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Plus grands groupes pour porcs en croissance- finition: Comportements alimentaires et sociaux, et impacts sur le stress social.

Posted in: French Articles by admin on January 1, 2006 | No Comments

La majorité des études sur les comportements alimentaires et sociaux des porcs ont été réalisées avec des groupes de 40 porcs ou moins par groupe. Cependant, ces groupes sont de taille bien moindre que certains qui sont utilisés de nos jours dans certains élevages commerciaux (100 à 1000 porcs par groupe) en Amérique du Nord et ailleurs. Les rapports sociaux touchant l’alimentation et autres activités comportementales des porcs dans de grands groupes sociaux ne sont pas bien compris. Par conséquent, la compétition et l’utilisation par les porcs de ressources importantes comme les mangeoires sont mal connues. Cette étude a été réalisée pour mieux comprendre les comportements alimentaires et autres activités comportementales ainsi que les impacts de plus grands groupes sociaux sur le stress social chez les porcs en croissance-finition. Pour tenter de répondre à cette question, deux blocs de deux traitements de tailles de groupe, 18 (Petit groupe) et 108 (Grand groupe) porcs en croissance-finition par enclos, ont été établis. Chaque essai, qui consistait en un bloc d’une durée de 10 semaines, était composé de deux enclos de Grands groupes et quatre enclos de Petits groupes. Au total, 576 castrats et femelles (Pig Improvement Canada) ont été utilisés pour l’expérience à la porcherie du Prairie Swine Centre à Elstow. Les animaux ont été sevrés à un âge approximatif de 18 jours et ont ensuite été placés dans des pouponnières pendant huit semaines avant de prendre part à l’expérience. Le ratio de castrats par femelles fut conservé constant (1:1) entre les deux tailles de groupes et le poids moyen des porcs au début de l’expérience était de 34.6 kg ± 4.1 kg (S.D). Les porcs étaient gardés sur des planchers complètement lattés avec un espace de plancher de 0.76m2 par porc. Des trémies-abreuvoirs procuraient la moulée et l’eau aux animaux, avec un ratio de 9 porcs par place de trémies (9:1). Les trémies, à quatre places par trémie, étaient placées à égale distance sur la ligne centrale des enclos de grands groupes. Cela a maintenu une distribution égale de trémies dans le grand groupe, donnant une chance égale à tous les porcs d’avoir accès aux trémies sans difficulté. Le comportement alimentaire individuel des porcs et les tendances alimentaires de groupe ont été étudiés durant les semaines 1, 5, 7 et 10 du cycle de croissance-finition. En plus, d’autres activités comportementales telles que le pourcentage de temps passé à boire/manger, à se reposer (couchés), debout ou à marcher ainsi que les tendances diurnes de ces activités pour les porcs dans les petits et grands groupes ont été étudiées durant les semaines 2, 5 et 10 après les regroupements. Pour évaluer l’effet de la taille du groupe sur le stress social, les niveaux de cortisol salivaire ont été mesurés durant les semaines 1, 2, 5 et 10. De plus, les paramètres morphologiques des glandes surrénales ont été mesurés à la fin du cycle croissance-finition pour comprendre les effets du stress chronique sur les porcs qui ont été placés dans de grands groupes. Les porcs dans les grands groupes ont eu plus de visites à la trémie pour s’alimenter (35 contre 25, P<0,05) et celles-ci duraient moins longtemps (232 secondes contre 301 secondes, P<0,05) durant le jour 3 après le regroupement. Cependant, il n’y eut pas de différences dans les nombres de visite à la trémie pour s’alimenter et la durée de celles-ci durant les semaines 5, 7 et 10. Nous avons aussi trouvé que le pourcentage de porcs faisant la queue aux trémies était plus élevé dans les plus grands groupes que dans les plus petits groupes durant le jour 3 (0,90 contre 0,59%, P<0,05). Cette tendance de pourcentage plus élevé de porcs faisant la queue aux trémies était aussi observée durant le jour 6 après un regroupement (0,79 contre 0,60%, pour les grands et petits groupes, P=0,08) mais il ne l’était plus après. Il y avait des tendances similaires de prise alimentaire sur 24 heures chez les porcs des Grands groupes et des Petits groupes durant les semaines 1, 5, 7 et 10 (Figure 1). De plus, le pourcentage moyen d’espaces de trémies occupés (jours moyens 3 et 6 et les semaines 5, 7, et 10) était lui aussi similaire entre les deux tailles de groupes (55,7% contre 56,2%, pour les grands et petits groupes). Les temps moyens passés à manger/boire (5,2% contre 5,2%, pour les petits et grands groupes), debout/à marcher (5,1% contre 5,4%, pour les petits et grands groupes) et au repos (89,6% contre 89,3%, pour les petits et grands groupes) n’ont pas été différents entre les deux tailles de groupe. De plus, les tendances diurnes de ces activités n’ont pas été affectées, elles non-plus, par les grands groupes. L’une des inquiétudes principales pour de grands groupes de porcs est le potentiel pour une augmentation des stressants sociaux. Cependant, dans le cadre de notre étude, les porcs dans les plus grands groupes n’ont pas démontré de signes de stress social à court terme (aigu) ou à long terme (chronique) durant toute la période expérimentale de 10 semaines (Table 1). Il est alors apparent que les porcs n’ont pas subis de stressants sociaux nuisibles en vivant dans de grands groupes.

