Swine Facilities

The first week after weaning
determines everything.

Cold pits. Cold floors. Cold walls. Piglets leaving the sow spend the first days of their lives fighting temperature instead of growing. The difference between a stressed pig and a thriving one is measured in degrees — and in dollars per pig at market.

80%
Drop in post-weaning mortality
Little Bow Colony
$1.71
Per pig heating cost
vs $5.24 hot water — Kingsland 2023
40–50%
Heating cost reduction
vs unit heaters
2–3 lbs
Heavier weanlings at 21 days
vs conventional systems
Real operations. Real numbers. 2023.

Kingsland Colony vs. a neighbouring
hot-water operation.

Same province. Same year. Same pigs going to the same market. One system: Reflect-O-Ray. The other: hot water heating.

Kingsland Colony
Reflect-O-Ray — 430 sows		 Neighbouring Farm
Hot Water — 550 sows
Days to Market (260 lbs) 155 days 170 days
Death Loss 2023 2.0% 3.5%
2023 Heating Bill $18,800 $76,000
Cost Per Pig (Heating) 2023 $1.71 $5.24
Cost Per Pig (Heating) 2024 YTD $1.34 $3.79
67% lower heating cost per pig.
Kingsland’s barns are approximately 29 years old. Reflect-O-Ray has been in them the entire time.
Little Bow Colony — Weaner Facility
“The difference was immediate and impressive — no more cold pockets in the barn, and the heat is evenly distributed. The pigs are happier and start gaining weight right after weaning, which means we don’t have to babysit them as much during that critical first week.”

Our post-weaning mortality has dropped by a remarkable 80%. The pigs are content, eating well, and showing rapid growth immediately after weaning. Reflect-O-Ray has also helped us get our pigs to market sooner — by ensuring a good start post-weaning, we’ve gained an extra 4–6 days to market, which translates to significant financial gains.

Unlike our previous heating system, which required continuous heating of the main loop, we now have the flexibility to heat each room as needed, saving on heating costs overall.

Why it works differently

Infrared doesn’t just heat the air.
It heats the pig.

Unit heaters warm the air around the animals. On a cold concrete floor with cold walls and cold pits, that air warmth disappears fast. Reflect-O-Ray delivers infrared energy directly — into the mass, into the structure, and into the animals themselves.

🌡️

Warm pits. Warm floors. Warm walls.

Infrared energy penetrates concrete, steel, and structural mass. Pits warm from the inside out. Cold spots disappear. The whole environment stabilizes — not just the air at sensor height.

🩸

Deep tissue penetration

Reflect-O-Ray’s mid-infrared waves penetrate 2–3 inches into the piglets’ tissue and bone, stimulating blood flow and opening capillaries. Better circulation means better nutrient absorption, faster growth, and lower stress.

🏠

Independent room control

Each room can be set to the exact temperature required for animals at that growth stage. No heating empty rooms, no energy wasted on spaces that don’t need it. Heat only where and when needed.

💨

Cleaner air. Healthier lungs.

Unit heaters recirculate barn air and increase CO₂ and humidity. Reflect-O-Ray’s vacuum-vented design exhausts combustion gases outside. Operators report better lung health in pigs at butchering and reduced respiratory issues barn-wide.

⚡

Faster recovery after cleaning

After washdown, rooms with Reflect-O-Ray recover heat faster — floors, walls, and penning dry quicker, reducing bacterial growth and allowing faster turnaround between groups.

🏗️

40 years. Same barn.

Old Rockport, Montana has run Reflect-O-Ray for 40 years in the same facility without costly renovations. Minimal humidity and no combustion byproducts inside the barn means the structure lasts.

Applications

Used across every stage of production.

🐷

Weaning

The highest-impact application. Warm pits and floors from day one eliminate the stress that kills performance post-weaning.

🐣

Farrowing

Consistent warmth for newborns without the hazards of heat lamps. Even floor and pit temperatures reduce piglet chilling and crushing.

📈

Grower / Finisher

Pigs that don’t burn feed staying warm convert better. Consistent mass heat means less energy spent on thermoregulation and more on growth.

🐖

Dry Sow / Gestation

Stable temperatures support reproductive performance and reduce stress-related losses during gestation.

In operation across Western Canada & the Northern US

29 colony operations. 35+ years.
Still in the same barns.

Little Bow — Weaning
Fairview — Weaning
Kingsland — Total Barn
Warburg — Total Barn
Albion Ridge — Total Barn
Keho — Farrow, Total Barn
Big Stone — Farrow, Weaning
Fairhaven — Weaning, Farrow
Ferrybank — Weaning, Grower
Big Sky — Dry Sow, Gestation
Spring Point — Farrow, Weaning
Wolf Creek — Weaning, Hallway
Hartland, Canada — Hallway Heat
Hartland, US — Weaning, Dry Sow
New Elm — Farrow, Weaning, Grower
Veteran — Weaning, Grower, Hallway
Waterton — Farrow, Dry Sow, Weaning
Kingsbury — Weaning, Dry Sow, Farrow
River Road (25 yrs) — Farrow, Weaning, Grower
Eagle Creek, Montana — Weaning, Farrow
Green Acres — Farrow, Weaning, Dry Sow
Hidden Lake — Farrow, Weaning, Dry Sow
Newel — Farrow, Weaning, Hall, Dry Sow
Prairie View — Weaning, Grower, Dry Sow
Willow Creek — Farrow, Weaning, Dry Sow
Fairlane — Farrow, Weaning, Dry Sow, Grower
Mayfield — Farrow, Weaning, Grower, Dry Sow
Rockport, Montana — Farrow, Weaning, Grower
Standard — Farrow, Weaning, Dry Sow

Ready to see what $1.71 per pig looks like in your barn?

We specify every system to your actual barn — room layout, stage of production, and target temperatures. No guesswork.

Talk to Us About Your Operation

The system behind these results

Reflect-O-Ray Vacuum-Vented Infrared Radiant Heating →

How it works, the three system sizes (3.5″ / 4″ / 6″), and where each fits.