Forms of P in Different Manures and Their Impact on P Runoff and Leaching Losses from Manure Amended Soils: Summary and Implications

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

Extension Report Submitted to the Manitoba Livestock and Manure Management Initiative.

Continuous application of manure P at rates that exceed the rate of P removal by crops results in a buildup of soil phosphorus (P). High concentrations of soil P increase the risk of P runoff loss from agricultural land and lead to problems with surface water quality, such as excess algae growth. However, there is little or no information about the effect of applying different sources or types of manure P on the risk of P loss after manure interacts with soil, especially for Prairie soils. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to quantify and compare P losses from soil treated with four sources of liquid swine manure and four sources of solid cattle manure and to relate P runoff and leaching losses to manure P forms and soil test P measurements.

Observations on microbial activity in acidified pig slurry

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Acidification of pig slurry to pH 5.5 is used as a measure to reduce ammonia emission from pits and storages. The slurry is acidified with sulphuric acid in a process tank and pumped back to the slurry pits or to a storage tank. We investigated the effect of acidification on microbial activity. Oxygen consumption rate, methanogenesis and sulphate reduction were all reduced by more than 98% in the stored acidified slurry compared to untreated slurry. Despite higher sulphate concentration, the microbial metabolism was greatly compromised or absent in the acidified slurry. This could be explained by the high concentration of protonized short-chained volatile fatty acids in the acidified slurry (approximately 25 mM, compared to untreated slurry <0.1 mM), which act as an uncoupling agent of the cell membrane potential and thereby arrest microbial metabolism. In total the consequences of slurry acidification are greatly reduced production rates and loss of sulphide and methane, and eliminated loss of ammonia. On the other hand, increased volatilization and loss of smelly fatty acids is to be expected.

For more information the full article can be found at  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/15375110

High bacterial contamination of pig tonsils at slaughter

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The objectives of this work were to (1) study the isolation rate of enteropathogenic Y. enterocolitica, Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp. and L. monocytogenes in the tonsils and feces and (2) determine the number of mesophilic aerobic bacteria (MAB) and Escherichia coli in the tonsils of fattening pigs at slaughter. This is because food-borne zoonoses are infectious diseases of major health and economic significance in developed countries. They are most
often acquired through ingestion of contaminated foods but they can also be acquired directly from animals. The two most frequently reported zoonotic diseases in humans in the EU in 2007 were Campylobacter and Salmonella infections with incidences of 120 and 31 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively (EFSA, 2009). The reason this study uses pig tonsils is because pigs are mostly asymptomatic carriers of Salmonella enterica, Campylobacter spp., Yersinia enterocolitica and L. monocytogenes. All these bacterial pathogens have been isolated from the intestinal
tract of pigs (Fosse et al., in press). However, pathogenic Y. enterocolitica has shown to be a more frequent inhabitant in pig tonsils (Bucher et al., 2008). In the present study, almost all (98%) fattening pigs at slaughter were carriers for at least one of these foodborne pathogens in their tonsils (76%) or were shedding them in feces (72%). Pathogenic Y. enterocolitica and L. monocytogenes were frequently isolated from tonsils while Campylobacter spp. were rarely found. The main reason was because of contamination during slaughter and this study recommends that the contamination in the slaughterhouse could be effectively reduced by changing the slaughter technique by not splitting the head and by leaving the tongue and tonsils in the oral cavity.

For more information the full article can be found at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03091740

Changes in Debt Patterns and Financial Structure of Farm Businesses: A Double Hurdle Approach

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The objective of this paper is to help explain one aspect of the changing capital structure of U.S. production agriculture – the increase in the number of debt free farms. It is considered that the farm operator’s decision to borrow outside funds as a “two-step” process. Credit decisions are inherently joint decisions between the lender and the borrowers. Our findings suggest that nonfinancial factors, such as operator age, region, risk aversion, and financial factors such as debt service ability and the cost of capital play significant roles in distinguishing borrowers from non-borrowers. Future research will consider other potentially key explanatory variables and explore alternative econometric methods of modeling farm household credit use.

United States-Animal Rights target Spam.

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An animal-rights group unsuccessfully tried Tuesday to get Hormel Foods Corp. to label all of its meat packages with information on the greenhouse-gas emissions “footprint” caused by making the products. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals representative Stephanie Downs read a statement in support of PETA’s resolution during Hormel
Foods’ annual stockholders meeting Tuesday night at Austin High School. Downs urged shareholders to pass the labeling resolution to “bring transparency about Hormel’s environmental impact.” Hormel chief executive officer Jeffrey M. Ettinger said the company has stated publicly its goal to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from the production and delivery of its products. “We are unable to provide accurate, reliable information on the impact of greenhouse gases per food product due to the lack of universally accepted standards,” Ettinger said. “If meat is on the menu, so is a hefty serving of greenhouse gases,” PETA senior vice president Tracy Reiman said in the release. “Consumers have a right to know how much Hormel’s conversion of animals into meat is contributing to climate change.”

