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Industry Partners
Prairie Swine Centre is an affiliate of the University of Saskatchewan
Prairie Swine Centre is grateful for the assistance of the George Morris Centre in developing the economics portion of Pork Insight.
Financial support for the Enterprise Model Project and Pork Insight has been provided by:
Alternative Feed Ingredients for Pigs
Posted in: Nutrition, Pork Insight Articles by admin on April 3, 2007 | No Comments
Due to the increasing grain costs, alternate ingredients and ethanol production co-products can be added to diets to lower feed costs. Distillers dried grain with solubles (DDGS) has a similar digestible and metabolizable content to corn, and a higher digestible phosphorous content. DDGS has variable ileal digestibility of amino acids, especially lysine. A lysine to crude protein ratio of below 2.8% indicates sub-par quality, and should not be used. When formulating a diet with DDGS energy values similar to corn can be used, inorganic phosphorous can be reduced, and crystalline lysine and calcium should be added. Performance can be maintained with up to 20% inclusion for pigs 2 weeks post-weaning onward, and up to 40% for gestating sows. Problems with DDGS use can include feed bridging in storage, extra room required for storage, and reduced fat firmness. Field peas are another alternative feed ingredient, and they have nutritional profile inbetween corn and soybean meal. When using field peas additional amino acids may need to be added, as methionine, threonine, and tryptophan levels can be limited. Additional lysine and phosphorous can be reduced, though. Grow-finish pigs can have a 60-70% inclusion of field peas with no change in performance or carcass characteristics. Lactating sows can be fed 20-30%, and a 10% inclusion has shown increased litter gain. Wheat shorts, or wheat middlings, have a similar nutritional content to barley, but the actual nutritional value varies between batches. Wheat shorts have a high fiber content, which reduces energy utilization, and amino acid availability is also fairly low. Wheat shorts can decrease feed efficiency if not supplemented with additional fats, but can be fed at 10% for starter diets and 40% for grow-finish pigs or sows. Wheat shorts can also lead to feed flow problems if unpelleted, and reduced carcass dressing percent. Liquid diets can include liquid co-products like whey, whey permeate, and corn steep water. These ingredients can improve growth performance, but will require specialized feeding systems, storage, and formulations. DDGS, field peas, wheat shorts, and liquid co-products are some of the alternative feed ingredients available to reduce feed costs.
Alternative Energy Sources – What We Learned From European Technology and a Practical Look at Possible Ontario On-Farm Applications
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Some of the possible income sources from an anaerobic digester are electricity, heat, tipping fee, and digestate. Electricity and heat require someone to want to purchase them, and a way to provide it. Tipping fees can be used when removing waste from a plant, and can increase methane. Digestate is less odorous fertilizer option, and could potentially be sold at enough to cover transport costs. Selling electricity is complicated by the need to be attached to a grid, whether electricity will be sold back at a higher price, and metering. Heat can be used on site, but utilization is a problem. Tipping fees rely on a steady source, and the digester volume has to be larger. Digestate income relies on storage, and a demand for it.
Managing and Monitoring the Finishing Barn – Six Things Not to Do.
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The six things not to do to try to improve finishing pig efficiency are limiting feed intake, assuming overfeeding is better than underfeeding, underestimating costs other than feed, assuming growth promotants are worth the cost, assuming bigger areas and groups are better, and keeping all the risk and reward if using a contract finisher.
Best Management Practices Used in the Control of PRRS
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Controlling a virus like PRRS requires a good management strategy that acts on multiple areas of the barn. Before starting management of PRRS it is important to have a diagnostic work-up to confirm it is PRRS, and to characterize the strain. Feed should be balanced with energy and amino acids, can include some fibre, and be free of mycotoxins. Feeders should be clean and provide enough access for all of the pigs. Water sanitation should be checked yearly, and water access should be unrestricted. Ventilation should be controlled by relative humidity, and adjusted for the season. Chilling can lead to increased disease prevalence, so ventilation and temperature settings should be set to account for daily fluctuations. Sanitation can be improved by the use of a disinfectant, and by allowing the room to fully dry before occupation. Co-infections can happen when PRRS is present, and sanitation along with parasite control should be performed. Infected pigs should be separated into hospital and recovery pens, but it is important that they are kept with the pig flow. Water or feed medications can be used to manage secondary bacteria, and to treat symptoms. Injectable medications should not be used. A PRRS vaccine can be used, but immunity gained through exposure is more effective. Finally, biosecurity should be reviewed to avoid re-contamination by a new outside source, or by an inside source to a new area of the barn. Employee hygiene, sanitation of all equipment and hallways, strictly controlled cross fostering, and euthanasia of infected piglets are all ways to increase biosecurity. Good management strategies and employee follow through can help reduce the effect of PRRS in a barn.
On-Farm Health Management
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A farrow to finish facility experienced increased mortality, diarrhea, wasting, and pallor in finishing pigs, and it was identified to be H3N2. The first intervention was to give H1N1 and H3N2 vaccines to sows, obtain gilts at 5-20 kg and expose them to the herd to develop immunity, improved hygiene and sanitation, and reduced mixing and cross fostering. The first intervention gave no noticeable improvement, so litter and pen integrity was maintained, pig mixing was reduced, and PCV2 piglet vaccines were tried.
