Liquid Feeding of Pigs: Implications for Pig and Human Health

Posted in: Production by admin on January 1, 2005 | No Comments

Human health is a major concern in agriculture (e.g. – Salmonella). Contamination of human food begins at the crop level from vectors such as bird feces and other vermin. The industry is well aware of risks such as these, so there are quality processes in place to monitor quality control. However, consumers in the UK are suspicious that quality control measures are not enough to prevent the spread of Salmonella from pigs to humans. Surveillance data shows that this is not that case at all and that only 5 to 30% of carcasses may be Salmonella positive. If hygienic food preparation measures and thorough cooking are performed then there is minimal risk. Cross contamination from poor food handling procedures is the biggest concern.

Pelleted feeds have shown to be a vector of Salmonella contamination within pigs. This is due to the fact that non-pelleted feeds require more time in the stomach to digest; therefore the organisms are exposed to more stomach acid, which can be enough to kill the organism. There has been great success in Europe in lowering Salmonella contamination by feeding liquid diets. Liquid diets have been fermented by lactic acid, which increases the acidity of the feed, thereby making it inhabitable by Salmonella species. This fermentation benefits the feed because of the lactic acid content of the feed from the mill will help reduce the risk of contamination after the mill stage of processing. Predictable fermentation can be achieved by inoculating liquid feed with lactic acid bacteria that produce lactic acid rapidly and have a high terminal lactic acid concentration. This does not appear to affect complete diets that contain no synthetic amino acids.

Piglets have poor stomach acid concentrations. Feeding fermented liquid feed (FLF) increases the acidity of the stomach, therefore reducing the amount of bacteria in the stomach. In fact, when piglets are weaned directly onto FLF the amount of lactic acid bacteria is greater than the amount of coliforms in the stomach, which is a similar attribute to piglets that continue to suckle.

Foreign Animal Disease Outbreaks – Are You Prepared?

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The CFIA regulates Canada’s importation of animal and animal products to control diseases regulated by the OIE. The diseases they are most concerned with are foot and mouth disease, swine vesicular disease, African swine fever, and hog cholera. The introduction of any one of these diseases would be detrimental to the industry. The producer’s role in disease prevention is to have very strict biosecurity. Any disease outbreak must be reported to a veterinarian. The CFIA has a prepared plan of action in an event where a foreign animal disease enters Canada. The veterinarians are able to order animal destruction, but disposal methods must be followed by provincial standards. Compensation from such an act is described by the Health of Animals Act (Section 51), and includes amount of compensation, maximum value, and additional compensation. When an FAD is diagnosed, the facility will be quarantined by the CFIA. Then an investigation will be carried out, and all contacts with the barn will be quarantined as well. Investigation will be carried out in facilities of close proximity. Once the disease is confirmed in the initial facility, the NCFAD (National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease) will order the animals destroyed. With readily available information, this process can be completed within 48 hours of disease suspicion.

Moisture Effects on Facility Life: Sources and Corrections

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Moisture, when unmanaged, can be the source of a variety of problems affecting the life of both the interior and exterior of swine facilities. It can cause rot, corrosion, mould, staining, shrinkage and/or swelling, and insect infestations. Moisture balance is based on wetting and drying. Sources of wetting include rain, air, built-in moisture, and soil moisture. Sources of drying include drainage, evaporation, air leakage, and heating. The amount of water vapour depends on the air’s capacity to hold it and is affected by temperature. Condensation occurs when the maximum holding capacity is exceeded (warm air can hold more). Water vapour moves by diffusion (more moisture to less moisture) and convection (high pressure to low pressure). Sources of moisture include livestock (manure, urine, and respiration), equipment (drinkers, pipes, heaters), and structure (water “ponding”, ice damming, air leaks, etc.). Moisture problems specific to swine facilities include corrosion, mould, and decay. Control of moisture is important and can be done by rain and air leakage control, drying, and adequate ventilation. Manure and urine should be removed as quickly as possible. Equipment should be maintained and repaired so it functions efficiently, and structures should be designed properly to minimize problems that may occur.

