigs “The pigs use their own curiosity to work through the system, rather than having to learn to go through the scale to get to the feeder. Training is done continuously as part of the daily routine, rather than something the operator has to say, ‘OK, I’m going to train pigs on this day this week.’”
– Dr. Paul Yeske

More flexibility in size of market pens “With the original pens in place in a FAST II Alley barn, the producer can close off the old pens to create variable sized market pens. This gives the producer more flexibility if he wants to sell a smaller group of 50 pigs one time or a bigger group the next week.”
– Dr. Tim Loula

			Dr. Tim Loula

May be easier to treat sick pigs “In big open barns, chasing after pigs to treat them can be a challenge, especially for people with bad legs or knees. Here we have more of a maze so pigs can’t take off on a 50 yard run and get away from you. We think it may be easier to catch and treat pigs in this layout. On the other hand, pigs still will be able to seek out a comfortable spot and be able to get away from other pigs if necessary.”
– Dr. Tim Loula