Regional Environment and Agriculture Programming Model

Posted in: Environment by admin on January 1, 2007 | No Comments

Ammonia and greenhouse gas emissions from a straw flow system for fattening pigs: Housing and manure storage

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This research project
aimed at quantifying GHG and NH3 emissions froma
commercial straw flow system for fattening pigs, and
from the subsequent storage of the pig slurry. It was found that that a solid cover was effective in
mitigating gaseous emissions from pig slurry during
storage. Emission levels differed when slurry was stored
under warm and under cold climatic conditions. It is
therefore suggested to set up the national emission
inventory by applying separate emission factors for slurry
storage in the colder and in the warmer half of the year.

My Vision of the Future: It Includes Pork Production & Here's Why?

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

Starch kinetics and fibre fermentation of peas in pigs

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

The digestible (DE) and net energy (NE) content of peas in pigs is very variable and that variability mainly depends on genetic and environmental factors. On the contrary, it can hardly be explained by differences in chemical composition. In order to find out an explanation, other factors such as the rate of starch hydrolysis in the small intestine or the rate of fibre fermentation in the large intestine were investigated and the results were correlated to the DE content of the peas and their chemical composition. Laboratory techniques that mimic the digestive and fermentative processes in the pig’s digestive tract were used to try to find an explanation. The results showed a wide range of variation in starch hydrolysis in the small intestine but no variation in fibre fermentation in the large intestine between pea varieties grown in different conditions. Moreover, no correlations were established either between the chemical composition and the rate of starch hydrolysis or between starch hydrolysis and the digestible energy content.

Impact of Feeding Micro-Aid® to Sows on Litter Performance

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

Micro-Aid is an all-natural product, produced from a plant extract and has been marketed primarily as a mediator of emissions from animal manures. Anecdotal reports have stated that feeding Micro-Aidâ to sows increases the level of immunoglobulins in colostrum which many enhance piglet growth. The objectives of this experiment were to determine the impact of Micro-Aidâ on the levels of immunoglobulins in sow colostrum and piglet blood and subsequently on the impact on weight gain in piglets when included in the sow’s diet at 125 ppm for either 5 or 30 days pre-farrowing. The inclusion of 125 ppm of Micro-Aidâ in the diet of gestating sows for 30 days pre- farrowing resulted in 1 additional pig per litter. This result appears to be primarily due to a decrease in stillborns, rather than an effect via IgG concentrations delivered to the pigs prenatally. There was no effect of Micro-Aidâ on average birth weight, nor growth of the piglets from birth to weaning.

LA CIRCULATION

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La circulation associée à la production porcine a jusqu’à maintenant reçu peu d’attention comme un enjeu
environnemental. Les chapitres sur les bruits et les sols doivent être consultés pour obtenir des
informations complémentaires à la circulation.
La taille des unités de production a un effet sur le niveau de circulation associé avec les opérations.
rendant à l’abattoir, plus de lisier qui doit être amené aux champs pour l’épandage). Comme mentionné
par Lines et al. (1994), les bruits associés à cette circulation peut devenir une nuisance pour les voisins à
un moment donné (pour la production porcine, ça peut être à la fin de la période d’engraissement, lors des
épandages). Éviter ou limiter la circulation le soir et la nuit est un moyen de réduire les nuisances.
Comme discuté dans le chapitre sur les sols, la compaction produite par la circulation des équipements
lors de l’épandage des fumiers/lisiers doit être considérée comme un effet à long terme et peut être
mesurée par une diminution des rendements de culture et une dégradation des sols (Tessier et al., 1995).
De plus de lourdes charges qui vont aux fermes ou qui les quittent peuvent causer des dommages
importants aux routes d’accès et publiques si celles-ci ne sont pas bien conçues et construites pour
supporter de la circulation lourde.

Potential of Biogas Production from Sustainable Biorefinery Concepts

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Are exports a monotonic function of exchange rate volatility? Evidence from disaggregated pork exports

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The objective of this paper is twofold. First, a theoretical trade model accounting for production and marketing lags in agricultural supply chains is developed to analyse the effect of exchange rate volatility on the volume of trade. The second objective is to gauge to what extent trade flow responses to exchange rate/price volatility suggested by our theoretical framework are consistent with observed empirical responses. The theoretical model suggests that the
relationship between export price volatility and exports may be not monotonic, yet sensitive to changes in the parameters embodying risk preferences, the degree of volatility, and the mean export price.

Incentive Systems under ex post Moral Hazard to Control Outbreaks of Classical Swine Fever in the Netherlands

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In this paper, we argue that the nature of animal disease (e.g. highly contagious or infectious
disease, the length of the incubation period, how obvious clinical signs are) matters greatly while
designing incentive structure for early disclosure of contagious disease. A more complete analysis of
farmer’s decision to timely report a disease outbreak or a suspicious case is needed. This study proposes a more realistic approach to tackle the problem of farmers’ motivation to disclose of a disease. A simple conceptual stochastic dynamic programming model is used to better understand and optimize the individual farmer decision of a timely disease reporting, given certain incentive parameters defined by a regulator. An empirical study is performed in the context of CSF, a highly contagious disease without obvious clinical signs, in the Netherlands. The model allows us to investigate which disease parameters and economic incentive parameters are essential and how they influence farmers’ decision on early disclosure. After providing basic results, the article discusses their implications and the further model improvement and including of principal-agent relationship in the model.

The impact of group size on damaging behaviours, aggression, fear and stress in farm animals

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Group size may have a large impact on the behaviour of farm animals, especially in species where the natural group size is very different from the group size used on farms. In cattle, large group sizes are common in wild populations. For poultry and pigs, however, the group size found in the wild is generally much smaller than the group size found under farming conditions (Collias et al., 1966; Gonyou, 2001). Large group sizes may lead to damaging behaviour, aggression and increased fear and stress levels. The aim of this review is to study the impact of group size on these parameters and to identify housing and management options that can help to reduce problems caused by increased group size. Increasing group size was found to increase the risk of damaging behaviour, such as feather pecking in laying hens and vulva biting in sows. Aggression does not appear to be a problem in large groups, because dominance relationships in these groups are not based on individual recognition, but based on other signals such as body size, avoiding costly fights. There is evidence for increased fear and stress levels in large groups compared with small groups, but fearfulness is also strongly affected by type of housing. To minimize problems in large groups it seems helpful to offer separate functional areas and to provide cover, reducing disturbance between animals. To minimize the risk of damaging behaviour, such as feather pecking in laying hens and tail biting in pigs, stimulating foraging, exploration and manipulation behaviour by providing sufficient substrate (straw, wood shavings and sand) offers perspective. Rearing the animals in a system that allows the development of all these behaviours is very important. Other solutions can be found in optimizing the diet and offering extra foraging opportunities. Furthermore, genetic selection against damaging behaviour seems promising. In conclusion, group size mainly has an effect on damaging behaviour and fear and stress in pigs and poultry. The effect on aggressive behaviour is limited. To reduce damaging behaviour, fear and stress, it is important to provide a complex environment with ample behavioural opportunities and separate functional areas.