The Voodoo Economics of the US National Pork Producers Council: A Commentary

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Canada recently introduced a program to assist its hog industry. Based on a recommendation
from the Canadian Pork Council, the program has two components that can provide direct
economic benefits to hog producers. One component will pay producers to exit the industry. The
second component provides partial loan guarantees under commercial terms to potentially viable
producers who elect to remain in production and restructure their operations.
The US National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) opposes the program and cites a study from
Iowa State University that estimates a 7.5% reduction in North American hog prices as a result
of the program.
The study is not publically available, so it is not possible to analyze it. However, the claim is
astounding. The aim of the first part of the Canadian program is to reduce the Canadian breeding
herd by 5%, which would eventually reduce the number of market hogs from Canada
accordingly. Assuming price flexibility for pork between -1.0 and -2.0, the loan guarantee
program would need to result in 6.75 million to 13.5 million more hogs from Canada than would
have been the case. This is based on 2008 production levels. If the first component results in a
5% reduction, the loan component would need to result in a 27.5 – 52% increase in Canadian
production in order to suppress prices by 7.5%.
It’s extremely hard to imagine how a program that reduces sow inventories, provides marginal
loan benefits to a relatively small portion of Canada’s industry, and that, at best, guarantees loans
at levels equal to about half of variable costs could ever have any negative impact on North
American prices, let alone one as large as is claimed. Several potential issues that must be
addressed in a proper analysis of the supply response to this program have been identified in this
paper.
Nevertheless, an official of the NPPC, quoted today (August 26), says that the program will put
the onus on poor American producers to adjust and relieve the responsibility from Canadian
producers. No one should have any sympathy for this type of woeful spin. The fact is that
Canada has already reduced its herd by 14.5% from its peak in 2004, and total inventories of
hogs in Canada the second quarter of this year were down 19.4% since mid-2004. During the
same period, US mid-year inventories of hogs grew every year until 2008 before dropping
slightly by 1.4% this year. Meanwhile, US producers have added to this summer’s poor prices
by loading another 4-5 lbs of weight on each hog they ship to market. The market expects that
August 2009 pork production in the US will set a record.
I don’t know whether this Canadian program is good policy or not from a Canadian perspective.
I do know it is responsible from an international trade perspective. It appears inevitable that
there will be threats and the potential reality of yet another trade action by the NPPC. One can
only hope that, when it occurs, the US industry will be held responsible for its failure to adjust to
an ugly market situation, and that proper economic analysis is used in the argument.
One of the major reasons for the current situation in the hog industry is domestic and
international reaction to the outbreak earlier this year of the new H1N1 virus, which is daily
misnamed swine flu in North American media. It has scared domestic consumers and
international customers away from pork and has reduced demand. The NPPC might better use
its resources and influence to fight that real battle than to blame its trading partner for nonexistent
negative effects of a benevolent program.

Behavior and performance of pigs previously housed in large groups

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This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of social familiarity and initial BW variation at mixing on performance and welfare of pigs born to group-housed lactating sows. The results indicated that grouping unacquainted
pigs derived from large groups induced overt aggression, associated injuries and initial reduction in performance, which causes welfare concerns on mixing pigs born to group-housed lactating sows.

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

Experimental infection of SPF pigs with Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae serotype 9 alone or in association with Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae

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The purpose of this study was to compare in SPF pigs, the pathogenicity of an Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae serotype 9 strain 21 (isolated from the palatine tonsils of a healthy gilt on a French nucleus pig farm). The results show that the presence of A. pleuropneumoniae serotype 9 in a pig herd may be clinically unnoticed and that M. hyopneumoniae may potentiate A. pleuropneumoniae infection.

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

Influence of straw length, sow behaviour and room temperature on the incidence of dangerous situations for piglets in a loose farrowing system

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Crushing of piglets can be a major problem in loose-housing farrowing systems. In this study, we investigated the influence of straw of different lengths provided as nest-building material, sow behaviour and room temperature on the incidence of dangerous situations for the piglets. Piglets were defined as in danger of being crushed if they were trapped by the sow’s body or if they jumped aside in response to the lying down or rolling behaviour of the sow.

The behaviour of 22 Large White sows and their piglets was video-recorded from 10 h before farrowing until 72 h afterwards. The sows were kept in loose farrowing pens equipped with a creep area and a heating lamp. For a period of 5 days (48 h before the expected farrowing until 72 h after farrowing) 11 sows each had access to either 2 kg of long-stemmed straw or 2 kg of short-cut straw provided on the floor.

Sows in pens with short-cut straw manipulated the pen equipment more frequently during the 10 h before farrowing than sows in pens with long-stemmed straw (P = 0.02). The number of dangerous situationswas associated positively with the time the sow spent nest-building during farrowing (P < 0.01) and with the occurrence of events in which she
laid down laterally without leaning against a wall and with more than two piglets present during the first 3 days after farrowing (P = 0.04). The incidence of dangerous situations also decreased over the first days after farrowing (P < 0.001), increased with the time the sow spent moving around before lying down (P = 0.04), and was inversely related to the duration of the lying-down movement (P = 0.05). Moreover, the more piglets there were present during a lying-down movement the higher was the incidence (P = 0.02), especially if they were not grouped on only one side of the sow’s body (P = 0.03). Room temperature was associated positively with the time it took the piglets to get to the creep area after birth (P = 0.01) and negatively with the time they spent there (P = 0.02) but did not affect the incidence of dangerous situations. Straw length had no significant influence on the total pre-weaning piglet mortality or the proportion of piglets crushed.

In conclusion, we found that sow behaviour was hardly affected by straw length but had a major influence on the occurrence of situations with a risk of crushing piglets.

Specific proteins allow classification of pigs according to sire breed, rearing environment and gender

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Proteomic profiles, like metabolomic and transcriptomic profiles, have other interesting applications. Many medical
studies have shown that they can be used for classification, most often to allowearly clinical diagnoses or cancer prognosis, or as biomarkers to detect specific pathologies. This study evaluated if such an approach can be
used in the context of agricultural research. It was determined that proteins allowed for correct classification of pigs according to sire breed, rearing environment and gender. Proteins can be used for traceability purposes and is an alternative to DNA-based traceability techniques, or as markers for genetic research.

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