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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:
Pelleted organo-mineral fertilisers from composted pig slurry solids, animal wastes and spent mushroom compost for amenity grasslands
Posted in: Environment by admin on January 1, 2007 | No Comments
The Efficacy of Nine Different Feed Additives on Mitigating the Effects of Deoxynivalenol (DON) When Consumed by Growing Pigs.
Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments
Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a trichothecene mycotoxin produced by fusarium moulds contaminating cereal and other grains, including corn and wheat. Gross symptoms of DON ingestion include vomiting and feed refusal and it can have serious if not dramatic effects on the financial viability of a commercial pig farm. An experiment was conducted with nursery pigs to test the efficacy of 9 different feed additives on mitigating the effects of Deoxynivalenol (2 ppm DON) contaminated feed. Sixty pens of pigs, 4 pig/pen were fed one of 12 diets for the 22 day experiment, beginning 7 days post-weaning. Treatments were a positive control, (non-contaminated corn) a negative control (2 ppm DON) and the negative control supplemented with one of 9 different feed additives, or in one case a combination of feed additives. In conclusion, approximately 2 ppm DON in the diet of nursery pigs will decrease growth and feed intake by almost 10% if consumed for 3 weeks and feed additives, had no effect on ameliorating the effect of the mycotoxoin, regardless of their mode of action.
POUSSIÈRES
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POUSSIÈRES DANS LES BÂTIMENTS D’ÉLEVAGE: SOURCES, COMPOSITION ET TYPE
La poussière est normalement considérée comme un des contaminants présents dans les bâtiments
d’élevage. La poussière est générée par la ration, la litière, le fumier/lisier séché, les débris de peau et les
matériaux du bâtiment (Maghirang et al., 1995). Selon Zhang et al. (1994), d’autres formes de partic ules
aériennes aussi appelés bioaérosols incluent des bactéries, endotoxines et moississures. En effet, Butera
et al. (1991), ont trouvé que les moississures représentaient moins de 1% du total des microorganismes
dans la poussière des porcheries de croissance-finition. Les bactéries gramme positive représentent
jusqu’à 72% de toutes les bactéries isolées. Martin et al. (1996) ont démontré que la poussière peut être
composée de plusieurs éléments car ils ont trouvé six espèces différentes de bactéries ou fongus dans la
poussière provenant d’une pièce où il n’y avait pas de porc et 22 différents microorganismes ont été
détectés dans la poussière provenant d’une pièce où des porcs étaient gardés.
La poussière respirable est définie comme étant composée de particules ayant un diamètre aérodynamique
moyen de moins de 5 mm (Pearson and Sharples, 1995). Elles peuvent être inhalées profondément dans
les poumons des humains ou des animaux où elles peuvent se loger dans les alvéoles. Les particules plus
petites que 0.5 mm demeurent normalement en suspension et sont expulsées lorsque la personne ou
l’animal expire. Les particules totales de poussières sont très souvent définies comme de la poussière
inhalable.
Les concentrations massiques de poussières totales ont été mesurées dans la section pouponnière d’une
porcherie ventilée mécaniquement durant la saison chaude. L’échantillonnage s’est effectué sur 13 jours
durant une période de six semaines (Maghirang et al., 1997). La fraction de poussière respirable a varié
de 2 à 30% de la poussière totale avec une valeur moyenne de 11%. Si on considère la quantité d’énergie
nécessaire pour produire de la poussière provenant de la ration, Jansen et Feddes (1995) ont conclu que
les matières fécales sont probablement la source majeure de poussières respirables provenant de bâtiments
d’élevage. Pickrell et al. (1993) ont aussi observé que les petites particules en suspension dans les
porcheries ont des concentrations quatres fois plus élevées en endotoxines que les particules plus grosses,
suggérant ainsi qu’elles contiennent une plus grande concentration de matières fécales. Par conséquent,
particulièrement dans les porcheries, les poussières respirables proviennent du fumier/lisier séché. Parce
que ces particules sont biologiquement actives et qu’elles pénètrent dans les poumons, la poussière
respirable peut avoir des effets néfastes sur la santé des animaux et des travailleurs.
Restaurant oil, corn silage and vegetable waste all grist for the Ridgetown digester
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Until now, researchers making biogas from the
anaerobic digester at the University of Guelph’s
Ridgetown Campus have been using liquid manure to
feed the operation. Their next step is to add other materials,
such as used oil or grease from fast-food restaurants or
food processing activities. In Ontario, there is currently only one operating anaerobic
digester on a farm, while in Germany there are almost 4,000. In
several European countries, farmers are allowed to add other
materials to the manure in their anaerobic digesters. For example,
some farmers are permitted to put up to 20 per cent of
organic materials obtained outside the farm into their digesters.
Adding this amount of these materials might lead to a doubling
in the output of methane, Fleming notes.
Products like spent oil from restaurants can’t be digested on
their own. However, blending the oil with pig manure should
result in a boost in gas production. This small addition of product
could result in double or triple the gas output, depending
on the material being added.
Along with mixing the pig manure with fats and oils,
researchers will try using corn silage or vegetable waste from
crops high in sugar, such as sugar beets or sweet potatoes
Scale and Access Issues Affecting Smallholder Hog Producers in an Expanding Peri-Urban Market
Posted in: Economics by admin on | No Comments
The study offers a new way of conceptualizing the problems that lead to the exclusion of
smallholders from live hog and pork markets, explaining why some smallholders participate
successfully, while others do not. Determinants are identified using limited-dependent variable
models based on the hypothesis that transaction costs, such as access to credit and market
information, affect market participation. The report also presents a contemporary approach to
measuring profit efficiency in hog production for the case of Southern Luzon, Philippines.
