The effects of feeding level upon protein and fat deposition in Iberian heavy pigs

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

Beware a truck carrying gilts that hasn't been washed, disinfected and dried

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The role transportation of gilts can play in the spread
of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome
(PRRS) is just one of the findings beginning to emerge from
an ambitious project that is looking at the spread of the
disease in Ontario. Launched in 2005 by University of Guelph
researchers Dr. Cate Dewey, chair of the Ontario Veterinary College’s department of population medicine, and Dr.
Zvonimir Poljak, an assistant professor with the department,
the project has mapped clinical problems linked with PRRS
in Ontario herds from September 2004 to August 2007. One of these is the recognition that if a truck carrying
gilts visited other farms before visiting your farm and
if it wasn’t always washed, disinfected and dried before it
arrived, “you were put at an increased risk of getting PRRS,”
says Dewey.
The problem is Ontario-specific, she adds, pointing out
that in some North American jurisdictions, “they wouldn’t
dream of putting gilts on a truck which hadn’t been cleaned.”

Effects of on-farm diets for organic pig production on performance and carcass quality

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In recent years, economic pressure on pig production
has resulted in intensification of production methods
in order to decrease production costs. As a consequence,
animal health and welfare and environmentally
friendly production have been pushed into the background.
Furthermore, the production of lean carcasses
to meet consumers’ demands for low-fat pork has resulted
in a substantial decrease of intramuscular fat
levels and an increased concern that eating quality may
be consequently reduced (Cisneros et al., 1996).
To face these new challenges, alternative production
methods such as organic livestock farming have been developed. Due to the extensive production
system there is doubt whether organic production can
meet the demands of high carcass quality (Branscheid,
1996). There is, however, very little information on the
impact of organic feeding regimes on growth, carcass,
and meat quality characteristics of pigs. The results from this experiment suggest that the organic livestock production standards do not necessarily
result in lower pig performance. The exclusion of synthetic
amino acids can be compensated for by other
protein sources such as potato protein. The avoidance
of supplementation with amino acids favors the production
of meat with high intramuscular fat without causing
an overly fat pig. The strategy to increase intramuscular
fat by a reduced supply of limited amino acids
requires further studies in relation to the impact on
palatability. The organic approach provides a tool for
producers to manipulate intramuscular fat levels to
meet specific market requirements with limited impact
of on-farm performance. The higher intramuscular fat
content has higher production costs than the conventional
product but is in tune with the philosophy of
organic agriculture.

Hog producer invents liquid lime applicator for manure pits

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The struggle of touting hundreds of 40 kilogram bags of lime through narrow barn corridors to treat manure pits and the health hazards to humans and livestock when dealing with dry lime are what motivated a Manitoba threesome to invent their award-winning Lime Solutions Application Machine. Essentially, the machine creates a concentrated liquid lime solution that is sprayed on barn slat floors, as well as on manure pit walls and floors after the pits have been rinsed and drawn down, and before a new group of hogs is brought into the barn room. Less lime is required when the pits are drawn down. “This method is an economical way to deal with some of the nasty, hard to eradicate diseases that are floating around inside barns,” says Hytek director of capital development, Wilf Sawatzy. The designers started with a common, commercial sprayer implement and simply removed the spray booms. Initially, employees simply poured the bagged lime into the sprayer tank, but they now use an auger with a bag cutting device at the in-feed to both reduce the amount of manual labor required to handle the heavy bags and the health risk of coming into contact with the lime. A pallet of dry lime bags is delivered to the machine’s location. The 500 to 800 gallon tank is filled with water, and an employee begins placing lime bags in the auger basket where the bag cutter is located. The dry lime is then augered into the tank. The agitation pump removes the liquid from one end of the tank and replaces it at the other end to ensure there is enough agitation so the lime can mix evenly and is not allowed to settle. Hytek uses a three horsepower, gas-powered, three inch Honda pump to agitate the tank mixture. Another three horsepower, two inch Honda pump propels the concentrated lime mixture through a hose to the barn. Hytek has tested and settled on specific nozzles that provide the company with a spray pattern that delivers the best results. Hytek is currently applying the concentrated lime on a room-by-room basis between hog finishing cycles. Because the lime is in liquid form, it does not irritate hogs in other rooms, as was the case when Hytek applied dry lime to the pits. Therefore, a complete barn evacuation during an application is not required. Also, the lime does not clump up in the manure slurry and a concentrated liquid stream is easier for the operator to control. After pre-washing of a manure pit, it takes about 2.5 hours to complete an application in a nursery room of 600 hogs. Hytek has no plans to commercialize the system and is happy to share the system’s design with anyone who inquires.

Swine Slurry Characterization and Prediction Equations for Nutrients on South Korean Farms

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Slurry samples, collected from 23 commercial swine farms in South Korea during January to May 2008, were
characterized in terms of various physiochemical parameters: pH, specific gravity, electrical conductivity, total solids, volatile solids, fixed solids, total suspended solids, total dissolved solids, biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, macronutrients (N, P, K, Ca, Na, and Mg), micronutrients (Zn, Fe, Al, Mn, Cu, and Co), heavy metals (Ni, Cr, As, Cd, and Pb), and microbes (total heterotrophic bacteria, coliforms, Escherichia coli, and Salmonella).

