Effect of out-of-feed events and diet particle size on pig performance and welfare

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

There appear to be three major causes for out-of-feed events in grower-finisher facilities. Human errors are generally associated with empty bins. This occurs when feed is not ordered, prepared, or delivered in a timely manner. The second cause of out-of-feed events is bridging of ground feed in feed storage devices. In this case, issues associated with flowability prevent feed from flowing out of the storage device into the feed delivery system. The final cause of out-of-feed events is equipment malfunction, this generally increases as facilities age. The consequences to the pig are the same regardless of the cause of an out-of-feed event. Considerable anecdotal evidence suggests that when pigs are given access to feed following a period of deprivation, an increase in fighting and aggressive behaviors occurs, and it is likely that this will adversely affect the welfare of all pigs within that pen. Irregular availability of feed during two daily 2-hour periods has been used as a stressor in a study examining acute-phase protein levels as biomarkers for evaluation of distress in growing pigs. Short-term feed deprivation (24 hours) has been clearly shown to cause ulcers in growing pigs. Periodic feed interruptions would likely create a similar effect in pigs fed ad libitum. While most ulcers had been repaired within 28 days in pigs fed a diet with particle size 750 microns, stomach ulceration continued in pigs either remaining on a finely ground diet (550 microns) or continuing to experience weekly feed deprivations. Interruptions in feeding such as occur with out-of-feed events may be inciting factors for hemorrhagic bowel syndrome. Over-eating, especially after a period of feed deprivation, has been implicated as a cause of porcine intestinal hemorrhage syndrome. The following experiments were designed to examine the impact of repeated out-of-feed events on pig performance, carcass composition, and incidence of tail biting and skin lesions. In each of two experiments, out-of-feed events of 20-hour duration were created by closing the feeder delivery devices from noon until 8:00 am the following morning. In Experiment One, the treatments were never or weekly out-of-feed events for a 16-week period, and 1266-micron versus 1019-micron mash feed-particle size. In Experiment Two, the treatments were zero, one, two, or three out-of-feed events on random days every 2-week period in the 16-week study. In each experiment, there were four pens per treatment combination or treatment and 15 pigs per pen. Weekly events resulted in a 68-g per day lower daily gain for the first 8 weeks, and 35-g per day lower gain over the entire trial, compared to the never out-of-feed treatment, with no impact on feed conversion. Feed conversion was better when feed particle size was 1019 microns versus 1266 microns. In Experiment Two, there was a linear decrease in daily gain with increasing numbers of out-of-feed events during the first 8-week period, with no impact during the second 8-week period. There was no effect of treatments on feed conversion. It was concluded that repeated out-of-feed events had a bigger impact on growing pigs than on finishing pigs, with the impact expressed as lower weight gain with no effect on feed conversion.

For more information the full article can be found at http://www.aasv.org/shap/issues/v16n2/v16n2p72.htm

Molecular detection of norovirus in sheep and pigs in New Zealand farms

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Human norovirus (NoV) is reportedly the major cause of non-bacterial gastroenteritis outbreaks worldwide and is commonly associated with water- and food-borne transmission via the faecal–oral route. Aside from humans, norovirus has been detected in pigs, cattle and mice. The close relatedness of some human and animal noroviruses has raised concerns about potential zoonotic transmission. Our laboratory recently reported the development of a multiplex real-time RT-PCR for the detection and genotyping of norovirus of genogroups I–III.  Here we report a study of 56 faecal specimens from pigs and sheep that were collected and screened for noroviruses using this assay. Norovirus was found in 2/23 (9%) of porcine specimens (all were genogroup II) and in 8/33 (24%) of ovine specimens (all were genogroup III). Samples tested positive for norovirus were verified by conventional RT-PCR with different primer sets. Genomes of representative porcine and ovine norovirus strains underwent partial sequence analysis (343 and 2045 bases, respectively). This is the first report describing norovirus in sheep.

