Impact of Gestation Housing System on Weaned Pig Production Cost

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Construction and operating costs for two gestation housing systems were compared to assess their impact on cost
per weaned pig produced. The systems compared were: 1) individual gestation stalls in a mechanically ventilated confinement building with slatted floor and 2) group pens with individual feed stalls in deep‐bedded naturally ventilated hoop barns. It was found that in the upper Midwest United States, group housing of gestation sows in deep‐bedded hoop barns may produce pigs at a lower cost than individual gestation stalls in confinement facilities if the bedded group housing system is managed optimally.

Effects of dietary arginine supplementation during gestation and lactation on the performance of lactating primiparous sows and nursing piglets

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This study aimed at determining the effects of dietary arginine supplementation during gestation and lactation on the lactation performance of first-partiy sows. On a weekly basis, BW and backfat (BF) thickness of sows, as well as piglet BW were measured, and blood and milk samples were obtained from the sows. Number of days from weaning to estrus and ADFI were also recorded. It was found that there were no differences in BW, BF thickness, ADFI, or days until return to estrus among treatment groups. Also, there was no effect of the gestation diet or a gestation × lactation diet interaction on any parameter measured. Weight gain of piglets from sows fed the Arg-supplemented diet during lactation was greater between d 0 and 7 and between d 0 and 21 of lactation compared with piglets
from sows fed the control diet. Collectively, results from this study indicate the potential beneficial effects of
dietary Arg supplementation in improving the lactation performance of first-parity sows.

Characterization of the porcine Kisspeptins receptor gene and evaluation as candidate for timing of puberty in sows

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Kisspeptins receptor (KISS1R), also called GPR54, is a key regulator of
puberty in many species. KISS1R and its genetics in pigs remain unexplored.
The objective of this study was to characterize the porcine
KISS1R gene and evaluate the association of KISS1R mutations with age
at puberty in sows. It was found that no significant association of KISS1R haplotypes
and haplotype pairs with age at puberty was observed in the resource
population, indicating that mutations in KISS1R are not responsible for
divergent age at puberty in White Duroc and Erhualian pigs.

Foot-and-mouth disease: Measurements of aerosol emission from pigs as a function of virus strain and initial dose

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Measurements of airborne foot-and-mouth disease virus have been made using 20 pigs that had either O UKG or C Noville injected into their heel-pads to determine if the kinetics of virus emission are related to the virus strain and dose administered in the challenge inoculum. The results suggest that care should be taken when extrapolating from laboratory derived data to the field; this is particularly the case in the early days of an outbreak when the aerosol characteristics of the virus involved may be unknown and the amount of virus that an individual animal has been challenged with remains uncertain.

The effect of dietary protein content on calcium and phosphorus retention in the growing Iberian pig

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The results of this study suggests that the average net requirements of Ca and P for the Iberian pig growing
from 15 to 50 kg BWat the maximum rate of 0.555 kg/d, corresponding to a pig fed at 0.95× ad libitum, calculated
as the sum of mineral retained with growth and total endogenous losses, would be 5.25 [(7.43×0.555)+1.13]
and 3.10 [(4.08×0.555)+0.84] g/d respectively. These estimations are considerably lower than those which can
be extrapolated from corresponding values reported by ARC (1981) for conventional and high-performance pig
genotypes. Further studies to examine the effect on growth, bone mineral content and other bone-related variables,
such as bone density or breaking strength, of Ca and P dietary levels based on the net requirements calculated in
the present work are needed to confirm the adequacy of our present estimates for the growing Iberian pig.

Erhualian and Pietrain pigs exhibit distinct behavioral, endocrine and biochemical responses during transport

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Erhualian (EHL) pigs are well-known for their high fertility and superior meat quality with high intramuscular
fat content. The growth rate, body size and lean mass rate are significantly smaller compared with the
Pietrain (PIE) pigs. Moreover, EHL pigs are regarded as mild-tempered despite the fact that the behavioral, endocrine
and biochemical responses to stress have never been investigated objectively in this breed. Therefore, this study describes the breed-specific coping characteristics of EHL pigs in response to transport stress, as reflected by the dynamic changes of behavior and plasma concentrations of ACTH, cortisol, insulin, T3 and T4, as well as the activities of CK and LDH during 2 h road transportation, in comparison with PIE pigs. It was found that EHL and PIE pigs exhibit istinct behavioral, endocrine and biochemical responses during transport. EHL pigs display more flexible behavioral pattern under stress which is characterized by more fit behavior at the beginning followed by relaxed sitting/lying till the end of transport, in comparison with PIE pigs demonstrating ONF at the beginning proceeded with fear-related freezing/standing throughout the journey. The coping style of EHL pigs was accompanied with decreased CK and LDH activities, higher cortisol levels, together with blunted responses of ACTH and CK to transport stress, as compared with the PIE pigs. Further studies are required to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying the breed-specific patterns of behavioral, endocrine and biochemical responses during transport.

