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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:
Behavior and reproductive performance by stalled breeding females on a commercial farm.
Posted in: Welfare by admin on January 1, 2004 | No Comments
Stereotypic behavior is an indicator of bad welfare. Gestating pigs housed in individual stalls show more stereotypic behavior than those housed in groups. However, there is not comparison in stereotypies among the gestating pigs housed in stalls. This study investigated postural behavior, stereotypic behavior in stalled gestating females on a commercial farm, and assessed the relationship between behavior and reproduction performance. A total of 609 gestating females were observed 25 times (instantaneous sampling at 15 min intervals) after feeding during 6 hr of observation period. Postural behavior (lying, standing, and sitting) and stereotypic behavior (vacuum chewing, drinker playing, and bar biting) were recorded. Reproduction data, including farrowing rate and total piglets born, piglets born alive, piglets born dead, birth litter weights, piglets weaned, and adjusted 21-d litter weights were collected. The results indicated that females showing a high frequency of vacuum chewing during gestation produced fewer total piglets born than those showing no vacuum chewing. No relationships were found between vacuum chewing and other measures of reproduction. Neither postural behavior nor the other stereotypies were related to reproductive performance. This study suggested that a subpopulation of females existed on commercial farms that frequently exhibited vacuum chewing and gave birth to fewer total pigs. High frequency of vacuum chewing in those females may be indicative of their suboptimal reproductive performance.
Input = Output, Interpreting the Results
Posted in: Production by admin on | No Comments
The growing demands of the pork industry are resulting in the requirement of increasing data management. PigCHAMP is an example of a program that can be used to interpret farm results into data that can be applied to the barn to initiate improvement. Locations, body quality, feed intake, etc. can all be input into this program and analyzed. PigCHAMP can be used to manage processes, monitor performance, diagnose problem areas, and forecast future production. The data integrity report and action lists will help to ensure the quality of information input. Data will also help to minimize production costs, which is important in today’s day and age. It allows us to fine tune an operation to maximize revenue. For example, records can help to reduce non-productive days if we know how many times we HNS gilts before breeding, or what the average amount of regular returns are that occur. If we know there is a problem in these areas, we can fix them. We can also use the farrowing rate report to maximize the amount of crates occupied and reduce fixed cost per pig.
Developments in Global Pig Production
Posted in: Production by admin on | No Comments
Global meat consumption will increase as the human population increases. East Asia, North America, and Europe are the major players in pork production. China contains nearly half the worlds pig population, and Japan imports the most. In the US and Canada, pork production has increased within the last decade. The US has changed from an importing to an exporting country due to pork export being 4 times more profitable than grain export. Europe has relatively cheap labour and land prices, so they are expected to grow. Markets are changing from production to market oriented, which means we are going more and more towards a consumer-oriented product. This means we need to be aware of the desires of the consumers both in product and production. Different supply chains should be built for different products. Consumers expect attractive, nutritious, and safe food from environmentally responsible producers. Breeding companies must develop different breeding lines in order to fulfil the requirements of the production chains. Five basic items affecting the supply chain are food safety, quality (through risk analysis and risk management policies), production, cost, and information. Tracking and tracing throughout the whole chain is necessary to state the guarantees. Monitoring of all parts of the chain is essential.
Antibiotic in swine diets: consequences of withdrawal? Part II
Posted in: Production by admin on | No Comments
In a previous edition, we discussed why antibiotic resistance and the use of antibiotics in swine diets are considered to be problematic. An obvious question then is to look at what actually happens when antibiotics are withdrawn from swine diets. In this edition we will look at whether this is necessarily a good thing and whether we create any unintended consequences when we do this. The economic benefits of including antibiotics in swine diets are clear; this is the main reason why producers include antibiotics in swine diets. Data collected from over 1,000 experiments in the United States from 1950 to 1985 showed an increase in growth rate and feed efficiency in all phases of growth; with the greatest increase in young pigs. Growth rate increased by 16.4% during the starting phase (7-25 kg ), 10.6% during the growing phase (17-49 kg), and 4.2% during the grow-finish phase (24-89 kg). Likewise, feed efficiency increase by 6.9%, 4.5% and 2.2% during the starting phase, growing phase and growing-finishing phase, respectively. When antibiotics are taken out of swine diets there has been a dramatic decrease in antibiotic resistant microorgansisms isolated from swine. But there has not necessarily been a similar decrease in antibiotic resistant bacteria of the same species and for the same antibiotic in humans. This means that bacteria isolated from hospital setting were still resistant to an antibiotic that was withdrawn from swine diets. The reason for this is not well understood but is probably the result of co-selection of the antibiotic resistant organism by some other mechanism. However, studies done in Germany, The Netherlands, and Italy, have demonstrated a significant decline in antibiotic resistant bacteria in hospital settings after specific antibiotics have been banned in food animals. Here in Manitoba we need to be investigating scientifically based alternatives. In the next issue we will look at what these alternatives are.
Vegetable Oil Sprinkling as a Dust Reduction Method in Swine Confinement
Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments
KINETICS OF AMMONIA REMOVAL IN A PILOT−SCALE BIOFILTER
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