Alternative Energy Sources – A Hog Producer’s Perspective of On-Farm Anaerobic Digesters
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A producer’s perspective on why he chose to put an anaerobic digester on his farm. Anaerobic digesters have the potential to make money for the producer, but they also have a positive environmental impact by reducing pathogens, odor, and harmful gases in manure. As part of the Huron Anaerobic Digester Working Group, there is support available and the community can see the benefit from reduced risk of water contamination.
Alternative Energy Sources – Biogas Production
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Alternative energy sources continue to be of interest in agriculture, and one option is the use of anaerobic digestion. Anaerobic digestion produces a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide, called a biogas, which can be used for energy. Anaerobic digestion needs organic matter- manure and/or plant waste – bacteria, an anaerobic environment, and heat. Along with producing energy, biogas also reduces odor, pathogens, and harmful gases in manure, and provides an alternative disposal system for food waste. A group of 32 people interested in anaerobic digestion toured 16 biogas plants in the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark. There they saw a variety of biogas plants including different orientations, different feedstock, farm or community based, and various uses for the heat and electricity produced. The success seen with biogas plants in Europe indicates this is an option for alternative energy in Canada, as well. However, before that happens there would need to be government support and access to an electricity grid.
Fertility after intrauterine insemination with conventional or low numbers of spermatozoa in sows with synchronized ovulation
Posted in: Ontario Pork, Pork Insight Articles by admin on February 5, 2007 | No Comments
A total of 411 mixed-parity sows were subjected to controlled ovulation by injection of 600 IU equine chorionic gonadotrophin at weaning and 5 mg porcine luteinizing hormone (pLH) 80 hours later. Sows were assigned to a single insemination of 1 or 3 × 109 sperm delivered into either the cervix or uterus. Inseminations were performed
approximately 36 hours after pLH injection. Intensity of standing estrus at insemination was subjectively scored as 1
to 3, with 3 being a stronger response, and semen backflow was recorded as yes or no. Number of sperm and site of
deposition did not affect pregnancy or farrowing rates or subsequent litter size. Mean farrowing rates were 68.32% and 68.63% in sows inseminated using an intrauterine catheter and either 1 or 3 × 109 sperm, respectively. In sows inseminated using the cervical method, farrowing rates were 77.88% and 67.31% when 1 and 3 × 109 sperm were used, respectively. Greater intensity of estrus at insemination was associated with higher pregnancy and farrowing
rates (P < .001), and backflow during insemination was associated with lower pregnancy and farrowing rates (P <
.01). When appropriately timed after induced ovulation, insemination of low sperm numbers does not adversely affect sow fertility, and this lack of effect is independent of the site of sperm deposition.
Factor Analysis of Downwind Odours from Livestock Farms
Posted in: Environment, Ontario Pork, Pork Insight Articles by admin on January 29, 2007 | No Comments
Odour emissions from livestock operations in Ontario have raised significant public concerns. In this study, downwind odour measurements were conducted during a 7-week period in July and August in 2004. The study involved taking measurements at two poultry farms, six dairy farms, and six pig farms in southern Ontario using both human assessor observed Nasal Ranger field olfactometers and an electronic nose developed in our research laboratory. The factors considered include animal species, distance to the odour source, and weather conditions (i.e. wind speed, temperature, cloud cover, and atmospheric stability). The collected data were studied and the relationships between individual factors and downwind odour intensity were analysed. In addition, the significance of the factors was investigated and ranked. The results show that downwind livestock farm odour should be considered as a complex system and it is suggested that multi-factor analysis be performed. The ranking of the significance of factors to odour intensity can improve the understanding of downwind odour systems and enhance the efficiency of odour evaluation and reduction techniques. Responses of the gas sensors in the electronic nose were compared with the perceived odour intensities, and good agreement was reported.
Living High on the Hog: Factory Farms, Federal Policy, and the Structural Transformation of Swine Production
Posted in: Economics by admin on January 1, 2007 | No Comments
Confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), sometimes called factory farms or industrial animal operations, are defined by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as livestock operations that do not sustain their own crops or other animal feed and that house more than 1,000 “animal units”—equivalent to 2,500 swine of 55 pounds or more. Hog CAFOs in particular have been widely criticized in the environmental, public health, and toxics literature. Main concerns include nutrient runoff from manure, which leads to water and soil contamination; particulate matter air pollution; and overwhelming odor. This study finds that after the passage of the 1996 Farm Bill, the average market price of hog feed was 26% lower than what the feed cost to produce. This decline brought operating costs for CAFOs down by 15%. The savings to CAFOs between 1997 and 2005 averaged $947 million per year, a 535% increase over the 1986-1996 period. Also drawing on data provided in two academic studies that assess the cost of alternative manure-management strategies, we find that the use of alternative technologies and/or the acquisition of more land to reduce over-application of manure would raise CAFOs’ operating costs by 2.4%-10.7%, depending on the strategy employed.
We conclude that in an economic climate of full-cost feed and with more stringent environmental regulation, CAFOs would see their operating costs rise by between 17.4% and 25.7%. According to USDA estimates, this could virtually eliminate the apparent cost advantage CAFOs have had over mid-sized diversified hog producers. With these added costs, CAFOs may have difficulty out-competing mid-sized, diversified hog producers purely on cost. It may well be shown that CAFOs’ apparent economies of scale have been less the result of efficiency than they are the result of government policies that have favored large-scale industrial animal production.