Quantity and Quality of Runoff from a Beef Cattle Feedlot in Southern Alberta

Posted in: Environment by admin on January 1, 2004 | No Comments

Corn Growth Responses to Composted and Fresh Solid Swine Manures

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Feasibility and Effectiveness of Several Options for Regulating Manure Phosphorus Management in Manitoba

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Manure is a valuable source of Phosphorus for crop production. However, applying too much manure P, especially in the wrong place, is not only agronomically wasteful, but potentially harmful to the environment. As a result of recent increases in Manitoba’s production of livestock, the risk of transfer of manure P from agricultural land to surface water is probably increasing. However, the amounts of P that are discharged from livestock production and other agricultural activities are very difficult to determine due to a lack of hydrological data and, more important, a lack of data on the transfer of P from soil to water. Part of this problem is due to the highly variable impact of soil type, P management, landscape and climate on P retention and release by soil, information that is not well documented for Manitoba conditions. Fortunately, livestock producers have a wide variety of potential techniques for reducing P discharge from their operations; however, the technical and economic merit of these techniques is generally not well documented either, for Manitoba conditions. As a result of these challenges, legislation and regulation regarding P management should be introduced cautiously to ensure environmental protection without undue hardship to the agricultural industry. The Manitoba Livestock Manure Management Initiative (MLMMI) initiated this project in response to concerns about increasing concentrations of phosphorus (P) in Manitoba’s surface waters. Manure P has been identified as a significant source of soil P enrichment in areas of high density of confined livestock operations. The objective of the first phase of the project was to review existing knowledge on the role and fate of P in livestock and crop production systems specifically relevant to Manitoba and to identify gaps in that knowledge. The objectives for the second phase were to: investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of several options for regulating P management in Manitoba, and conduct four case studies to evaluate the impact of various regulatory options for P management on Manitoba hog farms.

Size-selective assessment of airborne particles in swine confinement building with the UVAPS

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Feasibility and Costs of Phosphorus Application Limits on 39 U.S. Swine Operations

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An Assessment of Nitrogen-Based Manure Application Rates on 39 U.S. Swine Operations

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Épandage des déjections du bétail

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Les odeurs, la poussière due à la circulation routière et la contamination potentielle du sol et des eaux sont fréquemment associées à l’épandage des déjections. Ces problèmes peuvent être souvent réglés de façon efficace en utilisant des techniques de gestion appropriées et en tenant compte des pratiques culturales et des règlements en matière d’environnement.

Enzyme Supplementation and Feed Processing Solutions Provide Solutions for Low-Quality Grains

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The nutritional quality of wheat or barley can vary substantially (see previous Centre of Swine Volume 10 Number 3). Ignoring the existing variation may cause lower finished feed quality and thereby impact the swine producer economically through reduced growth performance.

For wheat and barley, reduced nutritional quality usually means a reduced digestible energy (DE) content. The reduction in DE content is almost completely caused by a reduction in energy digestibility, not by a reduction in the total amount of energy in the ingredient sample (or gross energy = GE content). The reduction in energy digestibility is usually related to an increase in fibre content of the grain.

Solutions for the use of low quality grains in diet formulations while maintaining growth performance should focus on two aspects: (1) correcting diet formulations to achieve the formulated diet DE content or (2) enzyme supplementation or feed processing to overcome to reduction in energy digestibility of the grain. For either solution, correct prediction of DE content of individual wheat and barley samples may be critical, but the impact of correct prediction of DE content on further decision making regarding enzyme supplementation or feed processing to improve energy digestibility is poorly understood. Equations to predict DE content of wheat and barley are presently being evaluated using the 2002-harvest.

To study whether a specific wheat sample would impact the beneficial effects of enzyme supplementation or feed processing, three samples of wheat were collected from the 2002-harvest. The three wheat samples (W1, W2, and W3) had a similar content of crude protein (18.8 to 19.7% DM) but had a wide range in neutral detergent fibre (NDF) content (W1, 20.1; W2, 29.3; and W3, 35.7% DM).

Results of a digestibility study with grower pigs indicate that the increased fibre content for samples W1 to W3 indeed resulted in decreased energy digestibility (Figure 1) and reduced DE content from 3,680 to 3,320 kcal/kg DM, confirming the importance of ingredient evaluation and that an increase in fibre (NDF) coincides with a decrease in energy digestibility and DE content. The range in wheat DE content also reflects a range in economic value of more than $15 per tonne of wheat used for swine feed.

Wheat diets were supplemented with a carbohydrase enzyme (xylanase). The enzyme should help the pig to digest energy, because negative effects of fibre fractions (or arabinoxylans) on energy digestibility will be alleviated. Indeed, enzyme supplementation improved energy digestibility for wheat samples W2 and W3, but not for wheat sample W1 (Figure 2), indicating that the beneficial effect of enzymes is dependent on the wheat sample in the diet. This result further stresses the importance of ingredient evaluation, or the importance of enzyme supplementation to alleviated expected differences in energy digestibility. The underlying reason for the positive response for W2 and W3 to enzyme supplementation and the lack thereof for W1 will be related to the content of fibre fractions in the wheat, specifically the fraction called xylan. Therefore, the wheat samples are presently being analysed for these fractions to further related wheat characteristics to prediction of an enzyme response.

Wheat samples were ground across three hammer mill screens to achieve a predicted particle size of 900, 650, and 400 mm (microns). Particle size reduction should help the pig to digest energy, because a finer particle size means that the ratio of surface area to volume of the particles is increased. In other words, digestive enzymes of the pig or microbes of the pig have better access to the nutrients with a finer particle size. Indeed, enzyme supplementation improved energy digestibility for wheat samples W2 and W3, but not for wheat sample W1 (Figure 3), indicating that the beneficial effect of particle size reduction is dependent on the wheat sample in the diet.

Xylanase and phytase supplementation on growth performance of grower pigs

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The nutritional value of wheat millrun with xylanase and (or) phytase supplementation in wheat based diets for growing pigs was evaluated. Wheat millrun inclusion depressed energy and P digestibility and also ADG, but had no effect on ADFI and G: F. Xyalnase and phytase reduced ADFI and improved nutrient digestibility. However, the improved nutrient digestibility did not result in improved growth performance.

Diseases: What You Can do to Prevent Them

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Dr. John Harding offers his opinion on 3 health issues that are limiting the productivity and financial returns in Western Canada. Piglet scours has a negative impact on growth rate and efficiency, and should be somewhat easy to control, but has proven to be rather difficult. Scours can be prevented by attaining a diagnosis on the specific infectious agent, improving sanitation, improving farrowing hygiene, creating a comfortable environment, treating all cases promptly, enhancing breeding herd immunity (vaccinations or feedback), and establishing good farrowing barn routines.

“Suis-ide” diseases refer to meningitis, septicaemia, arthritis, and heart valve infection. These diseases can cause severe illness or even sudden death. The specific strain should be cultured from the source of infection for preventative measure as well as for treatment procedures for the specific strain. These diseases can be prevented by again finding a specific diagnosis, mass medication programs, sanitation, adopt all-in-all-out rooms, reduce environment stress, vaccinate, and treat individual pigs. Condemnation originating in the finisher barn is the third area. Arthritis and abscesses are the most common problems. These directly affect the processing because of the consumers demand for a quality product. Some causes of condemned carcasses include retained testicles (ensure proper castration), tail chewing (provide toys for pigs to chew on), chronic arthritis (treat promptly), adhesions (aggressively treat respiratory diseases), milk spot livers (improve sanitation and de-worm), and erysipelas (vaccinate or treat).