SEARCH
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:
12 Born Alive: It's Not all Hugs and Kisses
Posted in: Production by admin on January 1, 2007 | No Comments
Effects of dietary crude protein level on odour from pig manure
Posted in: Production by admin on | No Comments
Odour emission from pig production facilities causes serious nuisance in the surrounding areas, and should therefore be reduced. Odour is mainly generated by the microbial conversion of feed in the intestinal tract of pigs and by microbial conversion of pigs’ excreta under anaerobic conditions in manure storages. Protein is an important dietary compound that could be altered to reduce odour emission. Reducing protein or nitrogen concentration in excreta decreases the availability of substrates that microbes can metabolise to odorous compounds. It is clear from the literature that ammonia from animal production facilities can be decreased considerably by reducing the amount of protein in the diet and at the same time supplementing most essential amino acids to balance the amino acid pattern and to maintain animal performance (Hobbs et al., 1996; Canh et al., 1998b; Zervas and Zijlstra, 2002; Portejoie et al., 2004). Scientists mainly focused on certain specific odorous compounds in the manure or in the odorous air and little attention has been given to the effect of dietary crude protein levels on odour emission measured by olfactometry. Odour measured by olfactometry is evaluated through its strength (odour concentration and odour intensity) and offensiveness (odour hedonic value). The objective of this study was to determine the effects of dietary crude protein level on odour emission, odour intensity, hedonic tone, and ammonia emission from pig manure and on manure composition (pH, total nitrogen, ammonium, volatile fatty acids, indolic, phenolic and sulphur-containing compounds). An experiment was conducted with growing pigs in a randomised complete-block design with three treatments in six blocks. Treatment groups were 12%, 15% and 18% crude protein diets. Barley was exchanged for soya-bean meal. Crystalline amino acids were included in the 12% crude protein diet up to the level of pigs’ requirement; the same amount of Crystalline amino acids were added to the 15% and 18% crude protein diets. Pigs with an initial body weight of 36.5 ± 3.4 kg were individually penned in partly slatted floor pens and offered a daily feed allowance. Faeces and urine of each pig were accumulated together in a separate manure pit under the slatted floor. After an adaptation period of 2 weeks, the manure pits were cleaned and manure was collected. In the 5th week of the collection period, air samples for odour and ammonia analyses, and manure samples were collected directly from each manure pit. Air samples were analysed for odour concentration and for hedonic value and intensity above odour detection threshold. Manure samples were analysed for volatile fatty acids, and indolic, phenolic and sulphurous compounds, ammonium and total nitrogen concentrations. It was concluded that reducing dietary crude protein from 18% to 12% lowered odour emission and ammonia emission from pig manure by 80% and 53%, respectively. Therefore a reduction of dietary crude protein and at the same time providing essential amino acids is an option to reduce odour emission as well as ammonia emission from pig manure.
Novel Feed Grains and Pulses in Western Canada
Posted in: Production by admin on | No Comments
This paper summarizes recent research findings on two novel feed crops, triticale and zero-tannin (ZT) fababean. It also provides a perspective as to where the new feed industry in North America is heading. The primary driver for considering triticale as feed grain was its higher yield than wheat. The second driver was its alluded “higher” net energy value compared to corn. Therefore, triticale should outperform wheat in hog diets. The objectives of the study on triticale was to evaluate its feeding value as a replacement for wheat (HRS or CPS), and to compare the performance of weaned pigs offered different triticale varieties. For the overall trial and the first three weeks, replacing wheat with triticale did not affect daily feed disappearance or weight gain. Pigs fed the triticale diets had better overall feed efficiency than those fed either the HRS or CPS wheat diet. AC Ultima was the most comparable triticale variety to CPS and HRS wheat in terms of animal response. However, pigs utilized more energy and retained more protein, calcium and phosphorus from all four varieties of triticale compared to both varieties of wheat. The other aspect of this paper summarizes the recent findings of using ZT fababean in swine diets. The primary driver for considering the use of ZT fababean was yield. In years with adequate rainfall, it out-yields pea in the Black and Grey Wooded soils zones of central and north-western Alberta (Park et al 1999), where pork expansion is more likely to occur. The second driver was air nitrogen fixing. In contrast to pea, dry bean, chickpea and lentil, ZT fababean allows air nitrogen-fixing beyond blooming until the plant dries (Park et al 1999). The third driver was its high energy and protein content, which may displace imported soybean meal (Dening et al 2004). The objective of one study was to evaluate the feeding value of ZT Fababean by including 0, 10, 20, 30, and 40% of ZT fababean in the pigs diet. Surprisingly young pigs tolerated well up 40% without detrimental effect on performance. The primary objective of the latest trial with ZT fababean was to generate additional performance data on a commercial scale. This trial also compared the performance of hogs fed ZT fababean not only against those fed imported soybean meal again, but also for the first time, against hogs fed the locally grown field pea. Triticale and ZT fababean have not only proven to be promising feedstuffs in their raw form, but offer the potential to be further value-added as food, feed and bio-industrial co-products. Triticale grain may be segregated into several components
