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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:
Applying Alternative Technologies To Cafos: A Case Study
Posted in: Environment by admin on January 1, 2005 | No Comments
Reducing Salmonella Transfer from Manure to the Environment
Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments
There is concern that the application of hog manure slurry to fields used to raise crops or graze animals may increase risk that both animals and humans which/who consume products and produce from manure-treated fields could be exposed to potentially pathogenic organisms. Salmonella is carried and shed by a variable but measurable portion of cattle and hogs. There is also concern that use of contaminated manure on fields may increase the frequency of pathogen shedding by animals and establish an undesirable increase in the cyclic pattern of shedding. Concern regarding the quality of water in adjacent areas is also justifiable, should there be development of pathogen reservoirs in manure-treated soils. To determine the potential survival of pathogens, using Salmonella as the test group of organisms, three studies were conducted. Since earlier work had shown that these and other pathogens would not be problematic in agricultural environments if manure could be held at 25 C for 90d or longer before being spread on land, the first study was designed to monitor the temperature at different depths in both above-ground and earthen manure storage reservoirs in Manitoba over a period of about a year. The second study evaluated the survival of Salmonella added to manure slurry from sow, feeder and nursery barns stored at 4, 25 or 37 C for 90d, with those stored at 4 C being tested up to 300d. The third study examined the survival of Salmonella in inoculated manure added to clay or sandy loam soils subjected to seasonal sequences of temperatures representing exposures likely over 180d in Manitoba during the winter/summer, spring/summer or summer/winter seasons. Temperature histories from the above-ground and earthen manure storage reservoirs which were located near La Broquerie, MB, showed that for spring application to fields, manure temperatures had previously ranged from 0.5 to 8 C in the above-ground storage and from 1.5 to 11 C in the earthen storage. In contrast, manure applied in the fall had previously been exposed to temperatures of 14 to 19 C and 16 to 17 C in the above ground and earthen manure storage reservoirs, respectively. Thus, storage temperatures experienced by hog manure slurry, regardless of the type of storage reservoir, would not be high enough to ensure that slurry was pathogen-free at the time it was applied to soil. In the second study it was found that inoculated Salmonella survived slightly longer in nursery manure slurry stored at 4 C than in sow or feeder manures. At 37 C no Salmonella was recoverd after a week from any samples and at 25 C the organisms survived up to 90d. At 4 C Salmonella survived 300d in the manure slurry. While Salmonella did not grow in any of the samples, its ability to survive in manure slurry at cooler temperatures suggests that organisms can survive both over the winter and possibly during summer storage in reservoirs in Manitoba. In the third study, which examined the effects of exposure to seasonal temperature sequences upon Salmonella survival in soils amended with hog manure from a nursery barn, it was found that the organisms survived better in the clay loam than the sandy soil and survived best when soil moisture was higher. Regardless of season at manure application, the largest decrease in Salmonella viability occurred within one week. Salmonella survived 180d) in both soils during the summer-winter exposure but was not$longest (isolated after 160d from sandy soil exposed to other seasonal treatments. For all but one treatment, reduction in Salmonella viability was rapid enough to suggest that a 30d delay between field application of manure in the spring or fall and use of the land would provide reasonable assurance that crop and animal contamination by Salmonella originally present in the manure would be minimized.
Concentrations of additive arsenic in Beijing pig feeds and the residues in pig manure
Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments
One Less Chore for the Producer
Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments
Pre-sorting pigs by weight at the beginning of the growing and finishing stage offers no major advantage to producers, according to results from trials at PSCI. Ethologist Dr. Harold Gonyou oversaw the trials. He says while the conclusions might come as a surprise in terms of current production practices, they make sense based on what we know about pigs’ social behaviour. For the producer, it means one less chore.
“You don’t have to worry about spending time sorting your pigs,” Gonyou says. “It’s not that critical to the productivity of the animal.” This shift in popular wisdom comes from management changes in the last 20 years. Back then, the practice of sorting by weight had merit, as pigs that were three or four weeks apart in age might be grouped together. In addition, pigs weren’t given all the feed they could eat. Under such a system, smaller animals were at a definite disadvantage. Today, groups of pigs are typically only a few days apart in age, producing a very uniform range of weights. They are also demand-fed, so they get all the feed they want. Under this system, social interaction becomes more important. It’s better to keep together pigs that know each other and have an established hierarchy. This reduces fighting and other problem behaviour. Two trials were conducted to answer the questions of whether pigs should be sorted by weight, and whether continuous flow or all in-all out pig flow management should have a bearing on the decision. Pigs were classified as Heavy, Medium and Light before being put into pens. Barrows and gilts were handled separately, as it has been established that each gender has different protein requirements and growth rates. For the uniform pens, pigs from a single weight class were grouped together. For the variable pens, pigs of two or more weight classes were included. Researchers kept track of how fast the pigs were growing, how much they were eating, how aggressive they were, how much time they spent at various activities, and how long it took to bring them up to finished weight. There were no adverse effects from having variable weight pens. Uniform and variable weight pens emptied at the same rate under the continuous flow system (an average of 105.5 days). There was no significant difference in the way the pigs behaved. Under the all in-all out system, sorting appeared to slow down the rate of turnover in the pens. Rooms of variable weight pens emptied nearly six days faster, on average, than the rooms with uniform weight pens (110.9 days for uniform pens versus 104.1 days for variable pens). Gonyou says the results from the PSCI trials are consistent with previous studies he has conducted, and there is growing confidence that sorting by weight is unnecessary. In fact, when pen-emptying rate is factored in under the all in-all out systems favoured today, it makes more sense to randomly assign pigs to pens, within gender.
TAKE HOME MESSAGE
Sorting pigs requires labour, and results in remixing, a practice known to reduce feed intake and gains in growing pigs. The practice is not adding value to a continuous flow barn and may be detrimental to room turnover in all in-all out barns.
Panel Presentation: Water Management: Tips for Saving Water
Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments
Proper water management is essential for production performance. It is important to do a water audit for determining farm-specific water use, ensure proper placement and height of water nipples, check and adjust flow rates, consider cup/bowl drinkers, use wet/dry feeders in grow-finish, avoid high mineral concentrations, and avoid excessive protein. The adoption of wet/dry feeders, water nipple waste reduction, and drinker height/flow can improve net income by $1.05 per pig.