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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:
Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Program – Canadian Pork Council
Posted in: Environment by admin on January 1, 2005 | No Comments
Improvements in pork production efficiency have always been important to maintaining a viable and competitive Canadian pork sector. Because increasing production costs often outstrip increases in farm gate commodity values, improved production efficiencies assume an important role in maintaining farm profitability. In the past, combining environmental sustainability with positive economic spin-offs for the farm has been difficult. In many cases, pork producers have implemented conservation practices, with little return on investment. An overall industry willingness to provide this societal service has resulted in the generation of a forward thinking and environmentally responsible industry. The emergence of a new area of environmental sustainability, greenhouse gas management, has the potential to offer some quantity of cost recovery for environmental sustainability and potentially increase farm income.
COVER CROP/DAIRY MANURE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS: WATER QUALITY AND SOIL SYSTEM IMPACTS
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SELCO-Ecopurin pig slurry treatment system
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A Checklist for Water Use
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John Patience and Ken Engele
Like energy, protein, minerals and vitamins, water is a nutrient that is required in the diet of the pig. Indeed, the pig can survive much longer without these other nutrients than it can without water. This becomes especially true in hot weather.
Pigs obtain water from three sources: water physically contained in the feed, water consumed by drinking, and water produced through chemical reactions as part of normal metabolism in the body. Maintaining water balance is extremely important, as even small changes in water balance can result in serious consequences to the pig. The water requirements of the pig have never really been defined. Research at the Prairie Swine Centre and elsewhere has found that free choice water intake in young growing pigs with free access to feed is about 2.2 to 2.8 times the intake of feed. Thus, a pig eating two kilograms (kg) of feed will normally drink at least 4.5 litres of water per day.
Nursing sows have a somewhat higher intake, approaching four times their feed intake, due to the water needed for milk production. The above estimates do not allow for wastage, which can be quite high (40+%), especially with nipple drinkers. Also, additional water must be added to the above intake levels to compensate for hot weather, excess minerals or protein in the diet, or to help the pig deal with certain health problems such as scours. Pigs do not drink only to satisfy their physiological need for water. Pigs will also drink water to alleviate a feeling of hunger, or out of boredom. The impact of “luxury” intake must not be underestimated, especially in gestating sows since they are limit fed; boredom and hunger can increase water intake many fold over basic requirements. One critical question for pork producers is what are the minimum and maximum flow rates necessary to optimize health and productivity?
While solid research on the subject is limited, reasonable estimates can be provided: weanlings and growers – 750 to 1,000 millilitres per minute (mL/min) and nursing sows – 1,000 to 2,000 mL/min. Water quality is also a common issue on the Prairies. Quality can be evaluated using microbiological, physical and chemical criteria. Within each, individual items relate to safety and/or aesthetics. For pork producers, iron and manganese can be problematic, since they plug screens and cause other delivery problems. For example, iron will cause problems in screens if it is above 0.3 parts per million (ppm); the tolerance for manganese is 0.05 ppm. Filters, chemical treatment or settling tanks can all be used to reduce iron and manganese in the water. However, the most common concerns of pork producers are associated with sulphates, which cause diarrhea and at very high levels, poor performance. A recent study, conducted with the cooperation of Stomp Pork Farms in Leroy, Sask., demonstrated that weanlings can perform quite well with water containing 1,600 ppm sulphates.
Panel Presentation: Water Management: Water Intake and Wastage at Nipple Drinkers by Growing-Finishing Pigs
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Minimizing the waste of water will reduce both water use and slurry volume. Researchers performed an experiment to investigate actual water intake and wastage of pigs at the recommended nipple height/flow rate, how nipple height and flow rate affect water intake and wastage, and the effectiveness of drinker management in reducing water wastage under commercial conditions. Water wastage was decreased when nipple height was adjusted to fit the size of the pig. Water flow rate had a minimal impact on water wastage. With good management, water usage from nipple drinkers can be reduced by 15% compared to unadjusted nipples, and achieve levels obtained using a bowl drinker.
Estimating the Impact of Voluntary Labeling of Trans Fats on the Market Demand for Processed Foods: A Nested PIGLOG Model Approach
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To analyze the market demand response to the introduction of voluntary trans fat labels, we build upon a well-developed microeconomic model of consumer choice that incorporates the role information plays in individual decision-making (Swartz and Strand; Smith, van Ravenswaay and Thompson; Brown and Schrader; Wessells, Miller and Brooks; Piggott; Piggott and Marsh; Kalaitzandonakes, Marks and Vickner; Marks, Kalaitzandonakes and Vickner). Mathios (2000) in particular investigated the impact of NLEA on a processed food market using a random utility model. Teisl, Bockstael and Levy (2001) used the Foster and Just (1989) framework in conjunction with an Almost Ideal Demand System (Deaton and Muelbauer) to investigate the impact of nutrient labeling in a small sample of stores in New England. Both the Mathios and Teisl et al. studies were limited in terms of data quality; lack of a representative sample and low frequency time series limit their findings.