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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:
The importance of the calcium:phosphorus ratio in maximizing the benefit of the phytase enzyme – Effect on total and soluble phosphorus output
Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on January 1, 2006 | No Comments
An experiment was undertaken to determine the effect of the ratio of calcium to total phosphorus in the diet on the effectiveness of the phytase enzyme, and also to determine the effect of the calcium:phosphorus ratio on the amount and form (soluble versus insoluble) of phosphorus excreted when the diet contains phytase. The use of phytase in pig diets is rapidly increasing as extensive research has documented its efficacy in improving the digestibility of phosphorus in cereal grains. This allows diets to be formulated with less total phosphorus, resulting in a reduced cost of feed and decreased phosphorus output in the manure. This will become even more important if and when environmental farm plans are based on phosphorus output in the manure rather than nitrogen, or in addition to nitrogen. It is also well known that as the animal’s intake of phosphorus declines, the calcium:phosphorus ratio becomes increasingly important. It was concluded that the differences in phosphorus output, due to either phytase or calcium:phosphorus ratio, are largely due to changes in the soluble inorganic fraction – the largest phosphorus fraction and the fraction which is thought to be responsible for problems of leaching. The effective use of phytase requires careful attention to the ratio of calcium to total phosphorus in the diet. Also, adding phytase to a swine diet is favourable environmentally, because it decreases output of both total and soluble phosphorus.
Le bien-être, qualité de la viande, performance de croissance et les facteurs économiques des porcs élevés dans des porcheries en arche.
Posted in: French Articles by admin on | No Comments
Les producteurs et consommateurs perçoivent que l’élevage de porcs commerciaux faits dans des abris circulaires à litière profonde est plus bénéfique au bien-être des porcs et produit une viande ayant des qualités pour la consommation plus désirables comparativement aux systèmes conventionnels. Puisqu’il n’existe que peu de recherche pour appuyer cette hypothèse, l’objectif de cette étude était d’évaluer les effets du système d’élevage sur le bien-être des porcs, la qualité de la viande, la croissance des porcs en finition et la performance économique. Le gain de poids quotidien était similaire entre les porcs élevés dans les abris circulaires et ceux en porcheries conventionnelles. Cependant, les porcs en abris circulaires consommaient 7% plus d’aliment que ceux en porcheries conventionnelles. Les porcs en abris circulaires ont démontré un comportement plus explorateur, ce qui suggère qu’ils seraient plus faciles à déplacer et à manipuler. Les besoins en main d’œuvre étaient de 14 minutes par porc dans les porcheries conventionnelles, alors qu’elles n’étaient que 8,5 minutes par porc pour ceux en abris circulaires. Du point de vue économique, un prix de vente plus bas a été obtenu pour les porcs en abris circulaires. Un prix de vente plus bas, jumelé avec un coût élevé de litière, a donné des revenus nets négatifs. De manière générale, il n’y avait pas de différence dans la qualité gustative de la viande entre les deux types d’élevage. Nous en avons conclu que les abris circulaires diminuent l’efficacité de croissance des porcs, changent le comportement de ceux-ci, mais n’ont aucun impact sur la qualité de la viande de porc produite.
Les effets pulmonaires de l’exposition à l’air de porcherie.
Posted in: French Articles by admin on | No Comments
La production porcine a subi de rapides changements en passant d’opérations de taille familiale jusqu’aux entreprises industrielles à grande échelle. Vu qu’un nombre augmentant de porcs sont élevés à grande échelle dans un environnement confiné, certains employés de ces porcheries peuvent être employés pour travailler huit heures par jour. Les travailleurs de porcherie présentent une incidence plus élevée d’obstruction pulmonaire et d’inflammation des poumons, ce qui est attribué à des expositions de haute intensité à l’air des porcheries et à des expositions interrompues. L’air dans ces porcheries contient des gaz, de la poussière, des microbes et des endotoxines; ces endotoxines est le principal agent soupçonné de causer des problèmes respiratoires. Cette revue tente de décrire l’état courant de la connaissance des incidences et des mécanismes problèmes respiratoires suivant l’exposition à de l’air de porcherie.
