Feeder Use Patterns in Group-Housed Pregnant Sows Fed With an Unprotected Electronic Sow Feeder (Fitmix)

Posted in: Production by admin on January 1, 2008 | No Comments

This study used data recorded by Fitmix feeders in three different stable
groups of pregnant sows to study (a) variations in the feeder use over time, (b)
circadian variations in the feeder use, (c) the consistency of the feeder order,
and (d) the effects of dominance rank on feeder use. Sixty Large White X Landrace female pigs (Sus scrofa) from first to eighth parity were selected on a commercial farm with high health status (PRRS and Aujeszky free). It was found that the lack of protection while feeding in Fitmix made sows split their ration in several visits. On the other hand, this fact also seemed to increase efficiency by reducing nonfeeding occupation of the feeder. Optimization of the feeder efficiency took several weeks. However, a rank-related feeder order was quickly established and maintained over time. The establishment of a feeder order may ameliorate disturbances around the feeder and help stockmanship to detect
problems. Nevertheless, these conclusions should not be extrapolated to different ESF designs, larger group sizes, or dynamic groups.

Ammonia emissions from organic housing systems with fattening pigs.

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The aim of this study was to determine the level and variations in ammonia emissions from buildings and outside yards, with different manure removal systems, for organically raised fattening pigs. It was found that differences in ammonia emissions between farms were probably mainly related to the manure removal system, design of the building and frequency of cleaning of outside yard. The farm with daily scraper cleaning and the farm with the slatted floor system had significantly lower emissions than the farm with bi-weekly manual removal of manure from a solid floor.

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

Feeding Amino Acid Chelated Copper and Zinc to Reduce Mineral Pollution From Swine Manure

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It was hypothesized that Zn and Cu reductions in feed have compromised swine performance and substituting amino acid chelated (AAC) sources for traditionally employed inorganic salts (IM) may overcome environmental and swine performance problems. It was found that supplementing swine rations with Cu and Zn AAC could lower environmental impact through reduced fecal mineral concentrations and due to greater AAC bioavailability, feed rations could potentially be formulated with lower inclusions of Cu and Zn, without compromising swine’s performance.

For more information the full article can be found at http://www.jarvm.com/articles/Previous.htm

Tile drains capture less water than expected

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Tile drains are not nearly as effective at rapidly removing
excess water as people assume, a good thing if you
are concerned about applied animal nutrients getting into
surface water bodies.
Experiments conducted last fall on a farm in the Upper
Thames River watershed near Kintore were designed to
mimic the worst conditions for applying pig manure – wet,
macroporous soil in fields that are systematically tiled. The research team found that tile drain discharge, even under
those conditions, could only directly account for 10 to 15 per cent
of the water that was applied to the surface of the field.
“The bottom line,” Rudolph says, “is that tile drains capture
much less than we ever would have expected. It has
been conventionally assumed that the tiles have a very large
area of influence. Field experiments show the influence is
much smaller than we’d anticipate.”
“To help us further understand the risks that tile drains
impose on our water resources,” says Rudolph, “more field
experiments are being conducted in other geological settings
and under a wider range of climate conditions.” He also
adds that movement of the chemical tracers applied last fall
is still being monitored.

Ractopamine hydrochloride and the environmental sustainability of pork production

Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments

We (Patience et al. 2006) and others have shown improvements in lean growth and feed
efficiency when ractopamine (Paylean®) was fed to finishing pigs. The objective of the following
experiment was to determine if the improvements in nutrient utilization with Paylean can lead to a
demonstrable reduction in the environmental footprint of pork production.
A metabolism experiment was conducted to measure the effect of 0. 5 or 10 mg/kg
ractopamine (RAC) from Paylean on N and water balance in finishing swine. Paylean improved ADG,
N retention in the carcass and feed efficiency and decreased water intake and urine output. Because of
the improvement in N and water utilization in finishing pigs, we concluded that Paylean can reduce the
environmental impact of pork production.