Although the findings of this study are specific to the Philippine context, many of the
issues confronted are common to the challenges of participation, upscaling processes, and
policy interventions across the developing world. The research has generated solid empirical
perspectives of the changing situation of poor smallholder producers in a high-value market
situation. IFPRI thus continues to examine the effect of mechanisms like contract farming on
collective action as a means of increasing smallholder participation in high-value markets,
particularly in developing countries in Asia and Africa, where small farms continue to dominate
the landscape.
The effects of handling and group size on welfare of pigs in lairage and their influence on stomach weight, carcass microbial contamination and meat quality
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Slaughtering animals with a full stomach is considered a high risk factor for meat safety, as spillage of gut contents, due to more frequent inadvertent puncture of the stomach during the dressing process, can lead to microbial cross-contamination between carcasses (Miller et al. 1997). To reduce the risk of puncturing the stomach, a feed withdrawal of 16 to 24 h before slaughter has been recommended to reduce stomach size (Chevillon 1994). However, industry reports and some studies have revealed a high variability in stomach weights at slaughter, even among pigs that were subjected to the same fasting interval before slaughter (Guise et al. 1995; Turgeon 2003). According to Enck et al. (1989), stress increases intestinal motility, resulting in a greater evacuation of the caecum and large intestine. It also increases the pH of the stomach contents, favouring the survival, proliferation and release of faecal bacteria (such as Salmonella), both towards the internal organs and the surrounding environment (Gregory 1998). Hence, the individual difference in the pig response to preslaughter stress might contribute to stomach weight variation at slaughter. The use of electric prods must be limited in pig handling given their detrimental effects on welfare (flight behaviour, higher heart rate and salivary cortisol level) and meat quality (Brundige et al. 1998; D’Souza et al. 1998; Jongman et al. 2000). Mixing unfamiliar pigs inevitably causes some fighting, which causes skin bruises and poor pork quality (Jones et al. 1994; Warriss 1996). To limit fighting and help pigs rest and recover from transport stress, the current recommendations are either to keep pigs in small groups (10 to 15 pigs) or to mix very large groups (up to 200 pigs) in the lairage pen prior to slaughter (Grandin 1990; Christensen and Barton-Gade 1997). Turner et al. (1999) showed that group size influences drinking behaviour, pigs in large groups (60) spending significantly less time drinking than pigs in smaller groups (20). Hence, it may be hypothesized that the difference in drinking rate between groups of pigs varying in size may contribute to stomach weight variation at slaughter. The aim of this experiment was thus to determine, under commercial conditions, the effects of gentle vs. rough handling practices and large vs. small group size in lairage on behaviour, stomach weight, microbial carcass contamination and meat quality variation of pigs. At unloading and on the way to stunning, 800 barrows were exposed to either gentle handling (GH: slowly with a plastic board or whip) or rough handling (RH: quickly with an electric prod). Pigs were kept in large or small groups (30 or 10 pigs) during lairage. Compared with GH, RH increased climbing, slipping and turning around behaviours during unloading, and climbing on the way to stunning. RH also reduced drinking behaviour during lairage. Pigs kept in large groups were observed more often standing and fighting than pigs kept in small groups, but, in contrast, had a slightly lower level of urinary cortisol at slaughter. Stomach weight and microbial contamination at slaughter were not affected by treatments. RH tended to increase skin bruise score on the carcass and produced more exudative meat. In conclusion, the response of pigs to the two specific stressors applied prior to slaughter in this study did not seem to contribute to stomach weight variation at slaughter, but it did influence pork quality.
Effect of “Skip-a-Heat” Breeding on Subsequent Reproductive Performance in First Parity Sows
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Recent work at the University of Alberta has shown that the performance of contemporary dam-line first parity sows is truly amazing! Even when primiparous sows are induced to lose large amounts of body tissues through imposed feed restriction during peak lactation, there is a relative lack of effect on many measures of post-weaning fertility. However, a second parity “dip” or lack of an increase in second litter size, is often observed in production. First and second parity sows subjected to “skip-a-heat” breeding (bred at the 2nd estrus after weaning, or “skipped”) exhibited an increase of two pigs born compared to sows bred at first post-weaning estrus but this increase in litter size also resulted in an accumulation of 21 non-productive days (NPD) and a 9% chance of sows not standing to be bred at 2nd estrus. Recent data on the changing reproductive characteristics of contemporary commercial sows suggested that the response to skip-a-heat breeding in first parity sow needs to be re-evaluated. This trial re-assessed the effect of breeding sows at 1st vs. 2nd post-weaning estrus on follicular development, size of the largest ovulatory follicle, ovulation rate and embryonic survival to day 30 in contemporary commercial sows. Results confirmed that under good management practices, high production performance is achievable: 95% of sows returned to estrus within 10 days; 98% of sows bred; 100% of sows “skipped” sows detected in heat; and a 92% conception rate. However, litter size at d 30 appeared to be limited because of lower embryonic survival in sows bred at first post-weaning estrus. The present study also confirmed that breeding first parity weaned sows at 2nd post-weaning estrus will negate the effects of the “second parity dip.” Alternative methods to increase second parity litter size without the accumulation of the 22 NPD associated with “skip-a-heat” merits further investigation.
Livestock sector development and implications for rural poverty alleviation in India
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