Protein Turnover in Non-Pregnant Sows at Inadequate and More than Adequate Feed Intake

Posted in: Ontario Pork, Pork Insight Articles by admin on August 12, 2009 | No Comments

Energy and protein metabolism was studied in non-pregnant sows at two feed intakes to determine the effect of energy intake on use of dietary amino acids for protein deposition. Non-pregnant sows (n=3) were fed a barley-wheat-SBM diet of 12.5 MJ ME/kg, 0.65% total lysine, and 15% crude protein for one week each at 1.88 and 3.69 kg/d to represent approximately 1.0 and 2.0 times maintenance energy requirement (MEm), respectively. Heat production was measured by indirect calorimetry and a primed-constant infusion of L-[1-13C]leucine (1.0 mg/kg/h) was delivered intravenously over 24 h to measure rates of protein synthesis and breakdown. Actual daily energy intakes were 473 and 925 kJ/BW0.75, for 1.0 and 2.0*MEm respectively. Leucine flux was different between intakes (P<0.05). Protein synthesis represented 80% and 90% of flux for sows fed 1.0 and 2.0*MEm, respectively. Leucine appearance from body protein breakdown was much greater in sows fed 1.0*MEm (75 vs. 17 % of flux). Therefore, energy intake was inadequate at 473 kJ/BW0.75 and body protein was being catabolized for energy, resulting in lower protein gain (107.7 vs. 257.3 g/d). Sows fed the higher energy intake therefore used dietary protein doe protein synthesis with much greater efficiency (83 vs. 25 % of flux). Sows fed adequate energy and protein reduced body protein breakdown and incorporated dietary amino acids more efficiently into body protein. Sows fed the lower energy intake had increased body protein breakdown and amino acids were oxidized for energy, demonstrating the significant impact that dietary energy intake has on amino acid requirements of sows.

Applying New Research to Reduce Sow Feed Costs

Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on August 2, 2009 | No Comments

There is potential to significantly reduce the cost of sow feeding, however, current nutrient recommendations need improvement. Phase feeding, using separate diets for early/mid gestation and late gestation, may save up to $5.00 per sow per gestation. Using a single diet for gestation, but phase feeding at a higher level in late gestation, may save up to $3.00 per sow per gestation. During late gestation and lactation, addition of free amino acids can reduce feed cost. These improvements may also increase sow productivity and increase sow longevity.

Introduction

Nutrition of sows has received little attention compared to growing-finishing pigs, despite the fact that sows consume approximately 20% of the all the feed consumed in pork production. Therefore, improving sow nutrition offers the opportunity for substantial savings in feed cost. This paper will review recent research, discuss future opportunities in sow nutrition, suggest new feeding strategies for sows, and estimate their impact on feed cost.

Conclusion

There is a great deal more to be learned about energy and amino acid requirements during different phases of gestation and lactation. As this information becomes available, we expect to further reduce the cost of sow feeding while maintaining or increasing sow productivity and longevity.

Construction Resource Use of Two Different Types and Scales of Iowa Swine Production Facilities

Posted in: Environment by admin on July 30, 2009 | No Comments

As global populations and affluence rise, there is increasing demand for energy, animal protein, and construction materials. In many cases, available resource pools are insufficient to meet growing market demands, resulting in increased prices and competition for limited resources. This study evaluates key construction resources needed to build different types and scales of Iowa swine production facilities. Two types of facilities conventional confinement and hoop barn-based within farrow-to-finish pig production systems scaled to produce either 5,200 or 15,600 market pigs annually are examined. Conventional confinement facilities are typical of pork industry practice in the United States and are characterized by individual gestation stalls and 1,200 head grow-finish buildings with slatted concrete floors and liquid manure systems. The hoop barn-based alternative uses bedded group pens in hoop barns for gestation and finishing. Five building materials: concrete, steel, lumber, thermoplastics, insulation, as well as crushed rock and diesel fuel used for building site preparation are considered. Land surface area required for buildings and pig production infrastructure are also compared. Relative market costs of newly constructed swine facilities are compared under several material price scenarios. Using hoop barns for grow-finish and gestation results in lower construction costs. Increasing the scale of pig production results in lower construction costs per pig space, however the construction costs per pig space for a 5,200 head hoop barn-based complex is less than the construction costs per pig space for a 15,600 head conventional confinement system. In terms of construction resource use and cost, hoop barns for swine are a viable alternative that are less dependent on the scale of production than conventional confinement facilities.

Characterization of triple reassortant H1N1 influenza A viruses from swine in Ohio

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An H1N1 influenza A virus, A/swine/Ohio/24366/07, was isolated from pigs in an Ohio county fair. Twenty-six people who came in contact with the infected pigs develop respiratory disease and two of these people were laboratory confirmed as H1N1 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The A/swine/Ohio/24366/07 virus we isolated from swine was shown at the CDC to have 100% identical genome sequence to the human virus associated with the county fair. This prompted us to characterize three swine and two human origin H1N1 influenza A viruses isolated at different time points in the State of Ohio. The three swine viruses were shown to be triple reassortant viruses harboring genes of human (PB1), swine (HA, NA, NP, M, and NS), and avian (PB2 and PA) lineage viruses. Although viruses evaluated in this study were isolated during a short time interval (3 years), genetic drift was observed within the HA and NA genes, including changes at the receptor binding and antigenic sites of HA1 protein. Nevertheless, all viruses exhibited antigenic similarity as evaluated with hemagglutination inhibition and virus neutralizing tests. Internal genes were similar to other reassortant viruses of various subtypes currently circulating in the United States. Interestingly, two of the swine viruses including the 2007 isolate replicated well in human airway epithelial cells, however, another virus isolated in 2006 showed very little replication.

