8 Tips for Tough Times

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

Steve Meyer founder of Paragon Economics Inc., spoke during the world pork expo seminar in June. He stated that the challenges facing pork producers of today are quite different than before. He had eight tips for hog producers in order for them to combat these challenges. 1. Stay alert for buying opportunities to lower feed costs. 2. Build a strategic reserve of corn. 3. Plan for the long term. 4. Get your operation lean and mean. 5. Adjust feeders. 6. Be wary of out-of-feed events. 7. The cost of getting feed in the bin. 8. Managing Heating and Cooling Costs/Payback.

Emissions of ammonia, methane and nitrous oxide from pig houses and slurry: Effects of rooting material, animal activity and ventilation flow

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Animal houses are an important source of ammonia (NH3), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) gases that can have negative consequences for people, animals and environment. These gases are produced inside the buildings by direct emission from the digestive system of the animals or from the decomposition of the animal wastes. The produced gases are subsequently volatilized, and emitted to the outdoor environment by the ventilation. Many different factors can influence gas formation and volatilization and so, gaseous concentrations and emissions from animal houses. These factors are mainly related to: animals (e.g. genetics, diet, number and weight, animal activity, and behaviour), wastes (e.g. handling, treatment, pH, temperature, and surface area), environment (e.g. indoor and outdoor temperature, ventilation flow, and air velocity over the manure surface) and other site-specific factors. Regarding these site-specific factors, the presence of certain materials inside of pig barns, used either as bedding material or for any other purpose, can have an effect on the emission of gases (Monteny et al., 2006; Sommer et al., 2006). This effect is partly due to the fact that during storage most organic solid materials (including the rooting materials that fall through the slats to the slurry pit in slatted houses) float to the surface of the slurry forming a crust layer. This crust layer can decrease the wind speed over the slurry, resulting in reduced transport by convection, higher levels of gases above the free surface of the slurry, and lower gas escape. It can also contribute to a reduction in pH in the surface of the slurry. Therefore, the objectives of this work were to evaluate the influence of animal activity, indoor, outdoor and slurry temperature, ventilation flow, number of heat production units (hpu, where 1 hpu is equal to 1000 Wof total heat produced by the animals at 20 8C) and time of day (day or night) on NH3, CH4 and N2O emissions, measured in a pig building for fatteners over 37 days. Another objective was to study the effects of the type of rooting material provided to the animals on gaseous emissions, from data collected in two experiments: the 37 days field experiment in the pig building, and a laboratory test carried out with different types of rooting materials added to slurry in enclosed flux chambers, simulating the conditions during storage of slurry. It was concluded that in the pig building, the three parameters that explained most of the variability of ammonia and methane emissions were type of rooting material, animal activity, and ventilation flow. The diurnal variations of ammonia and methane emissions were highly correlated with the diurnal variation of animal activity and ventilation flow, respectively. The change of the rooting material, from maize silage to straw, caused an increase in the averaged ammonia emission from 1.68 to 2.22 g hˉ¹ hpuˉ¹, and a decrease in the averaged methane emission from 3.05 to 1.70 g hˉ¹ hpuˉ¹,. In the laboratory test, ammonia emissions were significantly higher from pig slurry added maize silage (43 mg hˉ¹ mˉ²) than from pig slurry added straw (3.5 mg hˉ¹ mˉ²), while no significant differences were found concerning methane emissions. This work revealed that the use of rooting materials as environmental enrichment for improving the welfare of growing finishing pigs has an effect on ammonia and methane emissions from pig houses. The evaluation of this effect has to be done under normal housing conditions including presence of animals in the barn.

For more information the full article can be found at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01678809

Effect of Liquid Swine Manure Rate, Incorporation, and Timing of Rainfall on Phosphorus Loss with Surface Runoff

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This study assessed total runoff P (phosphorus), bioavailable P, and dissolved reactive P concentrations and loads in surface runoff after liquid swine manure application with or without incorporation into soil and different timing of rainfall. It was found that incorporating swine manure when the probability of immediate rainfall is high reduces the risk of P loss in surface runoff ; however, this benefit sharply decreases with time.

