GOAL: Producing More Quality Pigs

Posted in: Production by admin on January 1, 2009 | No Comments

As the pork industry strives to increase productivity in the form of more total pigs born, more attention must be focused on saving more quality pigs, emphasizes Tom Gillespie, DVM. Rensselaer (IN) Swine Services. More producers are striving and achieving 13-14 total liveborn pig/litter averages. But along with those double digit farrowing numbers come double digit pig preweaning losses. While not easy, Gillespie demonstrates in Figure 1 (page 19) how a
select group of producers representing 8,000 sows managed to take total pigs born per litter from 11.5 to over 13
across a 15-year period. At the same time, average preweaning mortality was kept at or below a very respectable
7%, and just 5% for 2007 and 2008.

Doing the right thing

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Meadowlane Farms adds a waste application business to its environmentally responsible portfolio.

Effect of castration on productive performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality of Iberian pig females reared under intensive management systems

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Traditionally, both males (4 days of age) and females (90 days of age) were castrated (Mayoral et al.,1999);males (CM) to avoid boar taint and females (CF) to reduce the negative effect of oestrous on growth. But, castration jeopardizes animal welfare (Directiva EEC, 2001), increases the risk of infection and impairs production cost. It has been reported that intact females (IF) might have lower meat quality (Ellis and McKeith, 1993) and in some instances, they might develop meat taint. Therefore, the objective of this research was to study the impact of using entire females on productive performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality of pigs under intensive management
systems. It was found that Intact females are leaner and more efficient and have higher proportion of shoulders than castrated females. Consequently, when animal welfare, cost of castration and carcass and meat quality traits are considered, intact females are a good alternative to castrated females for the production of dry-cured products from Iberian pigs. Therefore, under intensive management systems, intact females are preferred to castrated females.

For more information the full article can be found at http://www.journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/livsci

Low temperature digestion

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Low temperature (psychrophilic) in storage digesters have been used for years in many temperate parts of the world – mainly developing countries – as a way to treat human and livestock waste and provide cooking fuel. They are cheap to construct – just throw an impermeable cover over an existing manure pond or storage tank – and can help control odors
and stop nitrification. King, a PhD student in the Department of Bioresource Engineering at McGill University in Quebec, is studying psychrophilic digestion at a commercial-scale swine operation located near St. Francois-Xavier, Quebec, in the Eastern townships by the Canada-U.S. border. The farm owner had decided to cover his existing manure storage tank as a way of controlling odor. A polymer membrane floating cover, designed by Geomembrane Technologies Inc. (GTI) of New Brunswick, was constructed on top of the 100-foot wide by 12-foot deep concrete storage tank. The tank’s sides were surrounded by soil and plastic pipes filled with concrete are used to keep the cover from lifting off the surface. King’s specific interest in the system involves the role played by microbial communities within the manure storage system and how quickly they can acclimate to different temperatures. She recently discussed her research during the First Annual Canadian Farm & Food Biogas Conference in Ontario, Canada. King hopes to continue her research and examine nitrogen conservation and land application of manure from an In Storage Psychrophilic Anaerobic Digestion (ISPAD) system, including wind tunnel tests to see what is released at application. She hopes to monitor two more swine production sites using covered manure tanks and optimize the ISPAD design.

Consumption patterns in the market of pork and pork products

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The objectives of the survey set by the participating organisations were to collect information about the consumers’ opinion on various meat products, with special regard to pork, and to define consumer segments in bigger Hungarian towns. On the basis of the results obtained it can be stated clearly that the previous leading meat
types are still the most preferred and most frequently bought products (poultry, pork, beef). At
the same time, though, an obvious shift in consumption can be seen towards white meats, primarily
poultry. It is a general opinion that red meats (especially pork) do not belong to the modern diet, primarily
due to their high cholesterol and fat content. It seems that poultry gradually gains ground in
meat consumption, which basically cannot be compensated by the pig sector. All this has happened despite the poultry sector globally suffering from avian influenza, but this could not undermine the
increasing trust of the Hungarian consumers.During past years, poultry sector has carried out a very effi cient collective marketing activity. The message of the communication focused on the safety (traceability) and excellent quality of Hungarian poultry, as well as on the slogan ‘Hungarian poultry, Hungarian jobs’. Besides this,
the devotees of healthy nutrition started an attack against red meats saying they have to be left out of our diet.
The consumers’ view and image of pork are worse than those of poultry in almost all aspects. Therefore, future marketing research needs to reveal the factors that result in such an unfavourable image of pork that cannot have an impact on the consumption of pork and on the preferences of the consumers. A substantive re-positioning of pork products may not be necessary or only slightly, but rather a psychological re-positioning of the pork products becomes due.

Tracking the Outbreak that Shook the World

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Prevalence of hepatitis E virus in swine under different breeding environment and abattoir in Beijing, China

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This study was to investigate the prevalence of HEV in pig herds under different breeding environment and in abattoirs
located in Beijing, China. The results of this study indicated that the prevalence of HEV in the pig herds were quite high. Additional public-health concerns might be placed on pork safety.

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

C-reactive protein quantification in porcine saliva: A minimally invasive test for pig health monitoring

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Study objectives were to investigate whether C-reactive protein (CRP) in pig saliva could be quantified using an adapted, timeresolved immunofluorometry assay (TR-IFMA), and to determine whether the assay could distinguish healthy from diseased animals. The test method had intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation of 5.75% and 9.73%, respectively, the limit of detection was 0.47 ng/ mL and the coefficient of determination was 0.98. Analysis of CRP concentrations in paired serum and saliva samples from 50 pigs gave a positive correlation (r = 0.702, P < 0.01) and the salivary CRP concentration was able to distinguish healthy from diseased animals in 62 samples from pigs with naturally occurring or experimentally-induced inflammation. The results suggest that this minimally invasive, straightforward and sensitive assay may be useful in pig health and welfare monitoring.

For more information the full article can be found at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/10900233

Working Together for Responsible Animal Care

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Responsible animal care has many facets, including:
– Understanding what is animal welfare,
– Making sure we take care of basics needs,
– The laws and how they are enforced,
– Identifying what needs fixing and fixing it,
– Communicating with the public and consumer,
– Combining research and ethics,
– Making sure industry is at the table and providing input.

Working together means with your neighbor, community, fellow producers, other all livestock groups, regulators and those outside the industry. We have diversity within groups and often are challenged by the diversity within the livestock industry, let alone the chalenges of working with those outside the industry. in this paper the points above will be discussed and also examples will be given on how collective, cooperative actions advance animal care.

Interactive effects of dietary fat source and slaughter weight in growing-finishing swine: I. Growth performance and longissimus muscle fatty acid composition

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The objective of this paper is to test the interactive effects of dietary fat source and slaughter weight on live performance, carcass traits, and fatty acid composition in 288 crossbred pigs. Results from this study indicate that fat source had little to no impact on live performance. However, feeding a polyunsaturated fat source altered the fatty acid profile within the first 17.4 kg of birthweight gain, therefore including %5 soybean oil in swine diets could lead to soft pork or fat. This could cause pork producers to suffer from economic ramifications based on poor quality pork.

For more information the full article can be found at http://jas.fass.org/