The addition of ground wheat straw as a fiber source in the gestation diet of sows and the effect on sow and litter performance for three successive parities

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This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of adding 13.35% ground wheat straw to a corn-soybean meal gestation diet for 3 successive gestation-lactation cycles compared with sows fed a control diet without straw. In conclusion, when the daily intake of the basal gestation diet was equalized for both treatments, the addition of 13.35% ground wheat straw to the gestation diet improved sow and litter performance, with increases in litter size and
total litter weight at birth and weaning compared with control sows and litters.

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

Effects of continual fluctuation in feed intake on growth performance response and carcass fat-to-lean ratio in grower-finisher pigs

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An experiment was conducted to examine the effect of continual fluctuations in feed intake on grower-finisher pig growth performance and carcass fat-to-lean ratio (F:L). The results indicated that continual fluctuation in feed intake either every other day or every 3 d had minimal effects on growth and carcass F:L compared with pigs fed the same restricted amount throughout the experiment.

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

An evaluation of four candidate genes for use in selection programmes aimed at increased intramuscular fat in Duroc swine

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A sufficient level of intramuscular fat (IMF) is needed to enhance consumer acceptance of pork products, and is currently receiving greater attention within swine genetic improvement programmes. Biological candidate genes implicated to play a role in adipogenesis were investigated within two different lines of purebred Duroc pigs.

For more information the full article can be found at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1439-0388/issues

Odour and ammonia emission from pig manure as affected by dietary crude protein level

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The main objective in the present study was to determine whether reducing dietary CP level influences odour emission,
odour strength, odour offensiveness and ammonia emission from pig manure and fresh faeces and manure characteristics. In addition, the effects of reducing dietary CP on greenhouse gas concentration in the odorous air above the manure pit were also studied. It was found that reducing dietary crude protein from 15% to 12% in diets for finishing pigs did not reduce odour concentration, emission, hedonic tone and intensity from pig manure, although 9.5% ammonia emission reduction can be achieved for each % dietary CP reduction. The correlation between ammonia and odour emission is low, which means that strategies proved to reduce ammonia emission effectively may not have similar effects on odour emission. More dietary CP reduction may be required to reduce odour concentration and emission from pig manure. However, more odorous compounds in the manure and in the air should be analyzed in order to derive the relationship between dietary alterations and odour strength and offensiveness of the odorous air above the manure pit.

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

Behind The Lines

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As a commentator in the Globe and Mail recently put it, the hog industry in Canada “continues to stagger from crisis to conflict.” Ontario’s industry certainly had both in April and early May. The “swine flu crisis” triggered market speculation and unnecessary trade actions, stripping a reported $30 a hog in just three days from the already low value of pigs on June contracts. At this writing, pork industry leaders are readying an appeal to governments for funding to support them through this crisis. The same reasoning is behind this as with the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy crisis that struck the beef industry in 2003 and which also received funding.

Roadmap for a Competitive Pork Industry in Canada

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The major challenges set out in the Revitalization Strategy are to ‘package’ or
systematize the marketing platform and to build the marketing capability which
links production, processing and marketing in a highly connected manner.
This is not easy. Indeed this requires a set of industry investment strategies
that create new business structures between producers and processors.
However, the alternative is the continuation of a system that is clearly not
functioning well in the present and certainly is not positioned to compete with
well organized systems in other countries around the world.
If the fundamental challenges within the Canadian pork industry are not
addressed, the conditions that have created the distress which is currently at
play will only re-emerge in the future. At best, the Canadian industry may
continue to supply the domestic market but lose its export markets. At worst, it
may be unable to compete at all and Canadian consumers will rely totally on
pork products that are imported from pork producing countries.

Reducing Animal Health Costs

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The focus of this paper is on how to deliver return on investment on animal health
products. The ultimate goal of our industry is to have a long term health
management strategy that delivers lowered input costs with corresponding
improved performance, and thus better margin than the industry norms. In no particular order of importance the following points are worth spending some time reviewing if your business is to achieve this long term goal. Measure, Analyze and Make Decisions Based on Opportunity Cost. Be Critical of Product Technical Information such as mass marketing of product technical results as all herds are different. Focus on the Primary Pathogens; the Big Bugs, not the Little Bugs, Monitor product usage and Management of Lightweight Pigs in Your Herd.

The nutritional value of expeller-pressed canola meal for grower-finisher pigs

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Expeller-pressed canola meal (EPCM) contains more residual oil than solvent extracted
canola meal. The EPCM might be an attractive feedstuff for swine,
but has been poorly characterized nutritionally. In this experiment it was found that the implications are that EPCM provides energy and amino acids (AA); however, average daily gain (ADG) was reduced 3
g/d per 1% inclusion of EPCM inclusion in diets formulated to equal net energy (NE) and
standardized ileal digestible (SID) AA. Thus, inclusion levels of EPCM in swine diets should be targeted to
ensure an expected growth performance.

Effects of social interactions on empirical responses to selection for average daily gain of boars

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The objective of this study was to investigate the relative importance of social effects on response for total genetic value from selection of boars for ADG. Records of 9,720 boars from dam lines (1 and 2) and sire lines (3 and 4) from Pig Improvement Company (PIC, Franklin, KY) were analyzed. Data were from 4 test farms over a 4-yr period (2000 to 2003). It was determined that further study of the effects of social interactions in different environments is needed to determine situations in which effectiveness of selection for total genetic value can be improved by incorporating social effects in models and indexes. An anonymous reviewer has suggested that this model for direct and social effects not be used in the future for several reasons. One reason is the complete confounding of fixed pen effects and environmental social effects and near confounding when pens are modeled as random effects. In this study pen effects were not included in the model. Another reason is one the authors and others have informally discussed; with many
pigs in a pen, some pigs may never interact with other pigs.

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

The effect of feeding crude glycerol on growth performance and nutrient digestibility in weaned pigs

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Increased utilization of biofuel coproducts, such as crude glycerol, will allow livestock producers to source alternative feedstuffs and mitigate high grain prices. Crude glycerol may play an important role in meeting the dietary energy needs of pigs as biodiesel production expands. The present study indicates that crude glycerol can be included up to 8% in replacement for wheat in diets for weaned pigs, without reducing growth and feed efficiency.