Respiratory Protection Provided by N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators Against Airborne Dust and Microorganisms in Agricultural Farms
Posted in: Air Filtration, Pork Insight Articles by admin on November 28, 2005 | No Comments
A new system has been developed to determine the workplace protection factors (WPF) for dust and bioaerosols in agricultural work places. The study was performed with a person wearing an N95 filtering facepeice respirator while doing typical farm tasks such as feeding animals, harvesting grain, unloading grain, and facility investigations. Results showed that the particle size increased along with the geometric means. The WPF for total cultural fungi was greater than for total culturable bacteria. Among the different microorganism groups, the WPFs of Cladosporium, culturable fungi, and total fungi were significantly correlated with the WPFs of particles of the same sizes. When the WPFs for dust particles was compared to the WPFs for bioaerosols it was found that the bioaerosols were below 10 more frequently, which is a recommended assigned protection factor (APF). Over half of the WPFs for microorganisms were below the proposed APF of 10. The APF of 10 for an N95 filtering facepeice respirators seems inadequate against microorganisms. This study provides preliminary data to establish guidelines for respiratory protection against airborne dust and microorganisms on typical farms.
Defining the impact of transportation and handling practices used for Ontario Market pigs
Posted in: Ontario Pork, Pork Insight Articles by admin on September 14, 2005 | No Comments
In-transit pigs deaths are rare but they do happen at a rate of about 15-17 pigs per 10 000 shipped. The reasons for these deaths can come from a number of factors such as loading and unloading, the trip itself or the time spent at the slaughter house. A recent study has identified that most of these deaths are a result of on farm actions rather than on the truck or at the slaughter house. This study attempts to identify what on farm practices are resulting in in-transit death losses because there is great variability in farms that suffer from in-transit death. Farms who produced over 500 pigs per year and suffered high in-transit death losses were observed during load outs and paired with a farm that produced similar numbers but had low to no in transit death losses. Farms with high losses were more likely to use a assembly yard and also to use there own truck if they had a assembly yard. High loss farms tended to allow pigs to crowd more often than low loss farms. Prods were more commonly used for the high death farms. The high loss farms were more likely to have steeper ramps with less cleats. There are many factors that influence the amount of death loss pigs, some major factors are the ones that increase the heart rate of the pigs before shipping (steep ramps and prod use). Also changing light and floor patterns deter pigs from moving which increases human interaction which has potential to raise stress and heart rate of the pigs.
Leptin Enhances Porcine Preimplantation Embryo Development in Vitro
Posted in: Ontario Pork, Pork Insight Articles by admin on August 23, 2005 | No Comments
Recent studies have suggested that leptin plays an important role in reproduction. Ob-R is expressed in the murine embryo, and is suggested to play a role in embryo development, although contradictory results have been reported. In the present study, Ob-R expression was observed both at themRNAand protein levels in porcine early embryos.We have also demonstrated that leptin is produced in the porcine oviduct, making it spatially available to interact with its receptor during preimplantation development. When included at 10 ng/ml in embryo culture medium, leptin significantly increased the proportion of cleaved embryos (P < 0.01). At day 7 of in vitro culture, leptin at 10 and 100 ng/ml increased the proportion of embryos reaching the blastocyst stage (P < 0.01). We have previously observed that leptin increases oocyte maturation in vitro, and here we report that inclusion of leptin in both IVM and embryo culture medium further increased blastocyst development (P <0.05), compared to when leptin was included in the embryo culture alone, suggesting leptin has a synergistic role on both oocyte maturation and preimplantation embryo development. The study suggest that leptin plays a positive role in the development of porcine preimplantation embryos. In addition to adding to knowledge on regulation of early embryo development, these results may also have clinical applications. In the pig, the current success rate of IVF and nuclear transfer techniques remains low. The finding that the inclusion of leptin in IVM and embryo culture mediums enhances early development suggests that leptin may aid in the optimization of these techniques, possibly leading to improved success rates.
