From Nanoparticles to Natural Gas: Keeping Barns Efficient and Healthy Places to Work

Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Prairie Swine Centre, Press Releases by admin on April 6, 2011 | No Comments

This powerpoint presentation was presented at the 2011 Spring Producers Meetings held in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.  The meetings were sponsored by Prairie Swine Centre, Alberta Pork, Manitoba Pork, Saskatchewan Pork, Elanco and Masterfeeds.

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Managing Feed Costs

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This powerpoint presentation on managing feed costs was presented at the 2011 Spring Producers Meetings held in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.  The meetings were sponsored by Prairie Swine Centre, Alberta Pork, Manitoba Pork, Saskatchewan Pork, Elanco and Masterfeeds.

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Prairie Swine Centre 2011

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The Mandate of the Prairie Swine Centre is to produce and distribute knowledge derived through original research, scientific review and economic analysis.  To access information on the Prairie Swine Centre in 2011 in an easy to read powerpoint presentation click on the link!

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Maximizing the Nutritional Value of Feedstuffs

Posted in: Nutrition, Pork Insight Articles by admin on March 30, 2011 | No Comments

With volatile feed prices, it remains important to constantly strive to improve feed efficiency and review feeding strategies. There remains wide variation in feed conversion ratio (FCR) between herds, and feed intake and feed wastage can both impact FCR. Herd health status also affects the herd’s FCR, but health status can also act on a lower, batch level as well. Wet feeding can benefit the FCR more than dry feeding, and there are arguments for buying either cheaper pre-mixed feeds, or home mixing to have a known quality. Breeding sows have strict dietary requirements, but gestating sows naturally have a higher FCR and diet formulations can use alternative ingredients. Starter feed remains the most expensive diets, but actual feed intake is proportionally low. A high quality starter feed seems to remain worth the cost, as it will get pigs finished sooner and with less variation. Finisher feed should follow precision feeding, and can benefit from exact formulation and the high herd health status. As well, in times of increased feed costs it may be worthwhile to reduce the safety margins usually in place. Alternative feed ingredients and feed additives may also offer opportunities to reduce diet costs.

Branding Canadian Pork – Defining Consumer Wants

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Brand identity can help garner customer loyalty, but also has an economic impact through increased revenue and market shares, and decreased price sensitivity. A clear image around a product helps to create a brand. Canadian Pork can become a brand for global and domestic consumers. The chicken and beef industries have managed to create brands of their own: chicken through superior air-chilled products, and beef through premium graded beef. Pork can become branded through a grading system, and features like colour and marbling. Branding marbling as a better tasting product with naturally occurring fat can make it a premium product, but having premium lean products as well could be achieved through a two-tier classification system.

Quality Meat Packers’ Brand Stories

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Quality Meat Packers has established 4 unique brands that are able to remain competitive in the market. Walking Tree Pork sells fresh pork in Japan, and uses purity and strict food safety as a selling point. The 2^nd and 3^rd brands are sold at Loblaws: one is Free From pork and the other Nature’s Own. Free From avoids antibiotics and animal products in their feed, and Nature’s Own is processed meats that use pork from the Free From system. Lastly, Legacy Fresh Pork provides quality, seasoned, ready to cook products.

Pressure on Conventional Agriculture

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Public concern for animal welfare in agriculture has been increasing, and producers should be aware of which practices the public is likely to scrutinize and how to respond. Animal suffering and the ability of animals to express natural behaviours are two issues that are a concern in public surveys. Some of the commonly targeted practices are housing that restricts movement and natural behaviour, painful procedures without pain control, abusive or rough handling, euthanasia, and failing to treat animals as sentient beings. Producers should be familiar with animal cruelty regulations and the code of practice in case their practice comes under question. As well, staff training and animal welfare incidents should be documented. Finally, communication to the public and calm, reasoned responses can help to mitigate negative public or media attention.