Prix de performance pour PSC Elstow Research Farm Inc.

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Brian Andries, gérant par intérim de l’élevage pour le PSC Elstow Research Farm Inc, a le plaisir d’annoncer que, pour la deuxième année consécutive, le PSC Elstow Research Farm Inc. a gagné le Prix de performance Maple Leaf pour la longe la plus grosse en moyenne. « Ce prix démontre la détermination de notre personnel à livrer un produit de qualité en portant attention aux détails à partir de la génétique jusqu’à la pesée finale de tous les animaux avant la mise en marché. » Joe Langen, gérant de l’approvisionnement à Mitchell’s Gourmet Foods à Saskatoon, « Il est surprenant pour un élevage de recherche de produire de tels résultats. Nous sommes conscients qu’en faisant partie du programme de recherche, les porcs doivent souvent être mis en marché soit trop légers ou trop lourds comparativement au poids commercial idéal. Nous croyons que la gestion du troupeau combinée avec la diligence du personnel à s’assurer que les poids soient aussi près que possible de la limite optimale a vraiment porté fruit pour produire de grosses longes de façon consistante ». Ce prix est donné dans le but de démontrer l’importance de certaines caractéristiques du porc quittant l’élevage qui bénéficient l’usine d’abattage aussi bien que le vendeur au détail qui met ce porc en marché. Brian Andries explique comment ils ont pu produire de tels résultats de façon consistante. « La performance de la carcasse est une combinaison entre la mise en valeur du potentiel génétique de l’animal et une alimentation qui rencontre les exigences à chaque étape de la production, ajouté à ces élément une surveillance étroite des poids pour l’abattage. Pour cet aspect, avec une nouvelle façon de peser à chaque deuxième semaine et l’usage de notre connaissance du taux de croissance dans l’élevage, nous sommes capables de prédire précisément le gain de poids et donc le poids attendu de l’animal dans deux semaines ». Le résultat est un animal qui se classe dans la grille tout en considérant l’impact des facteurs économiques de la nutrition versus le gain de poids durant les jours menant au jour de l’abattage. Cela est accompli avec une technique de pesée pratique effectuée à toutes les deux semaines qui minimise la main d’œuvre tout en maximisant le retour à l’élevage. Situé près de Saskatoon, le Prairie Swine Centre Inc. est une organisation de recherche à but non-lucratif affiliée avec l’Université de la Saskatchewan, et est reconnu mondialement pour ses contributions à la science pratique et appliquée pour la production porcine dans les secteurs de la nutrition, de l’ingénierie et du comportement animal. Le PSC Research Farm Inc. est un élevage naisseur-finisseur de 600 truies qui est conçu pour procurer des installations de production de taille commerciale pour le développement de recherches sur la production à l’échelle commerciale.

