The Effects of Crowding on the Performance of Grower and Finisher Pigs on Fully and Partially Slatted Floors.

Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on January 1, 2005 | No Comments

Summary

Crowding affects the productivity of grow/finish pigs and it is generally believed that floor types differ in required space. This study was designed to determine if there is a significant interaction between the two factors. Crowding resulted in a reduction in ADG, but the type of flooring did not make a difference.

Introduction

Floor space allowance remains one of the more contentious issues in the debate on modern farm practices and animal welfare. It is generally believed that space requirements for maximum growth will vary with housing conditions. The Code of Practice recommends that pigs on partially slatted floors be provided with more total floor area than those on fully slatted floors. However, some research has suggested that there are no differences in the effect of crowding on these two floor types. This study was conducted to gain a better understanding of space required for pigs housed on either fully or partially slatted floors.

Economic impact of research in the pork industry

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Pork producers are continually looking for areas in which they can gain a competitive advantage. One of these areas is through early adoption of research results. The possibility of lowering production costs and increasing revenues through successful implementation and use of new technologies is of great interest in the pork industry. However, the financial risks and rewards perceived may limit the extent of technological adoption. Prairie Swine Centre together with George Morris Centre have developed an analytical tool to help provide more detail on the economic impact of research results. This model can simulate the economic impact by applying Prairie Swine Centre research results to various sizes of commercial farms. This information allows the producer to assess current technologies that would best fit their operation.
Estimating economic impact on an operation is very important when implementing new technologies. Twenty-two Prairie Swine Centre experiments between 1999-2004 were selected for a detailed financial analysis in order to value the economic impact of research on the pork industry. These experiments were then prioritized in terms of net benefit per hog marketed and ease of adoption. It was found that the specific research projects selected between 1999-2004 generated net benefits to producers of $0.11-$8.84 per hog marketed. Of these projects analyzed, 25% generated at least $2.00/hog marketed and another 25% generated more than $1.00/hog marketed. Overall, the main objective was to assist pork producers in identifying ways to minimize costs and maximize revenues by 1) identifying technologies, 2) prioritizing actions in terms of ease of application and 3) implementing them in a strategic manner.
Ease of adoption of experiments was divided into categories of Easy, Moderate and Difficult. It was estimated that 80% of the Easy category experiments were adopted by pork industry producers, 40% of the Moderate level experiments and 10% of the category deemed Difficult. Annual benefit to the pork industry is $160 million with two thirds generated from adopted Easy and Moderate categories of projects. Research pays big dividends! The continued provision of applied near market research done at Prairie Swine Centre benefit both pork producers and the industry. Even if not all producers are able to implement all research results they would still realize a significant improvement to their bottom line through incorporation of any number of research results. If 10% of the benefit was adopted it would improve net return over $3.00/hog marketed.

Effects of dietary magnesium and short-duration transportation on stress response, postmortem muscle metabolism, and meat quality of finishing swine.

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Supplementing swine diets with Mg has been shown to have beneficial effects on pork color and to decrease the incidence of PSE pork. Research has demonstrated that supplementing swine diets with Mg decreases blood cortisol and catecholamine concentrations and produces visibly calmer pigs after long-distance transportation. This study was to determine the effects of long-term dietary supplementation of magnesium and short-duration transportation on performance, stress response, postmortem metabolism, and pork quality. Thirty-six pigs in 6 pens were fed either control diet or control diet supplemented with 2.5% magnesium mica (MM) during early-finisher (44 to 68 kg of body weight), and late-finisher (68 to 103 kg) periods. At the end of 71-d feeding trial, 12 pigs from each dietary treatment were selected randomly and subjected wither to no stress (NS) or 3 h of transportation stress (TS). Dietary MM had no effect on average daily gain or feed intake; however, feed efficiency was improved during the early-finisher period when pigs were fed MM-supplemented diets. Plasma glucose concentrations were increased in TS pigs fed control diet, but transportation did not affect plasma glucose in pigs fed 2.5% MM. Transportation increased lactate, cortisol, and glucose concentrations, which were not affected by dietary MM. The LM from TS pigs fed MM had higher initial and 45-min pH values than the LM from NS fed control diet. Neither MM nor TS altered the color or water-holding capacity of the LM and semimembranosus. The transportation model elicited the expected changes in endocrine and blood metabolites, but dietary MM did not alter the stress response in pigs.

Genetics of fear in ruminant livestock.

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This article reviews research that has shown consistency in fear responses in ruminant livestock. The authors also provide evidence that there is a genetic basis for fear responsiveness, and discuss the problems with genetic evaluation and selection. Some of the problems include the absence of validation in experimental designs, the complexity of fear-related responses, and the inconsistency of fear-related responses due to the interaction between genetic and environmental factors. The following topics are discussed: the possible welfare consequences of selection programs currently used, the possibility of including fear criteria in selection programs, and recent evidence on how genes control fearfulness. The ability to select animals that easily adapt and are less fearful has potential to improve their welfare.

Human-mare relationships and behaviour of foals toward humans.