Setting up a custom separator

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Once a custom separator system is installed at the Craig farm, liquids exiting the separator will flow down to the lagoon. The lagoon, in effect, will become more of a finishing pond. The solids will be lifted out and placed on an impervious clay layer and used to produce compost. The compost product that was produced on a trial basis moved
quickly. “I can’t keep it. I’ll sell someone one load and then it’s
‘Bring me all you’ve got.’”
Interestingly, their compost customers have included some familiar
faces from their days in court. “The same people who fussed about
us growing the hogs have turned right around and want this
composted topsoil. They may not like where it comes from, but
they sure like what it does to their roses and their tomatoes.”

Principal Components Analysis to Evaluate Secondary and Tertiary Ponds For Piggery Waste Treatment

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Stabilization ponds have been used to treat piggery waste. In order to better understand the interactions among
the variables and the factors governing the process of degradation in the ponds and to identify the predominant factors in every stage (pond) of the treatment system, the principal components analysis (PCA) was employed in this study. The work was performed in an experimental treatment system comprising a primary (an equalizer, a settling tank, and two anaerobic ponds), a secondary (a high rate algal pond), and a tertiary treatment step (two maturation ponds and one water hyacinth pond), in series. The PCA was applied for the secondary and the tertiary steps of the treatment. It was evident that in the high rate algal pond (HRAP), the main artificial factors were: nutrient removal, algae growth and stabilization process; in the first maturation pond (MP1), nutrient removal, aerobic conditions and organic matter concentration; in the second maturation pond (MP2), nutrient removal and algae growth; and in the water hyacinth pond (WHP), nutrient removal, temperature, and algae growth. The PCA showed the importance of the aerobic conditions associated with the efficient performance of the treatment system.

For more information the full article can be found at http://asae.frymulti.com/toc.asp

Scale model experiments to determine the effects of internal airflow and floor design on gaseous emissions from animal houses

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Odours and gases emitted from animal houses are strongly related to airflows. Knowledge of the exchange mechanisms between air and the manure surface in the slurry pit, and between air and the soiled surfaces and animals within the building may lead to novel and efficient ways of reducing the odour emission. To investigate the effects of airflow patterns, and floor and slurry channel designs, on gaseous emissions, four 1:10 scale models were built; each identical except for their floor and slurry channel layouts. The floor types investigated were two configurations of partly
solid and two configurations of fully slatted floors. Ammonia water was circulated from a storage tank to a reservoir of ammonia water at the bottom of each model with an air space between the water surface and the floor. Provision was made for enough ammonia to be available for prolonged evaporation. Ventilation air was supplied under the ceiling at one end wall. The air outlet was placed in the ceiling halfway between the two end walls and about 1/3rd from one of the sidewalls.  Ammonia concentration was measured in the outlet air. The results showed that the average NH3 concentration in the outlet air was significantly affected by the different airflow patterns created by the floor type and slurry channel layout. Using a partly solid, dry floor as a reference the effect of soiling the solid floor resulted in more than double the NH3 concentration in the outlet air. The use of fully slatted floors with slurry channels parallel to the supply air jet resulted in a 57% increase in the emission values compared with the reference model whilst using slurry channels under the fully slatted floor perpendicular to the supply air jet increased the emission values by only 22%.
It is hypothesised that the effects on gas emissions are as a consequence of changing airflow patterns and different types of flow in the boundary layer between the slurry and ventilation air. The results from the scale model experiments need to be validated with fullscale experiments.

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

Models for Manure Distribution in Soil Following Liquid Manure Injection

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In this study, manure distribution in soil was measured by characterizing the manure‐soil mix zone following liquid manure injection. The results showed that for both winged and simple tools, the zone was significantly greater at an increased micro‐rate of manure application, as indicated by the increased zone area, perimeter, major axis, and minor axis.