HABRI Central

A vest made of four-way stretch heavy duty nylon spandex was developed to hold telemetry equipment and permit the use of body surface electrodes for obtaining heart rate data on free-ranging or confined domestic pigs. The vest was laced on sows with a reinforcing 7.5 cm elastic belt encircling the heart girth on the posterior edge of the vest. Nylon spandex from the ventral side of the vest with 5 cm x 0.7 m elastic tabs sewn on each end extended between the front legs. The tabs were threaded through pockets on the edges of the side panels of the vest and tied together on the back of the sow. Velcro-sealed pockets sewn on the inside of the vest held the heart rate transmitters. The vest protected the equipment and helped maintain contact between the sow and electrodes glued onto her dorsal and ventral sides. The system was much less traumatic to the sow, provided a more rapid turn-around of the telemetry equipment, and was easier to repair, than previously used surgical implantation of the transmitters.

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

1. Animal physiology
2. Biochemistry
3. Cardiovascular health
4. Mammals
5. Methodologies
6. peer-reviewed
7. physiology
8. radiotelemetry
9. Swine
10. Techniques
11. telemetry