For more information the full article can be found at https://www.agronomy.org/publications/jeq

Fecal Indicator Bacteria in Subsurface Drain Water Following Swine Manure Application

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This study focused on the movement of bacteria to receiving tile drains following swine manure application. Specifically, the impacts of different manure application regimes on fecal coliform (FC), Enterococcus (EN), and Escherichia coli (EC) densities in subsurface tile drain water were examined for three years. Results of this study suggest that manure broadcast onto frozen ground may lead to significantly elevated EN and EC levels in tile water in similar environments, especially when applied in excess of crop nutrient requirements.

Inherent Food Safety of a Synthetic Gonadotropin-Releasing Factor (GnRF) Vaccine for the Control of Boar Taint in Entire Male Pigs

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

The inherent food safety of a novel gonadotropin-releasing factor (GnRF) vaccine,intended to be administered by injection to male pigs for the control of boar taint, was confirmed using several animal models. In addition to conventional oral bioavailability studies, an experiment was also performed to check for the presence of a direct hormonal effect of the vaccine antigen. It was confirmed that there is no risk to human health from the consumption of pork from pigs administered this boar taint vaccine.

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

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This study evaluated the effect of dietary manipulations on the fatty acid composition, Se content, and vitamin E content of pork. It was found that by changing from a part animal component diet to an all plant diet will not change the growth performance of pigs but changes in the fatty acid profile of pork are likely to occur. Also, the nutritional value of pork may be successfully enhanced by supplementing the diet with CLA, selenium and vitamin E at the same time.

U.S. Market Potential for Dried Distillers Grain with Solubles

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Meeting the demand: An estimation of potential future greenhouse gas emissions from meat production

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While a number of papers have estimated meat consumption patterns,3 this paper makes the following contributions to the literature on consumption patterns and the environment. First, I include data on prices to capture price elasticity effects. Second, I add a parameter for lagged consumption in order to observe howmuch of meat consumption is due to either partial adjustment or persistence effects. Third, I differentiate meat into beef, chicken and pig products and estimate separate equations. Fourth, I forecast meat consumption using these estimates to the years 2010, 2020 and 2030. I bring together data on greenhouse gas production for the US and Europe in order to approximate the present and forecast the future potential environmental impact of meat consumption under a CAFO system. The main findings of the paper are as follows. First, if current consumption patterns continue, the amount of total
meat consumed in the year 2030 will be 72% higher than the amount consumed in 2000, lead mostly by large increases in
chicken and pig consumption. Second, the production of this meat in 2030, under CAFO systems, will produce almost 1.9
billion tonnes of greenhouse gases. Finally, while there are some solutions to limit this effect, they will be very difficult to implement. Thus, if nations are serious about cutting their production of greenhouse gases, meeting future meat demand will need to be a serious area of discussion for policy makers.

Mortality, death interval, survivals, and herd factors for death in gilts and sows in commercial breeding herds

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The objectives of this study were to measure death intervals and survival, to determine mortality rate and mortality risks, and to investigate the association of herd factors with mortality risk in individual female pigs. This study was conducted by obtaining female data with lifetime records of 65,621 females born between 1999 and 2002, and herd data with mean measurements of 5 yr from 2000 to 2004 in 105 herds. Annualized mortality rate was calculated as the number of dead females divided by the sum of life days in all gilts and sows, multiplied by 365 d. Mortality risk was calculated as the number of dead females divided by the number of surviving females at farrowing in each parity. Death interval in gilts was defined as the number of days from birth to death, and that in sows was the number of days from the last farrowing to death. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to obtain the survival probability by parity. Logistic
regression analyses were used to investigate the association of herd factors with mortality risk in individual females in each parity. Of the 65,621 females, the mortality risk was 9.9%, and the annualized mortality rate was 3.9%. Of the 6,501 dead females, death intervals in gilts and sows were 294.7 and 55.0 d, respectively. In gilts, survival probability rapidly decreased at 33 and 50 wk of age, around the first mating and the first parturition. In contrast, survival probability
in sows decreased at wk 1 after farrowing, and rapidly decreased at wk 20 and 21 after farrowing in all parity groups that were around a subsequent peripartum period. The percentages of death on wk 0, 1, and 2 after the last farrowing in all the dead sows were 6.5, 23.5, and 10.1%, respectively. Approximately 10% of deaths also occurred from wk 20 to 21 after the last farrowing. Death interval in parity ¡Ý5 was the shortest among all parity groups (49.2 d; P < 0.05). Mortality risks in parities 0 and 1 were 1.44 and 1.83%, respectively. As parity increased from 2 to ¡Ý5, mortality risk increased from 1.63 to 5.90%. Herd factors (greater herd mortality, less herd productivity, and smaller herd size) were
associated with greater mortality risk in individual females in parity 0 to ¡Ý5, parity 4 and ¡Ý5, and parity 1
to 4, respectively (P < 0.05). In conclusion, females in peripartum periods, gilts, and high-parity sows are at
a greater risk of dying. Increased care should be implemented for prefarrowing females and early-lactating
sows.