The United States pork niche market phenomenon

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Niche pork markets and alternative swine production practices offer an unusual contrast to commodity pork markets and industrial confinement swine production. The pork niche market producers are a distinct clientele group for animal scientists, agricultural engineers, veterinarians, and other suppliers of information and technology. If pork niche markets continue to flourish, the markets and the producers that supply them will be a viable sector in a diverse US pork industry. The niche pork market sector offers an entry pathway for beginning producers, diversified farmers, and sustainable agriculturalists. To continue to grow and develop, the sector will need appropriate research, extension, and support programming. It also will need to develop tangible incentives for existing producers to expand their
operations and for new or conventional producers to learn production methods of these systems. Specifically,
research on production costs, transaction costs, and herd health management is needed to provide producers
with the information they require to remain competitive and to secure operating capital from local banks.
The pork niche market is a rapidly evolving sector that presents unique challenges and opportunities.

Antigenicity and variability of membrane proteins of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae, causing agent of enzootic pneumonia in swine

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Enzootic pneumonia is a chronical respiratory disease caused by Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae. It results in considerable economical losses for the swine industry in America and Europe. This disease delays growth of the infected pig and reduces its immunity, decreasing the efficiency of vaccination programs, particularly against pathogens of the respiratory tract. Together with strict husbandry, the controlled administration of antibiotics is used against M. hyopneumoniae. But the latter methods is costly and raises the problem of antibiotics resistant pathogens. Vaccination appears an interesting alternative. The searchers wanted to identify membrane proteins of M. hyopneumoniae that could trigger protective immunity. The searchers developed tools for making a subunit protective vaccine. Recombinant fusion proteins of three M. hyopneumoniae membrane proteins (p46, p65 and p97) were produced by genetic engineering with E. coli. These recombinant proteins were used for the development of monoclonal antibodies and diagnostic tests. Also, the recombinant proteins were administered to young piglets to assess their immunity response. The recombinant protein p46 seemed to be a good target antigen for serological diagnostic tests. Furthermore, the recombinant proteins p46 and p97 proved to be very strongly antigenic (more than p65), as shown by the results of a challenge infection with a virulent strain of M. hyopneumoniae. The lungs of pigs vaccinated with the recombinant proteins showed significantly less lesions than those of non-vaccinated pigs, threee weeks after the challenge infection. This research represents an important step towards control of M. hyopneumoniae in swine, particularly with regards to subunit vaccines developed with recombinant proteins.

Using Floor Cooling as an Approach to improve the Thermal Environment in the Sleeping Area in an Open Pig House