For more information the full article can be found at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03781135

Generation of epidermal growth factor–expressing Lactococcus lactis and its enhancement on intestinal development and growth of early-weaned mice

Posted in: Nutrition, Ontario Pork, Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on July 29, 2009 | No Comments

Epidermal growth factor (EGF) plays an important role in intestinal proliferation and differentiation. Previous studies
by others have shown that administration of EGF into the ileum lumen enhances intestinal development. Objective: The objective was to examine the feasibility of expressing and delivering EGF via Lactococcus lactis to earlyweaned mice to enhance intestinal development at this critical transition stage. Design: EGF-expressing L. lactis (EGF-LL) was generated with a recombinant approach. Early-weaned mice were orally gavaged with the recombinant bacteria. Body weight, mean villous height, and crypt depth in the intestine were measured to examine the influence of EGF-LL on the intestinal development of early-weaned mice in vivo. Populations of EGF-LL were shown to survive throughout the intestinal tract, and the recombinant EGF protein was also detected in intestinal contents. Weight gain was significantly greater in mice that received EGF-LL than in control mice fed phosphatebuffered saline or L. lactis transformed with the empty vector backbone but was comparable with that of the positive control mice that received recombinant human EGF. EGF-LL increased mean villous height and crypt depth in the intestine. Immunohistochemistry also confirmed that enterocyte proliferation was enhanced in mice that received EGF-LL, as evidenced by the greater number of cells stained with proliferative cell nuclear antigen in the intestine. This study showed that EGF-LL had beneficial effects on the intestinal growth of newly weaned mice. The combination of growth factor delivery and a probiotic approach may offer possibilities for formulating dietary supplements for children during their weaning transition stage.

An Electronic Nose Network System for Online Monitoring of Livestock Farm Odors

Posted in: Ontario Pork, Pork Insight Articles by admin on June 19, 2009 | No Comments

An electronic nose (e-nose)-based network system is developed for monitoring odors in and around livestock farms remotely. This network is built from compact e-noses that are tailored to measure odor compounds and environmental conditions such as temperature,wind speed, and humidity. The e-noses are placed at various applicable locations in and around the farm, and the collected odor data are transmitted via wireless network to a computer server, where the data processing algorithms process and analyze the data. The developed e-nose network system enables more effective odor management capabilities for more efficient operation of odor control practice by providing consistent, comprehensive, real-time data about the environment and odor profile in and around the livestock farms. Experimental and simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed system.

A Web-Based Collaborative System for Remote Monitoring and Analysis of Livestock Farm Odours

Posted in: Ontario Pork, Pork Insight Articles by admin on June 10, 2009 | No Comments

Monitoring and analysis of livestock farm environments require collection and management of large amount of data from distributed farms. There is an increasing demand for collaboration among livestock producers, environment agencies and
governments. This paper presents a collaborative system for monitoring and analyzing livestock farm odours remotely, and for enhancing the collaboration among users. This system utilizes a web-based portal application as the infrastructure for running distributed applications. Livestock farm odour information is stored in central servers. Distributed users can access the data remotely, submit odour data for analysis, receive analysis results through the Internet, exchange information, and discuss odour related topics on public forums. This collaborative system provides a collaborative, robust, and user-friendly environment for distributed users to efficiently manage and process the data records, share the analysis results and other information.

Cost Benefit of Vaccines and Medication -Nickels and Dimes?

Posted in: Economics, Pork Insight Articles by admin on April 1, 2009 | No Comments

Veterinarian costs are a lower percent of total pork production expense, but can still provide some savings as long as herd health is not compromised. Lower-cost vaccines and antiparasitic products can be used in some barns for certain diseases or parasites, especially in low-risk barns. Injectable antibiotics can be used in PCV-2 controlled herds. Cost benefit analysis shows the benefit of using PCV-2 vaccines, in-feed medications as growth promotants, and metaphylaxis in certain groups. However, the herd veterinarian should still be consulted to decide which changes are appropriate for the herd.

Designing Field Trials to Compare Vaccines or Antibiotics

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In-barn field trials for new vaccines or antimicrobials are useful for gauging whether the product is worth a full-scale implementation. To accurate test the product, pigs (or pens of pigs) should be randomly assigned, sufficient numbers should be used, and preferably it should be a blind trial. When running a trial having control pigs is extremely important, as there can often be wide variation in performance between pigs or groups of pigs. To improve experimental units, more pens of smaller groups can be used, and if a pig is the unit spill-over effect and the effect of the pen must be monitored. Selection bias needs to be avoided by randomly assigning pigs to a pen, and pens to a trial. As well, pig days should be used to analyze data, and any mortalities recorded.

Willowgrove Hill – an Ontario Success Story

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Willowgrove Hill is a farrow to finish facility that changed to niche marketing in 2006 after repopulating, changing genetics, changing to a closed 3 site loop, and enhancing biosecurity. Their products are omega 3 and selenium enriched, and raised without antibiotics. Marketing began with designing a website, developing pricing, and making contacts to sell the products. After starting in a small butcher shop, Willowgrove Hill was able to sell to an executive chef, then at a trade show, and then grocers. Point of Sale packaging and labeling had to be developed, and new pricing decided on. Other challenges occurred finding processors, and using federal kill plants. Overall, niche marketing takes a lot of work, contacts, marketing, and passion.