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

Prevention and treatment of tail biting in weaned piglets

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In most countries the tails of young pigs are docked to prevent tail biting later in life (McGlone et al., 1990). Tail docking is not only painful for the animals; it also conceals the presence of a more chronic animal welfare problem, namely behavioural deprivation and boredom. Several studies suggest that environmental enrichment, especially the provision of straw, reduces the chance of tail biting (Van Putten, 1969) and tail biting behaviour (e.g. Bøe, 1993; Petersen et al., 1995). However, most pig husbandry systems in Western Europe cannot be equipped with large amounts of straw, because this would block their slurry-based manure systems. Other enrichment devices were developed for these systems, such as the provision of iron chains, rubber hoses, car tires and wooden beams. Such ‘toys’ may provide some occupation and reduce general pen mate-directed behaviours (Sambraus and Kuchenhoff, 1992), but the degree depends on the provided materials. Van de Weerd et al. (2003) investigated 74 different enrichment objects during 5 days in order to find the characteristics that the favoured objects had in common. They found that the main characteristics for intense use were; among other things, ingestibility, chew ability and destructability. Zonderland et al. (2003) suggested that a combination of flexibility and destructability might be relevant material characteristics to attract the pigs’ attention. This may help to reduce tail biting as tail biting has been suggested to be redirected exploration behaviour (Van Putten, 1980). Since tail biting was regularly observed among the weaned piglets at the Pig Research Unit of the Animal Sciences Group in Lelystad, the Unit offered a unique opportunity to study tail biting directly. In addition to preventing tail biting, a need exists for more scientific information on curative treatments once tail biting has started to limit the negative consequences of a tail biting outbreak. Therefore, in this experiment the effects of two curative treatments (removing the biter and twice daily straw provision) were tested in pens subjected to four different preventive measures against tail biting (suspended chain, suspended rubber hose, straw rack and twice daily straw provision). Regarding the straw treatments, it was tried to combine partly slatted floors with the provision of small amounts of long straw without blocking the slurry-based manure system. In total, 960 undocked weaned piglets (10 piglets per pen) were observed during 5 weeks. Tail lesions (none, bite marks and wounds) were recorded daily. The incidence of pens with wounded pig tails was significantly lower when straw was provided twice daily (8% of pens) compared to the chain (58% of pens) and rubber hose (54% of pens) treatment, but did not differ significantly from the straw rack treatment (29% of pens). Tails with bite marks were significantly less common in pens with twice daily straw (16% of pens) compared to chain (88% of pens), rubber hose (79% of pens) and straw rack (75% of pens). No significant difference was found between the curative treatments. Both treatments showed a reduced incidence of red fresh blood on the tails at days 1–9 following curative treatment, compared to day 0. However, neither curative treatment eliminated tail biting entirely. In conclusion, this study indicates that tail biting is best prevented with a small amount of straw, provided twice daily, and to a lesser extent with a straw rack, compared to providing a chain or a rubber hose. Once tail biting has occurred, providing a small amount of straw twice daily and removing the biter appears to be equally effective.

For more information the full article can be found at http://journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/applan/issues