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In pig production, heat stress can be extremely detrimental to welfare and production over a range of thermal conditions. The results of heat stress may range from decreased feed intake and growth efficiency, reproduction and even hyperthermic death. In order to alleviate heat stress, many cooling systems for pig housing have been developed in recent years (Gates et al., 1991; Panagakis et al., 1996; Eigenberg et al., 2002). In China, the approaches such as the fan and pad cooling system (mostly used for growing/finishing pigs), the drip cooling system (mostly used for gestating sows), and the underground tunnel air-cooling system has been used (Liu et al., 1997; Dong et al., 1998, 2001; Ma, 1997). Those systems were mainly designed and applied in confined pig production buildings. Although the indoor environment is improved, common problems of the cooling systems during operation arise, such as increasing humidity, wet and dirty floor, noise level, etc., which will damage pig health and decrease pig production. Many of those cooling systems cannot be used in an open type pig house. Pig production systems with open structures and free access to an outdoors area are very common in China. The thermal conditions in these types of pig housing are very much dependent on the weather. In hot weather, feasible and effective cooling systems will be in great demand to provide a comfortable environment for the pigs. Generally, on hot days pigs may cool themselves by wallowing or enjoying water sprinklers (Heitman et al., 1962), and they may seek protection from the sun in the shade (Heitman et al., 1962; Blackshaw & Blackshaw, 1994) if shading facilities are available. They may also attempt to increase their heat loss by moving away from hot places to a cooler area or to a place with higher air velocity, by changing their lying posture from the belly to the side, or by avoiding having body contacts with other pigs (Geers et al., 1986). By rolling from side to side in a wallow or a damp place, the pigs may benefit from the evaporative heat loss via cooling their moist upper skin and conductive heat loss via contact in water. Since pigs spend more time resting than any other domestic animals, i.e. about 80% of the time daily (Haugse et al., 1965), relaxation and sleep are very important for pig health and growth rate. Therefore, a cooling system to meet the lying demands of pigs in an open type house under hot weather conditions is essential for the optimal production as well as for the welfare of pigs. Experiments were conducted to compare the floor temperatures and to observe the lying behaviour of pigs in the sleeping area of the buildings with and without floor cooling system. The results showed that, without the floor cooling system, the floor temperature was nearly the same as the air temperature in the open pig house. With the floor cooling system, the floor temperature of the sleeping area was controlled at 22–26 °C, even though the air temperature was as high as 34°C, which improved the comfort of the pigs in the sleeping area. The pig lying behaviour was greatly affected by the floor temperature. More than 85% of the pigs were lying in the sleeping area when the floor temperature was below 26 °C, while only 10–20% of the pigs were lying in the sleeping area when the floor temperature was about 30 °C, and hardly any when the floor temperature was above 33 °C.

TGE – A Bio-security Wake-Up Call?

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TGE (Transmissable Gastro Enteritis) is a disease, which rears its head almost every spring in Manitoba, and 2006 is certainly no exception. It is a disease that is feared by producers because of the speed and devastation it can cause in a sow herd. TGE causes a watery diarrhea and occasional vomiting in pigs of all ages. Upon entry into the herd, it will spread completely through the herd over the course of 3-7 days. TGE takes its biggest toll on piglets less than 10 to14 days of age, where close to 100% mortality is common. Bringing infected animals or infected manure into the barn often causes an outbreak. The virus is readily “trackable,” meaning dirty boots, trucks, vehicles and hands can spread it. The virus survives well in frozen conditions, but is very susceptible to most disinfectants, sunlight and warm dry conditions. Birds, insects and rodents can also be a source of the virus. There are 2 parts of any bio-security program for your farm, keep it off the yard and keep it from getting into your barn from your yard. Don’t let trucks back up to the barn that haven’t had appropriate wash and disinfection procedures applied. Manage foot traffic at delivery points so manure will not be tracked back into trucks/trailers. Prevent entry of rodents and birds into the barn or feed bins. Establish and maintain clear “dirty” and “clean” zones where barn boots and sock traffic don’t mix with outside footwear. Shower in or wash hands thoroughly and change clothes before entering the barn. Take control of materials entering the barn- remove outer packaging and disinfect as appropriate. Also review load out bio-security and design so load outs can be safely and effectively washed and disinfected. The goal is a practical and science based bio-security program that is sustainable all year round, and effective for all infectious disease threats.

Welfare, Meat Quality, Growth Performance and Economics of Pigs Housed in Hoop Barns

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Hoop barns were designed to address welfare issues of pigs, but the results are fatter carcasses from higher feed intake and a poorer feed conversion. Pigs in the hoop barns consumed about 7% more feed than pigs in the confinement barn. Efficiency of gain was about 6% worse for pigs in the hoop barn compared to the confinement barn. Pigs reared in confinement produced loins with more marbling, lower drip loss, and lower shear force (tenderness) values than similarly fed pigs housed in hoop barns. Total labor required to care for pigs in the confinement barn was about 14 minutes/pig placed, while in the hoop barns 8.5 minutes were required to care for each pig placed. The value per pig marketed was at least $5.00/head lower in the hoop system than confinement, due mostly to greater back fat and lighter weight for pigs marketed from the hoops. The combination of bedding costs and lower sales prices for pigs in the hoop systems resulted in negative net returns for the hoops compared to the confinement system. Pigs housed in the hoop barns showed more exploratory behavior and were easier to handle, and the bedding and large group size provided more opportunities for locomotion and environmental stimulation. They were less fearful of humans and objects, which make them easier to handle. Because they are easier to handle, stress at load out becomes less, meaning no meat quality loss from the stress.