Effects of housing finishing pigs in two group sizes and at two floor space allocations on production, health, behavior, and physiological variables

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With the shift in hog operations to housing pigs in large groups of over 100 per pen, questions have arisen as to how these pigs should be managed. Pigs in large groups have been suggested to more efficiently use space in crowded conditions, because the free space available to all pigs is greater (McGlone and Newby, 1994). McGlone and Newby (1994) also hypothesized that space could be reduced in large groups without negatively affecting production. However, a study in a strawed system did not find such an interaction (Turner et al., 2000), and studies in nonbedded systems have not provided identical space allowances to both large and small groups (McGlone and Newby, 1994; Wolter et al., 2000). Space recommendations put forth by AAFC (1993) have been based on traditional group sizes, which tend to range from 10 to 40 pigs per pen. Therefore, this study examined effects of small (18 pigs) vs. large (108 pigs) group sizes provided 0.52 m2/ pig (crowded) or 0.78 m2/pig (uncrowded) of space on production, health, behavior, and physiological variables. Eight 7-to 8-wk-long blocks, each involving 288 pigs, were completed. The average birth weight at the beginning of the study was 37.4 ± 0.26 kg. Overall, average daily gain was 1.032 kg/d and 1.077 (±0.015) kg/d for crowded and uncrowded pigs, respectively (P = 0.018). Differences between the space allowance treatments were most evident during the final week of study. Overall gain to feed ratio was also reduced (P = 0.002) in the crowded treatment. Pigs in the crowded groups spent less (P = 0.003) time eating over the 8-wk study than did pigs in noncrowded groups, but average daily feed intake did not differ (P = 0.34) between treatments. Overall, average daily gain of large-group pigs was 1.035 kg/d, whereas small group pigs gained 1.073 kg/d (±0.015; P = 0.039). Average daily gain differences between the group sizes were most evident during the first 2 wk of the study. Over the entire study, gain to feed ratio also differed, with large groups being less efficient (P = 0.005) than small groups. Although large-group pigs had poorer scores for lameness (P = 0.012) and leg scores (P = 0.02) throughout the 8-wk period, morbidity levels did not differ (P = 0.32) between the group sizes. Minimal changes in postural behavior and feeding patterns were noted in large groups. An interaction (P = 0.04) of group size and space allowance for lameness indicated that pigs housed in large groups at restricted space allowances were more susceptible to lameness. Although some behavioral variables, such as lying postures, suggest that pigs in large groups were able to use space more efficiently, overall productivity and health variables indicate that pigs in large and small groups were similarly affected by the crowding imposed in this study. Broken-line analysis of average daily gain indicated no difference in the response to crowding by pigs in large and small groups. Little support was found for reducing space allowances for pigs in large groups.

Effects of feeding distillers dried grains with solubles, high-protein distillers dried grains, and corn germ to growing-finishing pigs on pig performance, carcass quality, and the palatability of pork

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Pig performance, carcass quality and palatiability of pork from pigs fed distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS), high-protein distillers dried grains (HPDDG), and corn germ was investigated. 84 pigs were allotted to 7 dietary treatments. Diets were fed for 114 days in a 3-phase program. The control treatment was based on corn and soybean meal. It was concluded that feeding 20% DDGS or high levels of HPDDG to growing-finishing pigs did not have a negative effect overall. However, it may decrease fat quality. Feeding up to 10% corn germ did not have a negative affect but increased the final weight of the pigs and reduced the iodine value of belly fat.

The relationship within and between production performance and meat quality characteristics in pigs from three different genetic lines

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The objective of this study was to investigate with data from three pig genetic lines, the existing relationship within production performance parameters, within meat quality characteristics and between these two types of variables. It was found that the differences among the studied genotypes are much higher in terms of performance than in terms of meat quality traits.

Evaluating Animal Welfare with Choice Experiments: An Application to Swedish Pig Production

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The objective of this study is to evaluate animal welfare attributes and animal
friendly production standards in the Swedish pig production. These may be
attributable to the voluntary rules stipulated in ‘‘the Swedish model’’ or are practiced
experimentally. The willingness to pay (WTP) for animal welfare attributes among costumers that buy pork fillet is estimated by applying a random parameter logit (RPL) model. This model also allows
for individual ranking of WTP, which makes it possible to estimate the distribution
of WTP and hence detect its diversity.

The Relationship between Supply Chain Coordination and Quality Assurance Systems: A Case Study Approach on the German Meat Sector

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The quality assurance (QS) standard has achieved a widespread acceptance in the meat sector and already forms an
appropriate framework for safe production and efficient traceability. We have found empirical evidence that the company currently evolves from a classical certification standard owner to a supply chain coordinator. As central conclusions of our case study we can stress the following perspectives for the red meat sector in general, especially if QS further expands its scope of coordination. 1) more efficient and flexible response to market changes; 2)integration of heterogeneous IT, process and quality assurance standards 3)assurance of access to export markets and expansion of export opportunities 4) complete and efficient traceability across stages 5) creation of problem awareness and collective problem solving 6)reduction of opportunistic behavior; 7)improvement of food quality and safety; 8) professional PR and food crisis management; and 9) sustainable re-establishment of consumer trust.