Rethinking Pig Barn Design

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Increasing energy costs and stricter environmental regulations mean a more efficient, sustainable barn design is needed. More efficient heating, lighting, and ventilation equipment can help to reduce energy use, but designs that consider environmental and animal performance impacts are more intensive. An integrated system of environmental control, manure management, and feed delivery and storage will allow for greater efficiency and animal performance than individual parts. Energy use is generally evaluated on a per pig basis, but this does not always accurately indicate performance and efficiency. A more accurate measure of energy use would be to measure on per weight of meat produced. Rather than focusing on single inputs and outputs, systems should be designed and evaluated based on animal performance. Temperature can affect weight gain and feed efficiency in pigs, so having the optimal temperature is important to have good performance. Hot temperatures can cause heat stress, reduced gain, and more fat deposition. Manure handling affects air quality within the barn and emissions outside of the barn. Scraper systems have an advantage for manure handling as they reduce emissions, reduce the risk of hazardous gases within the barn, and would be suitable for use with an on-site anaerobic digester. During hot conditions, cooling is necessary to maintain performance, and floor cooling will keep pigs dunging in the right areas for partially slatted floors. An evaporative system reduces the need for ventilation by 1/3, and a geothermal system by 2/3. Creating more efficient building concepts requires larger capital input, so any designs would have to be offset by increased pig performance.

Value-Added Pork Production: What Strategies are Working Today?

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The Pork Niche Market Working Group offers support to producers in niche markets, and helps explain the challenges and opportunities of the niche market. A business that goes into a niche market has to consider more than just producing the pork. Some of the other considerations include processing, customers, transportation, inventories, finances, consistent supply, personnel, and business partners. Many attempts at the niche market fail, but two successful businesses are Niman Ranch and Eden Farms. Niman Ranch focuses on animal welfare and their story, while Eden Farms focuses on quality and using Berkshire hogs. Future possibilities for niche markets include heritage breeds, bedded farrowing pens, hogs on specialty diets, local or organic products, and value-chains.

Failure to Thrive

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Sow barns strive to produce high quality piglets consistently, efficiently, and profitably. However, enteric diseases can often affect these goals, and are also one of the leading causes of piglet morbidity and mortality. Increasing piglet immunity can help reduce the impact enteric diseases have. Colostrum is the first step to immunity, as it provides all of a piglet’s passive antibodies along with glucose and fat. Gut closure after birth is exponential, so piglets should receive colostrum as soon as possible after birth. Colostrum also impacts intestinal growth and absorption capability. Husbandry and sow colostrum production both play a role in ensuring piglets receive adequate colostrum. Good husbandry starts with providing a farrowing environment that is as free from pathogens as possible through proper washing procedures. Cleaning the sow before she enters the farrowing crate, and regularly scraping the farrowing crate will also reduce pathogens present. Having a technician present during farrowing and increased attention for three days post-birth can reduce mortality rates. Split-suckling and cross-fostering are two strategies that theoretically should help piglet survival, but the research on both practises has shown variable results for any benefit. Finally, piglets should be born into a warm, dry environment, as energy used to warm themselves could be taken away from energy used to develop their immune system or for growth. Identifying which pathogen is causing piglet scours can help with prevention, containment, and treatment. E. coli is the most common pathogen in farrowing rooms, it can be one of several genotypes, and causes malabsorption leading to dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. Clostridial diseases are mainly referring to three agents. One can be controlled through vaccination, but the other two cannot. Rotavirus and TGE are viral pathogens. So far, only Rotavirus Type A can be tested for, but PCR advancements are allowing for Types B and C to be studied. TGE can be tested for, and any presence requires intervention as the mortality for pigs under two weeks is near 95%. Coccidiosis has greatly been reduced since the use of slatted floors has been increased, but once the pathogen is in the environment it is resistant to degradation and sanitation is the main elimination method. Developing immunity in piglets remains a key strategy to reducing mortality, and colostrum access and good husbandry practices can help achieve this.