Although feed grain prices have dropped since their records levels of last
year, large opportunities exist to develop more cost-effective feeding
programs using alternative feedstuffs. To regain competitiveness, the western
Canadian pork industry must implement aggressive strategies to use other
feedstuff combinations than have been used for the last decade. A key to
managing the risk of using alternative feedstuffs to maintain growth
performance is feed formulation using modern evaluation systems: net energy
(NE) and standardized ileal digestible (SID) amino acids. A strategy to include
multiple alternative feedstuffs will likely be most effective.
This paper summarizes recent research findings to use alternative feedstuffs
in swine diets.