EFFECTS OF ROOM OZONATION ON AIR QUALITY AND PIG PERFORMANCE

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The DE Content of Western Canadian Swine Feeds Determined With the Mobile Nylon Bag Technique

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The successful incorporation of unfamiliar ingredients into swine diets is often limited by the availability of information on their nutrient content. Since the energy content of swine diets represents the largest and most expensive portion of the diet, knowledge of the digestible energy (DE) content of alternative ingredients can provide feed formulators with insight into the nutritional value of these feeds and promote greater use of these non-traditional ingredients in swine rations. The direct determination of the DE content of swine feeds typically involves either the total collection of feces or the use of a digestibility marker. These techniques are time consuming, expensive and require a large quantity of feed. These problems can largely be overcome by using the mobile nylon bag technique (MNBT). In this method, small samples of finely ground feed are sewn into nylon bags and placed into a small beaker containing hydrochloric acid and pepsin to simulate gastric digestion. After a short incubation period, the nylon bags are removed from the beaker and inserted into the digestive tract of a pig through duodenal cannulae. The amount of material remaining in the nylon bag, after passage through the digestive tract is then used to calculate nutrient digestibility. A modified protocol for the MNBT has recently been developed at the University of Saskatchewan. This new protocol has been used to determine the DE content of 39 ingredients with potential to be used in swine rations. The MNBT has several advantages compared with conventional digestibility methods in that many feeds can be tested in a relatively short duration of time with significantly fewer animals being used, only small amounts of feed are required and the test allows for energy measurements in feedstuffs that would not normally be fed to pigs as a single ingredient. Use of the MNBT to accurately determine the energy content of alternative feed ingredients could allow swine nutritionists to establish a hierarchy between available feeds on an objective basis and to ensure that any rations formulated using those ingredients meet the energy requirements of the animal. The overall results of this study indicate that the MNBT has great potential for use in determining the digestible energy content of swine feeds. For the most part, values obtained in the present experiment compared favourably with previously published values. Where differences were obtained, variation in chemical content provided a reasonable explanation for the discrepancy. This in combination with that fact that we have previously compared our modified MNBT with conventional digestibility methods and obtained similar results leads us to believe that the MNBT is a useful tool in determining DE values for swine.

Effects of fermented liquid feeds on the performance, digestibility, nitrogen retention and plasma urea nitrogen (PUN) of growing-finishing pigs

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Effects of hindgut fermentation of non-starch polysaccharides on the stability of blood glucose and insulin levels and physical activity in empty sows

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The main objective of this study was to find out if fermentation plays an important role in the effects of a fermentable non-starch polysaccharides (fNSP) rich diet on the stability of glucose and insulin levels and physical activity in sows several hours after feeding. Ten empty sows were either fed a low- (L-sows) or a high-fNSP diet (H-sows), twice daily. In three successive periods, sows received first no infusion and then, in different sequences, continuous fNSP infusion in the cecum or glucose infusion in the blood for 8 days each (GLU; energetic control). The fNSP infusion was as effective, or even somewhat more effective than the GLU infusion in stabilising blood glucose levels in L-sows and reducing physical activity in both L- and H-sows. Insulin stability was less affected by the infusions. Both the GLU and the fNSP infusions prevented the 15% interprandial decline of glucose below basal
levels, which was observed in L-sows with NO infusion. Basal levels themselves, however, in L-sows with a fNSP infusion were reduced by 7% in comparison with NO infusion. This lower level did not seem to cause a higher pre-prandial feeding motivation. As no differences were found in physical activity and stability of glucose levels between L-sows receiving a fNSP infusion and H-sows receiving a GLU infusion, it can be concluded that fermentation
(intracecally received fNSP) can achieve the same effect as fermentation plus gut fill (orally ingested fNSP).

