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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:
Biosecurity & You
Posted in: Production by admin on January 1, 2005 | No Comments
Dr. Shawn Davidson offers key components of biosecurity and attempts to identify specific pathogens that are biosecurity risks. There should be a 30 to 60 day quarantine period for any new stock entering the herd to protect from organisms such as Strep suis and Haemophilus parasuis. The quarantine facility should ideally have its own staff. There should only be one source of breeding stock rather than multiple. 3.2 km between farms appears to be adequate to prevent area spread of diseases such as PRRS and Mycoplasma hypopneumoniae. The ability to put large distances between barns makes building an operation in Saskatchewan and Western Canada optimal. In regards to transportation, trucks should be thoroughly washed and dried to tackle possible PRRS, and load-out chutes should have a “point of no return†so that workers do not enter the trucks and vice versa. Personnel who do enter the barn should shower through and change into clothing supplied in order to prevent PRRS, TGE, and zoonotic diseases such as Salmonella and influenza. Semen brought in from external sources should be free of PRRS or PCV2, or at the minimum have a sufficient semen-monitoring program. Rodents (e.g. – rats, mice, birds, etc.) should be minimized, and any barn supplies that may pose a risk should be disinfected.
Compensation Measures – A Necessary Condition for a Successful Foreign Animal Disease Effort
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The Canadian swine and pork industries have a huge interest in preventing foreign animal diseases from entering Canada. Today, Canadian producers sell their products to more than 90 different countries worldwide. An outbreak of a foreign animal disease such as foot-and-mouth disease would cause a negative economic impact of over $45 billion! In Canada it has been more than 40 years since an outbreak, with hog cholera in the 60s being the most recent. The key concern for producers is what is the compensation for destruction of infected animals, preventative stamping out in control zones, and loss of income during the interval before restocking is permitted. An adequate compensation program must compensate maximums per animal, compensate provisions must be equitable across species, differences in values between commercial and breeding values must be recognized, must be based on market intelligence and data, and allowances must be provided to account for the length of time before the affected farms are able to once again generate revenue.
Non-Negotiables of Gilt Development
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Effective gilt management programs that will meet replacement targets from a smaller pool of gilts with improved lifetime breeding performance are urgently needed. More efficient gilt management improves both the utilization of space and labour, and actually achieves a flow of gilts within the design specifications of the gilt facility. This will ultimately reduce annual replacement rates, improve sow condition, decrease sow death losses, and increase labour efficiency and space utilization. Effective gilt pool management strategies allow producers to achieve desired bodily and physiologic targets for gilts at first service. It also maintains economic efficiencies of a small, well-managed gilt pool. Achieving desired body and physiological targets is essential for maximizing lifetime productivity of the female. Gilts should be bred at a target weight of 135 to 150 kg regardless of age and back fat level. Measuring back fat will not provide a meaningful measure of sow body condition in terms of impacts on longevity and lifetime performance. Gilts should be bred at second estrus (if the body weight is at least 135 kg). Proper selection and management of these replacement gilts should be an integral part of any breeding herd. Only gilts that have been chosen as ‘select gilts’ should be bred to enter the sow herd. The overall targets of any gilt development program should be 80% of gilts selected within 28 days, 100% gilts bred at second estrus, 100% bred at target weight, and 85% bred during a 5 day period. On a daily basis starting at about 170 days of age, gilts should be removed from their pens and taken to a designated heat-checking area to allow full contact with a team of mature, active, vasectomized boars. As gilts exhibit an HNS, they must be weighed and back fat/loin eye must be checked. If they can be bred at their second estrus they should be taken to an individual stall.
System Level Economic Analysis of Swine Diet Modifications
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Influence of regrouping strategy on performance, behaviour and carcass parameters in pigs
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One thousand two hundred pigs were weaned at 4 weeks of age and mixed to form groups of ten animals that were balanced
for gender. The results show that there are benefits in forming uniform weight groups at 10 weeks of age because it reduced within-group variability in weight at slaughter. However, regrouping at the start of the finishing period has negative welfare implications in terms of leading to increased aggression.
Carcass composting for management of farm mortalities: A review
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Gaseous Nitrogen and Carbon Losses from Pig Manure Derived from Different Diets
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Manipulation of the diets of pigs may alter the composition of the manure and thereby the environmental and agricultural qualities of the manure. Laboratory studies were performed to quantify the effect of manipulation of pig diets on the chemical composition of the derived manure (slurry), the potential emission of methane (CH4) and ammonia (NH3) during anaerobic storage of the manure, and the potential nitrous oxide (N2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emission after application of the manure to soil. The diets differed in contents of crude protein and salt (CaSO4), and the type and contents of nonstarch polysaccha- rides (NSP). Emissions of NH3 and CH4 during storage were smaller at a low than at a high dietary protein content. The emission of NH3 was significantly related to the contents of ammonium (NH4), total N, and
pH. The emission of CH4 was significantly related to contents of dry matter, total C, and volatile fatty acids in the manure. The effect of manure composition on N2O emission markedly differed between ethe two tested soils, which points at interactions with soil properties such as the organic matter content. These types of interactions require soil-specific recommendations for mitigation of N2O emission from soil-applied pig manure by manipulation of the diet. From the tested diets, decreasing the protein content has the largest potential to simul- taneously decrease NH3 and CH4 emissions during manure storage and N2O emission from soil. An integral assessment of the environmental and agricultural impact of handling and application of pig manure as a result of diet manipulation provides opportunities for farmers to maximize the value of manures as fertilizer and soil conditioner and to minimize N and C emissions to the environment.