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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:
Checklist to Determine Causes of Shortfalls in Feed Intake
Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on January 1, 2007 | No Comments
This is a set of questions that hog producers must ask themselves. The answers to the questions will give an indication of the diets producers are feeding their animals. They will help producers determine where their diets need improvements.
ÉLÉMENTS FERTILISANTS
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LE CYCLE DES ÉLÉMENTS
Les déjections animales ont traditionnellement été utilisées comme fertilisant pour les productions
végétales. Ce processus de recyclage des éléments nutritifs rejetés, incluant la production animale et les
produits végétaux nécessaires à leur alimentation, est une manière durable d’assurer une balance et une
récupération de ces éléments (Jongbloed et Lenis, 1993). Toutefois la nouvelle tendance de développer la
production animale sur une base intensive, en augmentant de manière importante la capacité des
bâtiments d’élevage, peut mener à des situations débalancées du point de vue du recyclage des éléments
nutritifs/fertilisants. La concentration de l’élevage dans certaines régions, les améliorations de la
productivité et de la mécanisation, l’importation d’aliments pour animaux et le développement de
fertilisants inorganiques à faibles coûts sont tous des éléments qui jouent un rôle important dans la gestion
des éléments fertilisants d’origine animale. Des situations débalancées aux niveaux des éléments
fertilisants peuvent être observées au niveau de la ferme ou au niveau d’une région lorsque l’ensemble des
fertilisants d’origine animale et des engrais inorganiques qui sont épandus excèdent les besoins en
fertilisants des cultures et d’un sol donné (Jongbloed et Lenis, 1992). De plus l’efficacité globale des
fermes pour la rétention des éléments nutritifs/fertilisants est très faible. Par exemple pour la production
porcine, 3.6 à 10% du potassium (K) de la ration est retenu par l’animal et, pour l’azote (N) et le
phosphore (P) de 18 à 40% des intrants sont retenus (de Lange, 1997). Comme le décrit de Lange (1996),
la situation des éléments nutritifs/fertilisants de l’Ontario peut être présentée comme suit: pour chaque
truie en inventaire par an, 18 porcs destinés à l’abattage sont produits. Les éléments fertilisants rejetés
d’une telle production sont approximativement 114 kg de N, 23 kg de P et 70 kg de K. Ces quantités
seront excrétées dans le lisier et de celles-ci, environ 70% du N, 65% du P et 70% du K proviendront des
porcs qui sont au stade de croissance-finition (de Lange, 1996). Cette situation peut créer de la pollution
et des nuisances (voir les autres sections du document) si le cycle des éléments nutritifs/fertilisants n’est
pas bien balancé.
Visual Management and Energy Consumption on Hog Farms
Posted in: Energy by admin on | No Comments
Hog producers have traditionally focused on managing feed consumption while usually ignoring electrical, fuel and water consumption. The main reason has been the lower cost of these resources. However, in today’s hog market, each penny saved is precious. It is therefore very important to examine these resources and ask whether it is possible to reduce their costs. The answer to this question is not only a profound yes, but reduced costs are easily achievable. This is possible because there is strong evidence that wasted energy exists in any hog operation, regardless of the farm size, management skills and whether such waste is small or big. Lower costs are easily achievable if one understands the relationship between pig’s performance on one hand and energy consumption on the other, as reflected in managing farm operations such as heating, ventilation, lighting, washing or manure disposal. Although such understanding may exist for the majority of farm managers through training and experience, it is not very effective unless there is a continuous reminder that workers are aware of all the time. Once a reminder system becomes available, it is easy to manage farm energy consumption. In this paper, you will see that using visual management tools can save up to $0.80/pig. On the other hand the $0.80/pig annual saving is translated into 0.075 GJ/pig of energy saving or 4 kg/pig of CO2 emitted from the farm. Targeting energy consumption saving is important for both survival in the current economy as well as for the environment. Puratone has developed a resource consumption management tool called BarnMax. The tool is based on the powerful “visual management” concept where people worked in or managed a hog farm are continually and visually exposed to the status of resource consumption. The tool was tried in a rudimentary form in 15 finisher farms at Puratone during 03/04. Results showed significant reduction in annual cost of energy. Farm workers’ skills in managing some of the essential operations such as heating, ventilation, lighting and manure disposal also improved. To capitalize on this opportunity, Puratone began improving the rudimentary system used earlier by automating the measuring, monitoring and reporting mechanisms of the tool. The improvements included: adding feed and water consumption management, development of user-friendly software and inexpensive measuring/monitoring process. The tool is currently in the final testing and debugging before application to all Puratone farms. Benefits gained in finisher farms were $200,000 in annual savings in energy consumption cost. Projected annual savings of $1,800,000 are expected from extending use of the system to nursery and sow farms. Resource consumption is a major cost control centre for pork production. The Puratone experience has shown that very considerable savings are possible in energy consumption by implementing an improved process control system. This system is based upon using optimum consumption as the benchmark, rather than historical consumption. Successful application of the system is a result of active monitoring and involvement by the farm staff.