Evaluation of Four Farm-scale Systems for the Treatment of Liquid Pig Manure

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In some regions in the Netherlands, high pig concentrations and limited availability of arable land have led to a surplus of manure which results in high off-farm manure disposal costs. The aim of manure treatment is to lower manure transport costs by reducing the volume and to improve market prospects by changing the nutrient composition. The objective of this study was to promote the introduction of manure treatment in the Netherlands by giving research support to farmer initiatives and providing them with data on the actual performance of their system with regard to product composition, mass flows, gaseous emissions, and economic feasibility. Four farm-scale systems for treatment of liquid pig manure were studied: two systems for mechanical separation, one for nitrification/denitrification, and one for evaporation. The results showed that a wide range of manure products could be obtained that differ in dry matter, N, P, and K content. The emission
of ammonia and odour varied from 1
8 to 55gt1 [manure] and from 3
8103 to 1
3107 [European odour
units] t1 [manure], respectively. The nitrification/denitrification showed the highest emission of greenhouse gases (48 kg [carbon dioxide equivalents] t1 [manure]), mainly nitrous oxide (N2O), whereas the emission of the other systems was 12–17 kg [CO2-eq.] t1 [manure].
The critical success factor for the operation of the manure treatment installations turned out to be not of technical but of economical nature. The manure treatment costs, including variable and fixed cost, varied from 7 to 17h t1 (excluding value added tax). To be cost effective in comparison with the disposal of untreated manure, these costs must be balanced out by the sale or the lower disposal costs of the manure products. As market prospects and disposal costs for manure and its products differ from case to case, no generally preferred manure treatment technique can be pointed out from this study, as local market circumstances must be taken into account.

Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emission in the Canadian Hog Sector

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The issue of greenhouse gas emissions is receiving increased attention in the Canadian agricultural industry. Internationally, many scientists agree that global climate change is occurring. It is believed that global warming is being caused by increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. To reduce the impact of climate change, the government of Canada has launched a number of national programs, some of which apply specifically to the agriculture industry.
The agriculture sector has been called upon to provide voluntary reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. On April 22, 2002, the Honorable Lyle Vanclief, Federal Minister of Agriculture, announced the Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Program for Canadian Agriculture funded under the Climate Change Action Fund 2000. This program is aimed at promoting the adoption of beneficial management practices, through communication and on-farm demonstration activities, which have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining or improving the economic viability of the farm.

Responsibilities for the program are being shared by four national agricultural industry groups: Soil Conservation Council of Canada, Dairy Farmers of Canada, Canadian Cattlemen’s Association and the Canadian Pork Council. Thei nclusion of the four industry partners will allow the program to be tailored specifically to individual commodity producers, as well as provide an opportunity for the entire sector to work together to find solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Program Coordinator has been hired by the Canadian Pork Council to represent the pork industry in the program and implement this three-year program for the hog sector.

A planning workshop, held in December 2002, provided the CPC with stakeholder feedback and guidelines for undertaking communications with producers out ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on their farms. There has been considerable concern within the producer community that mitigation strategies will be costly and that emissions targets for the industry are not economically feasible. This is not necessarily the case, as most management practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions are the result of improved production efficiency, which generally result in increased profitability.
Some of the management practices that the program will highlight include: hog ration manipulation to maximize growth efficiency and reduce manure nutrient excretion, matching hog manure application rates and timing to crop nutrient uptake, and the use of manure storage covers to decrease methane produced during storage.

Beneficial management practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, through the development of infrastructure on demonstration sites, the program will provide opportunities for western Canadian universities and research institutions to conduct practical on-farm research, and collect valuable economic data. This will better enable producers to determine whether the demonstrated practices can be worked into their individual operations.
Among the first projects tobe funded through the Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Program is the development of a “Guidebook for Environmental Management in the Hog Industry”. It will serve as a benchmark for environmentalmanagement information for the Canadian hog industry, and inform producers of the latest research findings . One factor that sets thisguidebook apart from those developed previously is the inclusion of economic analysis for all the management practices discussed, allowing producers to evaluate the viability of the practices on their own farms.
Regular updates on theGreenhouse Gas Mitigation Program will be featured in each edition of the Western Hog Journal over the next year and will include details on the management practices being demonstrated across Canada, as well as local events that producers may wish to attend. For more information about the program, please contact Cedric MacLeod, Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Program Coordinator for the Canadian Pork Council

Microbial quality of runoff following land application of cattle manure and swine slurry

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