Pork Farm Odour Modelling Using Multiple-Component Multiple-Factor Analysis and Neural Networks
Posted in: Ontario Pork, Pork Insight Articles by admin on August 20, 2005 | No Comments
It is proposed that the multiple-component neural network model be extended to make use of multiple-component multiple-factor analysis. First, a neural network model and a linear multiple regression model are developed and compared using multiple-component analysis to demonstrate the better modelling technique for pork farm odour. The odour samples were collected using a vacuum box fitted with a pump to draw air into 10 L Tedlar bags. The odour dilution threshold was determined within 48 h of sampling using trained human assessors and a dynamic olfactometer. Approximately 20% of the samples, or 26 data points, were randomly selected for model testing and the remaining 80% of the samples, or 105 data points, were used for model development. The neural network model of the pork farm odour yielded more accurate and precise odour intensity predictions than the linear multiple regression models, indicating that neural networks are the better modelling technique for this application. Subsequently, a multiple-component multiple-factor neural network model was developed and compared with the multiple-component neural network. The multiple-component multiple-factor neural network model generated performance gains, indicating that this approach is relevant to modelling pork farm odour. The multiplecomponent neural network model provided better performance than the corresponding linear multiple regression model. This demonstrated that multiple component farm odour models benefit from the use of contemporary intelligent modelling techniques, specifically neural networks.
Evaluation of the aerosol transmission of a mixed infection of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus
Posted in: Air Filtration, Pork Insight Articles by admin on July 23, 2005 | No Comments
The objective of this study was to evaluate the transmission of M. hyopnemoniae and PRRS by aerosol as either a single or mixed infection. 28 pis were inoculated with M. hyopnemoniae and with PRRS 35 days later. These pigs were all held together in the same barn. To test for single infection (before day 35) a group of 10 five week old pigs were put outside the barn in a trailer one meter away from the fan. To test for mixed infection two groups of 10 week-old pigs were placed on the side of the barn after the pigs had been infected with PRRS. The pigs in the first trailer did not test positive for M hyopneumoniae infections. In the other two trailers pigs tested positive for a M hyopneumoniae but none tested positive for PRRS.
Assessment of a group-housing system for gestating sows: Effects of space allowance and pen size on the incidence of superficial skin lesions, changes in body condition, and farrowing performance
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Welfare by admin on May 25, 2005 | No Comments
This study looks at the short term effects of converting a gestation style barn into a group housing barn and how the change in pen size and sow mixing causes or impacts skin lesions, body condition and reproductive performance. 285 sows were put into groups of 11 to 31 sows and held in either large or small pens. Also 98 sows were held in gestation crates. The bodies of the pigs were assessed before they entered the specific housing unit and after they left. Also recorded was piglet birth weights, liveborn piglets and stillborn piglets. Body condition was not effected by group housing in any pen size or space allowance. Group housed sows initially had more skin lesions but it did not depend of size of the pen or space allowance, and the occurrence of lesions decreased over time. Group housed sows had slightly heavier piglets and larger litter sizes. Switching to sow housing did not effect body condition or effect reproductive performance, skin lesions were a temporary side effect of mixing.
Laboratory model to evaluate the role of aerosols in the transport of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus
Posted in: Air Filtration, Pork Insight Articles by admin on April 16, 2005 | No Comments
This study attempts to develop a model to evaluate the aerosol transmission of the PRRS virus. The PRRS virus traveled by aerosol as far as 150m. A portable air sampler was used to collect air samples at 1, 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150m. The process was repeated 5 times at each distance and then the air samples were tested by TaqMan PCR and virus isolation. PRRSV RNA was detected in all five replicate air samples collected at 1, 30, 60 and 90 m, in four of the five collected at 120 m, and in three of the five collected at 150 m. Further testing involved exposing PRRS negative pigs to the aerosolised PRRS virus after it had traveled 150m. Half of the pigs in the experiment became infected with PRRS, and swab samples taken from the interior of the housing chambers were PRRS positive.