The influence of diets supplemented with conjugated linoleic acid, selenium, and vitamin E, with or without animal protein, on the quality of pork from female pigs

Posted in: Meat Quality by admin on | No Comments

This study assessed the quality of pork from the LM and semimembranosus muscle (SM). The pigs were grown on diets containing either animal or plant products, or plant products only (the plant group), with or without
a supplement containing extra CLA, selenium, and vitamin E. It is concluded that the dietary treatments had some effects on certain meat quality parameters. However, the overall effects on appearance and palatability were small and unlikely to be of importance.

Quality Evaluation of Fresh Pork Using Visible and Near-Infrared Spectroscopy with Fiber Optics in Interactance Mode

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The feasibility of evaluating color value, chemical components, and other physical characteristics of fresh,
random thickness pork samples by visible/near‐infrared (NIR) spectroscopy was determined. It was found that the color and chemical composition can be evaluated very accurately and it is possible to make rapid, nondestructive, and accurate pork quality evaluation using visible and near‐infrared spectroscopy.

The value of market uncertainty in a livestock epidemic

Posted in: Economics by admin on | No Comments

This paper examines the adjustment of pig production to an animal
disease epidemic. We raise two major aspects regarding the adjustment. Firstly, even
if the characteristics of an epidemic depend on the structure of farming, agricultural
producers face a great uncertainty about the number of animals removed from market
and the duration of export distortions. Secondly, livestock production is inelastic in the short run. When an
outbreak occurs, producers are unable to quickly increase aggregate production
because it takes time to produce reproduction animals or to raise fattening animals.
Even if producers are able to decrease production in the short run e.g. by culling
animals prematurely, it may be costly for an individual producer to reduce yield levels
or the number of animals in stock unless policy or market explicitly provide incentives
for such behaviour. Results suggest that
trade ban duration can have large impact on losses. When the expected duration of the
trade ban increases, losses increase at an increasing rate for durations which we
simulated. Results also suggest that if export market become completely closed and
remain closed for sufficiently long time, meat market can in practice collapse. The modelling approach proposed in this paper has the potential to examine
how rationally behaving producers could adjust production after observing epidemics
and export shocks of different magnitudes. Models such as this are best suited for
comparing differences in results between scenarios. In contrast to this, the results of an individual scenario should be interpreted with caution, as they are affected by
parameter values, such as elasticity estimates, calibration values and production costs,
which are to some extend normative. Our approach could be complemented by more
thorough analysis of behaviour of consumers, producers and adjustment options. As
the duration of market shock seems to be important, an interesting application is to
combine epidemiological and economic models in order to study disease policy issues
such as emergency vaccination, where uncertainty and time play an important role.

Testing for Complementarity and Substitutability among Multiple Technologies: The Case of U.S. Hog Farms

Posted in: Economics by admin on | No Comments

This study develops and applies a tractable methodology that can show
how technologies complement or substitute for each other, information that is critical to
understanding the effect of technical innovation on industry growth and structure. Our findings suggest that the complementarity among technologies in large bundles is contributing to a form of returns to scale that is leading to increasing growth in average farm size. Because the technologies are complementary, the productivity of one technology is enhanced by the adoption of the other technologies. This provides an incentive for multiple technology adoption, but not all farms are equally able to adopt. We find that large farms run by younger and more educated operators are the most likely to adopt multiple technologies. This apparent size bias for multiple technologies is consistent with the view that new technologies are hastening the move toward larger farms in the U.S. pork industry.

Analysis of periparturient risk factors affecting sow longevity in breeding herds

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The association of periparturient risk factors with sow longevity and the validity of sow removal decisions made during the periparturient period were analyzed. Data pertaining to 2066 sows from a commercial breeding herd from the US Midwest were used in this study. The likelihood of removal from the herd within 35 d post-farrowing decreased with a younger parity, the absence of lameness or other health problems, a higher lactation feed intake (LFI) and a greater number of live-born piglets (P a younger parity lowered (P number of piglets born alive was higher (P periparturient period. A greater (P periparturient period farrowed. More sows (P culled compared with sows retained without health problems during the periparturient period. In summary, periparturient factors such as LFI, the incidence of lameness or health problems, as well as sow-level characteristics such as higher parity and fewer piglets born alive predicted the removal of a sow from the breeding herd. Sows retained with periparturient health problems had reduced longevity and fewer live-born piglets, and fewer such sows had another farrowing.

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