(protein, starch, fibre) prior to fermenting the starch to ethanol resulting in a more efficient process than the current fermentation scheme producing high fibre distillers grain. The potential for a whole array of co-products make this triticale initiative very enticing. Also, ZT fababean has been successfully fractionated into starch and high protein concentrates. No high cost wet separation followed by sophisticated spray-drying is required. In this low cost and fast process, we take 28% crude protein ZT fababean to a 70% crude protein concentrate in minutes! We hope the protein concentrates will find markets in breakfast bars, high-protein snacks, aquaculture, pet foods, and baby animal diets. The starch fractions will find markets in the bakery, paint and paper industry among a few. In summary, our excitement with triticale and ZT fababean is not merely founded on their resulting animal performance when fed in raw form. Triticale offers higher yield, disease and drought tolerance, as well as high net energy for swine. ZT fababean offers higher yield, longer N-fixing, as well as high energy and protein. The potential to produce more lean pork per unit of land is there. And both crops can be further value-added as co- products of interest to the food, feed and bio-industrial industries.
Turning Loose on Sow Housing
Posted in: Production by admin on | No Comments
This paper discusses the two most common methods of managing sows in groups, using electronic sow feeders (ESF) and using floor feeding. Other methods using free access stalls, cafeteria system, and biofixation feeding stalls are explored in less detail. Our objective is to assemble a review on each type of housing so that pork producers considering a change will know what challenges await them, and how others have solved problems to achieve excellent results. Electronic sow feeders are a proven method of loose housing of sows, which has been under development over the last twenty plus years, mainly in Europe. It provides a substantial improvement in welfare to the sows under good management, if management pays attention to the details. Productivity figures can be equal to or better than those of stalled units. The system, however, is more labour intensive, and is reliant on complex electronic and mechanical parts, which need to be well protected against a hostile environment, mice in particular. Special care should be taken in choosing an equipment supplier who has adequate technical back up, and spare parts availability. Group pens for housing dry sows have been far less popular than stalls for the past 30 years. However, there have been a number of producers who have used group pens more successfully, than the early experiences in the 60’s and 70’s. There are a number of layouts that can be considered as shown in the several diagrams in this paper. As more producers consider group housing, there will be a lot of consideration given to modifying existing stall barns because it may be possible to modify it economically. The major challenges will be in the details of the existing solid floor as to whether it can easily be smoothed out and the suitability of the slats that are presently in place. The two most popular options, their strengths /weaknesses and the design alterations to improve best management practices have been described in this paper. In addition, the other systems introduced at the beginning would offer additional options, these may be found on the website www.VIDO.org, just following the links to ‘information for producers’.
The stealthy nature of PRRSV infection: The dangers posed by that ever-changing mystery swine disease
Posted in: Production by admin on | No Comments
Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is a member of the genus Arterivirus. The other members are lactate dehydrogenase-elevating virus (LDV) of mice, equine arteritis virus (EAV), and simian hemorrhagic fever virus (SHFV). The arteriviruses as a group exhibit the absolute extremes in mammalian viral pathogenesis. At one end of the spectrum is SHFV, which causes nearly 100% mortality in macaques, with death occurring within 2 weeks of infection. At the other extreme is the infection of mice with LDV, which leads to a life-long asymptomatic infection with levels of viremia approaching 10 million virions per milliliter of blood. These extremes are related to the
different outcomes following the infection of macrophages
Evaluation of uncultivated vegetables for pigs kept in upland households
Posted in: Production by admin on | No Comments
Why do pigs root and in what will they root? A review on the exploratory behaviour of pigs in relation to environmental enrichment
Posted in: Production by admin on | No Comments
In this paper the effects of different materials on the behaviour of pigs are listed and the preferences of pigs for numerous different materials are compared. It was found that exploratory behaviour in pigs is best stimulated by materials that are complex, changeable, destructible, manipulable, and contain sparsely distributed edible parts.