Carcass Trims – A Look at Arthritis and Adhesions Trims from Severely Affected Herds

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Pork carcasses require trimming when defects are present. Federal and provincial regulations require trimming of defects to reduce food safety hazards and improve product quality. The most frequent causes of trims in Alberta are arthritis, chest adhesions and abscesses. Other less common causes include injuries, belly ruptures, and erysipelas. The producer can reduce certain trim rates because they are the result of disease or management problems on the farm. Similar trims may have more than one cause; therefore determining the cause in each barn is essential to designing a solution for that barn. It is important to monitor trim rates routinely and set action limits, invest in a veterinary diagnosis and diagnostic testing to find the cause of trims, ask the processor or herd veterinarian to examine and photograph affected hogs at slaughter to aid in diagnosis, design a prevention program with a swine veterinarian, and prevent septicaemia and pneumonia rather than treat it.

NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN CONTRACT RELATIONSHIPS IN THE SWINE INDUSTRY

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Contracts at the Production and Marketing Phase are Evolving Coordination of the Chain
Continues
Forces Encouraging Coordination
• Branding of Various Kinds to Capture
Consumer Surplus and Overcome
Destructive Cost Competition as Only
Viable Strategy
• Traceability as a both a Legal and
Branding Requirement
• Critical Mass for Up-Chain
Negotiation
• Food Safety/Bio-Terrorism Issues
• Emerging Animal Welfare Issues
• Co-Permitting Threats

30 pigs/sow/year – Are we there yet?

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Big Sky Farms started a “30 Pigs Group” in late 2001 to improve replacement gilt performance, and to target 30 pigs weaned per mated female per year. The group has conducted on-farm trials, and held training workshops to improve farrowing performance. Big Sky Farms also implemented an enhanced genetic improvement system in their 650 sow nucleus herd using individual estimated breeding values (EBV) based on a best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) system. Currently Big Sky’s BLUP program is based on the number of pigs born and born alive, the percentage of pigs weaned, and age at first mating, with strong emphasis on the number of pigs born. Big Sky Farms also implemented a prolific program in their multiplication herd in the fall of 2003. Big Sky’s prolific program, preferentially selects gilts from litters of 13+ total born. To date, an increase in 0.15 total born and 1.5% units in farrowing rate (91 to 92.5%) has been achieved. Hi-prolific semen, used in 50% of sows at the multiplication level, has increased total born from 10.9 to 11.8, and farrowing rate from 81% to 88%. Emphasis has also been placed on selection of replacement gilts with a minimum weight of 115 kg upon entry into commercial units, and a target entry to service interval of about 32 days. Another system (The Danish system) weans 30+ pigs per sow per year and believes that several key components contribute to this achievement. These include the use of hyperprolific dam lines; breeding gilts at an older age (270+ days) and a heavier weight (160+ kg); paying close attention to the sow at farrowing to minimize stillbirths, and assist where necessary; split-suckle to ensure all piglets receive sufficient colostrums; extend gilt lactation length to 30 to 35 days by weaning their litter at ~20 days and fostering on a litter of 5 to 7 day old pigs; Feed sows a high-density diet (6% added fat and 0.85% digestible lysine) three times daily to optimize feed intake and finally, good management and production teams that are committed to the system’s goals. Although a few systems are achieving 30 weaned pigs per sow per year, on average the industry is still a long way from this goal.

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