Regaining Competitiveness: Alternative Feedstuffs for Swine

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

Although feed grain prices have dropped since their records levels of last
year, large opportunities exist to develop more cost-effective feeding
programs using alternative feedstuffs. To regain competitiveness, the western
Canadian pork industry must implement aggressive strategies to use other
feedstuff combinations than have been used for the last decade. A key to
managing the risk of using alternative feedstuffs to maintain growth
performance is feed formulation using modern evaluation systems: net energy
(NE) and standardized ileal digestible (SID) amino acids. A strategy to include
multiple alternative feedstuffs will likely be most effective.
This paper summarizes recent research findings to use alternative feedstuffs
in swine diets.

Dietary oat ß-glucan affects kinetics of glucose absorption and insulin secretion in grower pigs

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The role of dietary ß-glucan in glucose absorption and insulin secretion is not
known. Kinetics of absorption may impact the metabolic status following a
meal. Effects of dietary ß-glucan on glucose absorption and insulin secretion
were studied in three 35-kg pigs, surgically modified with catheters in the
portal vein and carotid artery and an ultrasonic flow probe around the portal
vein. It was found that oat ß-glucan as a soluble, viscous fiber decreases the speed of
glucose absorption and reduces peak insulin secretion; thus, dietary ß-glucan
in the long term improves carbohydrate metabolism. Specific fiber sources
thus not only serve as a nutrient, but may also affect absorption of other
dietary nutrients by the pig.

Pathogenesis of swine influenza virus (Thai isolates) in weanling pigs: an experimental trial

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In Thailand, pathogenesis of SIV subtype H1N1 and H3N2 infection in swine has never been studied. Since
different subtypes of the influenza type A viruses isolated from pigs are found to cause different pathogenic levels in
pigs, the objective of this study is to investigate the pathogenesis of SIV (Thai isolates) subtype H1N1 (A/swine/
Thailand/HF6/05) and H3N2 (A/swine/Thailand/S1/05) in weanling SPF pigs. Genetic characterization of the HA gene of both studied viruses were also performed in this report. The results of this study may assist in the prevention and control of SIV infection in Thailand, especially for H1N1 and H3N2 subtypes. Based on the percentages of cranioventral
pneumonic lesion and times of virus shedding, the H1N1 virus might play a major role in respiratory diseases
in weanling pigs in that farm. More works are needed in the co-infection model with other respiratory pathogens
and in the prevention and control of the SIV-related diseases in Thailand. In this study, investigations on virus
transmissibility between sentinel animals housing together with infected animals were not performed. Therefore, whether these Thai H1N1 and H3N2 subtypes will be transmitted efficiently in the field situation requires further experimental and epidemiologic studies.

For more information the full article can be found http://www.virologyj.com/archive

A whole genome scan for quantitative trait loci for leg weakness and its related traits in a large F 2 intercross population between White Duroc and Erhualian

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The aim of this study is to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) for leg weakness-related traits, including leg and gait scores, and weight and length of the biceps brachii muscle in the White Duroc × Erhualian resource population.

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

Salmonella Piglet Vaccine Gains New Label Approval

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A new label approval for an oral or intranasal vaccine.
Salmo Shield Live, has cut the time that pork producers
can immunize pigs for salmonella from 3 weeks of age or
older to I day of age and older. “Swine salmonellosis is a
difficult disease to control, and early vaccination is often
overlooked as symptoms are not immediately visible,”
says Mark Hammer, Novartis Animal Health professional
services veterinarian. Salmo Shield Live was developed to
provide enhanced control as early as possible, a key to herd
protection against salmonellosis. “Signs of an outbreak are
not visible until it is too late; preventing the disease before
onset is vital. With the new Salmo Shield Live label, producers
can vaccinate before pigs enter the nursery, leading
10 a lower infection rate,” Hammer states. A single, l-ml
dose can be administered in healthy pigs as early as one
day after birth. The product should be administered in
herds where salmonella has been a chronic problem or
where salmonella carrier animals are common.

Reduce Feed Waste

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There are steps you can take to reduce the risk of damaging feed on-farm. If
5% of feed is damaged and lost to dust and waste it can cost up to £5000/year on a
500 sow unit; this could increase to £20000 plus if finishers are included, equating
to an extra cost of 1 p/kg deadweight.

Use this guide to walk your system and reduce the risk of waste.
Working with your feed supplier and delivery driver can help a great deal.

Applying with style

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Two award-winning farmers talk about their different manure application styles

Statistically Significant Efficiency Testing of HEPA Filters

Posted in: Air Filtration, Pork Insight Articles by admin on December 19, 2008 | No Comments

HEPA filter manufacturers must ensure that their filters are tested accurately and must do so in a cost efficient way. This study describes tests that tried to determine the minimum time required to provide statistically significant efficiencies of HEPA filters using a test system that is currently used in the production of the filters. 300 filters were tested. Poisson distribution was used to describe the variations and to find the upper and lower levels with 95% confidence. The results found that it takes 90 seconds for the test to ensure that a filter has an efficiency of 99.99% or higher at 95% confidence. For a new test system, software is suggested to calculate the confidence limits of the filters efficiency after each test cycle and then determine determine weather to continue testing.

Filters, filters, filters: Which one to choose?

Posted in: Air Filtration, Pork Insight Articles by admin on November 27, 2008 | No Comments

There are many different filters being produced by many companies around the world. This can make the decision to choose just one difficult. Scott Dee has written in this Pigletter about some of the filters he prefers. The scale for filters is called a MERV (minimum efficiency reported value)  which is a measure of how effective a filter is. The higher the MERV ranking the better the filter is, most filters used in research and in commercial barns are MERV 16, which is capable of stopping all particles over 0.3 microns in size. Although the PRRS particles are 0.05 microns, they travel on larger particles of dust or liquid that are usually 0.5-100  microns in size, making a MERV 16 filter effective. Dee has found through his research that a filter called Camfill Farr by the company Filtration Systems Inc. out performs any other filters from North America and the world. One drawback is that they can be expensive and may impede air flow if they are not a good fit with a barns current air flow system. Another suggestion by Dee is filters made by a company called Noveko. The unique thing about these filters is that they are coated with chemicals so that when contaminated particles move through the system they are killed. Understanding of filters is important for ridding a barn of PRRS, but sanitation should not be overlooked at all levels of production.

Essential oils as alternatives to dietary antibiotics: Microencapsulation for effectively delivering the oils to pig guts

Posted in: Ontario Pork, Pork Insight Articles by admin on November 26, 2008 | No Comments

Some essential oils have strong anti-microbial activity, however they are less effective when they are delivered in vivo. When they enter the body they tend to spread out and do not target the troubled areas. The objective of this study was to try and find an different effective method for microencapsulation and to evaluate the effect of encapsulation on the antimicrobial activity of essential oils in vitro. Several experiments have been carried out in the past years that address these objectives. Some findings from these experiments are essential oils with low water solubility such as carvacrol can be encapsulated with a high loading efficiency by single extrusion method with alginate as the delivering material. Microencapsulation of carvacrol by Ca-alginate did not compromise its antimicrobial activity. Microencapsulation may effectively prevent the loss of essential oils in the upper gastrointestinal tract thus increase the proportion of essential oils delivered to pig intestine. The paper concludes by saying that carvacrol encapsulation is ready to be tested in infected pigs.