Does the Data Support Ikerd’s “Economic Fallacies of Industrial Hog Production”?
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While managerial ability may be useful in explaining the cost competitiveness of small hog farms, it is not easily measurable. In this report it suggests that another potential source of cost-competitiveness – which is measurable but
remains virtually unexplored in the literature on hog production, is vertical scope economies. It was found that farrow-to-finish benefited both large and small, depending on the farrow-to-feeder and feeder-to-finish mix. This result partially supports Ikerd’s claim that “family hog farms are as cost efficient as are the large-scale, corporate hog operations.” I say partially because, although vertical scope economies are positive for all the farrow-to-feeder and feeder-tofinish mix, they may be offset at some point by stage specific diseconomies. That is the subject of future
research.
Effect of Farm Floor Type on the Behaviour of Heavy Pigs during Pre-slaughter Handling
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In pig production, the relationships between welfare and the housing system are assuming increasing importance. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA, 2005) has recently collected the results of several studies on the effects that different kinds of floor and different space allowances have on the health, performance and behaviour of pigs into a scientific report. The aim of this study was to evaluate for heavy pigs, the possible relationships between the kind of floor and the physiological and behavioural responses during pre-slaughter handling. Seventy-five crossbreed Duroc x (Landrace x Large White) heavy pigs (average hot carcass weight 134.6 kg), mostly castrated males, were examined. All animals were supplied by one farm; 37 were reared in 3 boxes with a solid floor and 38 were reared in 3 boxes with a full slatted floor. The space allowances ranged from 0.97 m² to 1.15 m² for the former group and from 0.70 m² to 0.89 m² for the latter group. All subjects were delivered to the slaughterhouse in one consignment using a three-deck truck. All passageways had solid floors. At the end of the journey, which lasted 44 min, and after a rest of 9 min in the truck, the pigs were unloaded and kept in the resting pens, with solid floors, maintaining the division of the boxes from the farm. After 30 min of lairage the pigs were stunned by electronarcosis. The behavioural events were recorded at loading and unloading, in the upper deck of the truck and in the resting pens. During loading and unloading the number of reversals, balks, falls, slips, jumps, bites, evacuations and vocalizations were recorded for each group of pigs. From the observations made during the journey and during the lairage, the frequency of pigs standing, sitting and lying down were calculated. At the exsanguination, blood samples were collected for the determination of plasmatic content of cortisol, lactate and creatine kinase. The frequency of behavioural events and positions were evaluated by a ÷² test (Fisher exact test) while the plasma blood analysis data, previously normalized by a log transformation, were processed using ANOVA by the GLM procedure of SAS (1996). At loading, the pigs reared on the slatted floor were more difficult to drive along the passageway leading to the vehicle, as demonstrated by the reversals and balks, which reached a total of 77 % of the observed events. These difficulties could be due to a low tendency to move in the farm boxes, as is common for pigs reared on slatted floors (EFSA, 2005), and to the novelty of the kind of flooring encountered to reach the vehicle. Instead, the pigs reared on the solid floor did not show any difficulties in running quickly along the passageway. During transport, the pigs from the boxes with slatted floors lay down before the end of the journey while pigs reared on solid floors showed this behaviour only when the vehicle was stopped at the slaughterhouse and in the lairage pens. Overall, the different kind of floor encountered during pre-slaughter handling increased the psychological stress in the pigs reared on slatted floors, as suggested by the higher level of cortisol. Nevertheless, the condition experienced did not lead to physical stress, as demonstrated by the similar values of lactate and creatine kinase between the two groups of pigs.
EVALUATION OF CONTROL STRATEGIES FOR FOGGING SYSTEMS IN PIG FACILITIES
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Structural analysis and haplotype diversity in swine LEP and MC4R genes
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Knowledge about structural variation of candidate genes could be
important to improve breeding selection scheme and preserve genetic
variability in livestock species. Leptin (LEP) and melanocortin-4 receptor
(MC4R) genes are involved in the energetic pathway and are obvious
candidate genes for fatness. By sequencing LEP and MC4R genes in 72
pigs belonging to lean (Large White and Duroc), fat (Meishan and
Casertana) breeds and also Wild Boar, 98 polymorphic sites, of which
91 were novel, were found in the Leptin sequence while only the previously
described mutation was found in the MC4R gene. A total of 18
LEP haplotypes were observed and their distribution was unequal
among the breeds. The phylogenetic analysis showed two haplotype
branches distinguishing between lean and fat breeds.