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Recent studies have addressed the ease of handling and other aspects of a foal’s interaction with humans. Most of these have attempted to modify the foal’s response by a program of intensive human interaction and handling of the foal early in their life. In this study the experimenters directed their handling toward the mare, with the hypothesis that mare’s would transfer their response to humans to their foal. Fourty-one mares and foals were involved in the study. Half of the group involved brushing of the mare, with the foal present, for 15 min a day during the first five days of the foal’s life. The other mares and foals received no handling other than a cleaning of the foal at birth and assistance in finding a teat. The foals were tested at several points during the subsequent 15 months for their response in various handling and approach tests. Foals from the treated group, whose mothers had been brushed frequently during the foal’s first five days of life, approached or remained closer to humans in subsequent tests, and accepted handling procedures, such as saddle-pads, more readily than the control foals. It would appear that a foal’s response to humans can be fairly easily influenced by regular handling of the mare in the presence of the foal.

Temporal and sequential structure of behavior and facility usage of laying hens in an enriched environment

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The goal of the study was to gain insight into facility usage and hen behavioral needs throughout a 24-hour period when there were no obvious retraints. Commercial laying hens that had not been beak-trimmed and that were 18 weeks old were allocated to pens providing nest boxes, drinkers, feeders, perches, sand, and wood shavings (also called commodities). Behavior analysis was carried out in order to gain insight into the temporal and sequential structures of behavior. Video analysis was conducted for 10 days and behavior analysis was conducted on 5 birds for 5 days. Hens spent 97 % of the day on nest use, preening, drinking, feeding, still, walking, perching, and resting. Behavior involving a commodity was carried out for 43 % of the day, while non-commodity-oriented behavior was carried out for 57 % of the day. Around 70 % of the behaviors were short, lasting less than two minutes. The behaviors were also frequent, with about 70 % of the inter-event intervals being less than 40 seconds in length. The preferred place for attack, escape, flying, resting, walking, and wing flapping was the pen corridor. Feeding-drinking-feeding, preening-resting-preening, scratching-resting-scratching, dust bathing-resting-preening, or dust bathing-resting-wing stretching-dust bathing were the preferred sequences of behavior. Behavioral events were clustered, even though hens interrupted ongoing behaviors and changed behaviors frequently.

Newborn and 5-week-old calves vocalize in response to milk deprivation.

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Vocalizations by calves are common after they have been separated from the cow and during the weeks they are fed milk. The purpose of this study was to understand the functional and motivational basis for the vocalizations. In the first experiment, some newborn calves were recorded during conventional feeding (twice daily for a total of five liters of milk per day) and some during a feeding regime where the calves were fed every four hours and received eight liters of milk per day. Calves on the conventional feeding regime vocalized more and at a higher fundamental frequency, than those on the revised regime. In a second experiment, calves were found to vocalize more when deprived of milk compared to calves that had ad-libitum access to milk. The results of these experiments indicate that improving milk feeding regimes can significantly decrease the distress associated with weaning. Vocalizations were found to decrease when calves were fed more milk more often. Each calf’s call was determined to be distinctive, through an analysis of call duration, fundamental frequency, and frequency of maximum amplitude.

Effect of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor on post-weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome in porcine circovirus type-2-transfected piglets

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Post-weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS) is a complex disease syndrome in
swine, affecting nursery and fattening pigs. Although ongoing evidence suggests that
porcine circovirus type-2 (PCV2) is the causal agent of PMWS, the host immune system
appears to have a crucial role in the PMWS pathogenesis of PCV2-affected pigs. Owing to
difficulties in producing a biologically pure form of PCV2 devoid of the other viral agents
commonly present in swine tissues, we decided to use a tandem-cloned PCV2 DNA
providing highly pure grade reagent in order to monitor the virulence of PCV2 alone or
with an immunostimulating co-factor, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor
(GM-CSF). A single intramuscular injection of tandem-cloned PCV2 DNA into 5-weekold
piglets produced plasmid to viral genome progeny and infectious particles as early as 8
days post-injection in all the organs tested (the lung, the tonsil and the inguinal, mesenteric,
bronchial and upper-right axial lymph nodes). The initial plasmid load was not
detected with the help of primers designed to specifically detect the acceptor plasmid, thus
confirming the replication of the viral genome. Despite the presence of a high level of
PCV2 genome copies in the lymphoid organs – the tonsil and the lung – and the presence
of infectious particles, no detectable clinical manifestations or pathological lesions were
observed in the transfected pigs over the period of observation, regardless of whether they
had been co-injected with plasmid containing GM-CSF DNA or had received plasmid
containing PCV2 DNA alone. GM-CSF encoding DNA injection had no significant effect
on viral replication or on the production of viral particles and appearance of the disease.

AIR SCRUBBING TECHNIQUES FOR AMMONIA AND ODOR REDUCTION AT LIVESTOCK OPERATIONS: REVIEW OF ON-FARM RESEARCH IN THE NETHERLANDS

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On-Farm Feed Making Equipment: Design and Validation

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Quality control of on-farm feed mixing must include scale and metering device verification, mixer performance testing procedures, and equipment clean out procedures. Electric Volumetric Proportioner Systems are commonly used, but new technology is slowly replacing them. Steps should be taken for these systems to calibrate. This prevents mechanical and flow rate fluctuations. Cross contamination should also be avoided. On-farm mixing equipment must be verified often (no less than once a year) to comply with the CFIA. Mixers are valid if the coefficient of variation for the test batch is within the lower control limit. Scales must be tested with a strict set of steps and regulations. When it comes to types of mixers, there is a unique set of standards for horizontal mixers, vertical mixers, and transverse mixers.

The CFIA has proposed some changes in their Medicated Feed Regulations section for on-farm feed mill operators. These proposed practices include equipment clean-out procedures, scale and metering device verification (which includes scale and metering device performance testing procedures), and mixer performance testing procedures.