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

Isolated weaning technology: Humane benefits and concerns in the production of pork

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The age at which piglets are separated from the sow has been identified as an animal welfare risk in current swine production systems. Animal welfare gains of a minimal disease state must be objectively balanced against the welfare costs of early weaning. Veterinary practitioners should continue to participate in the development and validation of humane animal production methods.

Effects of dietary supplementation of an enzyme blend on the ileal and fecal digestibility of nutrients in growing pigs

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The objective of this experiment was to determine the effect of a ƒÀ-glucanase-protease enzyme blend product (EBP) on fecal digestibility (FD), apparent ileal digestibility (AID), standardized ileal digestibility, and digestibility in the hindgut of growing pigs. The results illustrate that the EBP fed to growing pigs improved the FD of DM, OM, energy, CP, nonfiber carbohydrate, total dietary fiber, acid-hydrolyzed fat, Ca, and P, and the AID of NDF and hemicellulose, but the standardized ileal digestibility of amino acids was not improved by supplying the EBP
in corn-soybean meal-based diets of growing pigs.

Effect of crude glycerol on pellet mill production and nursery pig growth performance

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This study determined the effects of diets containing crude glycerol on pellet mill production efficiency and nursery pig growth performance. It was concluded that adding crude glycerol to the diet before pelleting increased pellet durability and improved feed mill production efficiency.

To see this complete article please visit: http://jas.fass.org/

Effect of chromium source on tissue concentration of chromium in pigs

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The relative bioavailability among four organic Cr was assessed as well as the maximum amount that can be used safely as supplementation. The results show clear Cr effects on multiple tissues, which means it was absorbed and deposited. The lack of negative response in growth performance carcass measure and clinical chemicst at increased quantities provides assurance that normal quantities of addition are safe.

Effect of xylanase supplementation of diets containing wheat distiller’s dried grains with solubles on energy, amino acid and phosphorus digestibility and growth performance of grower-finisher pigs

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Wheat-based diets with or without wheat distiller’s dried grains with solubles
(DDGS) were tested with or without supplementary xylanase (4000 U kg
1 feed) in a 22 factorial arrangement. In eight
ileal-cannulated barrows, xylanase improved the apparent ileal digestibility of energy and threonine in wheat (PB0.05),
but not in wheat DDGS diets (P0.10). Xylanase did not affect total tract digestibility of energy or P (P0.10). In 72
grower-finisher pigs, xylanase did not increase growth performance of pigs fed either wheat or wheat DDGS (P0.10).
The differential response of supplementary xylanase to wheat versus wheat DDGS diets indicates that the arabinoxylans in
wheat DDGS did not match the specific xylanase activity.

Effect of low doses of Aspergillus niger phytase on growth performance, bone strength, and nutrient absorption and excretion by growing and finishing swine fed corn-soybean meal diets deficient in available phosphorus and calcium

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Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of low doses of Aspergillus niger (AN) phytase for growing and finishing pigs fed cornsoybean meal (SBM) diets that were deficient in available phosphorus and calcium. It was found at 450 U of AN phytase per kg was effective in replacing 0.9 g of the inorganic P/kg of corn-SBM diet for finishing swine based on bone strength, whereas 300 or 150 U of AN phytase/kg of diet maintained growth performance of grower or finisher pigs.

Recent advances in the development of recombinant vaccines against classical swine fever virus: Cellular responses also play a role in protection

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In this review article, some of the most recent advances in the field of recombinant
vaccines against Classical swine fever virus are presented and the nature of the protective immune responses they induce is discussed.

Classifying sows’ activity types from acceleration patterns An application of the Multi-Process Kalman Filter

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This article suggests a method of classifying five types of activity exhibited by group-housed sows. The method
involves the measurement of acceleration in three dimensions. The five activities are: feeding, walking, rooting, lying laterally and lying sternally. The results show that feeding and lateral/sternal lying activities are best recognized;
walking and rooting activities are mostly recognized by a specific axis corresponding to the direction of the
sow’s movement while performing the activity (horizontal sidewise and vertical). Various possible
improvements of the suggested approach are discussed.