The Real Impact of Boars in Breeding Programs

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

The boar is obviously an essential part of any swine operation. There is a lot of labour involved with the use of a boar in an AI system, so the question arises: is it worth it? We know that boars can stimulate puberty, heat detection, and return to estrus, but can it actually increase fertility? Boars release pheromones (specifically, androstenol and androstenone), which are smelled by the female and help to invoke a standing response. Boar stimulation will also increase the release of LH (Luteinizing Hormone) in the female, which will lead to follicle development, production of steroids, and ovulation. Young boars are not effective in reducing the age to puberty in gilts. Wean to service intervals can be impacted by boar exposure and even exposure to estrus sows. Some causes of reduced fertility (such as season or parity) can be relieved to some degree by controlled boar exposure. Research shows that 48% of females will stand without boar exposure, but with all types of stimulus this number can be bumped up to 97%. Boars may help AI success by inducing uterine contractions by the sow by inducing an oxytocin release. Boar exposure at time of mating can also serve as added insurance against excessive leakage at insemination.

Emerging Diseases and Their Impact on Animal Commerce: The Argentine Lesson

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Benefits of feeding phytase to growing-finishing pigs

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Phosphorus is an essential nutrient. It is required for bone growth, cell structure, and enzymatic processes, to name a few. However, meeting phosphorus requirements for growing pigs is difficult. That is because approximately 60 % to 70 % of phosphorus in plant-based swine feed ingredients occurs as phytate phosphorus. Phytates are complex molecules that bind phosphorus and other nutrients for storage in seeds and grains. Monogastric animals lack sufficient intestinal phytase, which is the enzyme required to break down phytate molecules and release bound phosphorus. Several studies have shown that supplementing swine diets with the phytase from various sources improves phytate phosphorus utilization. Adding phytase to swine diets may release bound nutrients and increase their digestibilities. However, the extent of such improvement varies with source of phytase and diet type. The objective of our study was to investigate the efficacy of a microbial phytase, specifically Phyzyme XP, a microbial 6-phytase, on phytate phosphorus hydrolysis by growing-finishing pigs. Results from this study show that there was no significant dietary effect on feed intake, average daily gain or feed efficiency. Phytase supplementation did improve fecal phosphorus digestibility compared with the non-supplemented diets. There was no significant difference in phosphorus digestibility between supplementing phytase at 500 or 1000 units of phytase per kilogram of diet. Supplementing the negative control diet with 500 units of phytase per kilogram of diet improved gross energy digestibility from 86.6% to 87.8%. The effect of phytase supplementation on calcium, crude protein, and dry matter digestibility was not significant, but there was a 3% improvement in dry matter digestibility as a result of phytase supplementation at 500 units per kilogram of diet. It was concluded that the phytase enzyme evaluated in this study improves phytate phosphorus utilization in growing-finishing pigs. Microbial phytase may also enhance energy and dry matter utilization of the diet. However, there appears to be no benefit to supplementing this particular phytase at a rate higher than 500 units of phytase per kilogram of diet.

Water Quality Impacts on the Economics of Nursery Pig Production

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Although water is a critical resource for profitable swine production, there has been surprisingly little research on how various aspects of water relate to pig performance. There is a growing number of pigs being raised in areas where good quality ground water is unavailable, and surface (dugout) water must be used. However, there is very little information on the use of surface water for pigs in general and nursery pigs in particular. Compared to well water, surface water is at a much higher risk of contamination and therefore its quality is likely to be an issue for its use in pig production.
Various water treatment methods are available to the pork industry, but their impact on pig performance is largely unknown. These include chlorination, coagulation, filtration, and pH adjustment. Chlorination is now an accepted practice within the swine industry, at least as it relates to nursery pigs. However, the impact of different levels of chlorination on water intake and pig performance remains a key concern that needs to be investigated.
Therefore the objectives of the project were:
1. To compare the performance of newly weaned pigs provided surface water compared to those provided ground water.
2. To determine the effect of coagulation and filtration of surface water on the performance of newly weaned pigs.
3. To determine the effect of chlorine levels in the drinking water on the performance of newly weaned pigs.
4. To determine the impact of acidification on the performance of newly weaned pigs.
5. To determine the economic impact of surface water quality on pork production.

Crop and Soil Productivity Response to Corn Residue Removal: A Literature Review

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The Cold Facts of Winter Manure Application

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Applying manure to frozen ground should never rank high on a farmer’s nutrient management list. There are criteria that come from the Natural Resources Conservation Service Practice Standard 633. Applications should be made on land with at least 90% surface residue cover and the application rate must be limited to 10 wet tons per acre for solid manure of more than 50% moisture, and 5 wet tons of manure of less than 50% moisture. For liquid manure the application rate is limited to 5,000 gallons an acre. It should not be applied to more than 20 contiguous acres; there should be a break of at least 200 feet. When applying near waterways, ditches, etc, an increase in the setback distance is 200 feet and even further if there are high slopes or high quality streams. For fields with slopes of more than 6%, manure should be applied with alternating strips, 60-200 feet wide. Those fields exceeding 6% slope should be part of a comprehensive nutrient management plan.
There are attempts being made to continue to allow the application of manure in winter because it appears that days are numbered for winter application. The Ohio government does not allow permitted farms to routinely apply manure in the winter and the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) Livestock Environmental Permitting Program must be notified prior to application. In order to reduce the amount of winter manure application farmers should establish cover crops after harvest, use no-tillage whenever possible and incorporate manure directly into the soil.

Intermittent Measurements to determine Ammonia Emissions from Livestock Buildings

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The European Union (EU) has set ammonia emission restrictions for the different member states. To comply with the new regulations, the EU wants new techniques such as adapted feeding strategies and low emission building techniques to reduce ammonia emissions from livestock buildings. However, such ammonia restriction measures are only useful when their efficiency can be measured in the field. Current reliable measuring techniques are mainly based on continuous measurements over a long period (up to 200 days), and this requires expensive equipment. This makes them unsuitable for permanent evaluation on a large number of buildings. The main objective of the study presented here was the development of a procedure to determine NH3emissions from livestock buildings in the field, based on a limited number of measuring days. This method allows several buildings to be evaluated ‘simultaneously’ with the same measuring installation. In this study, high frequent ammonia measurements were taken from real livestock buildings for a year and were used to calculate NH3 emission factors for pig houses. A procedure was developed based on the knowledge that NH3 emission is strongly related to other variables that can be more easily measured over a yearly period, such as temperature, ventilation rate, number of animals and animal weight. Another
assumption was that farm management could have significant influence on NH3 emission, and consequently, this must be incorporated into the predictions.
The prediction error between the measured and the calculated total NH3 emission was less than 3% when
only 8 days were selected over a whole year, on condition that 4 days were selected within the same growth period and 4 other days are selected in at least two other growth periods.

Odour influence on well-being and health with specific focus on animal production emissions

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Climate Change Policy, Markets and Greenhouse Gas Offset Trading

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Climate change refers to a change in long-term climate patterns. Governments are designing policies and programs that enable markets for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trading. The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement to set GHG reduction targets and emission caps, allow targets to be met through market-based strategies such as emissions trading, and have binding consequences for those signatory industrialized nations that do not meet their Kyoto target. Today, Canada and Alberta are in the mid-stages of designing both an offset and emissions trading framework. Two cooperative systems include a Large Final Emitter (LFE) Emissions Trading System (a cap and trade system where allowance or permits can be traded) and an offset system (a form of credit-based emissions trading). GHG offset credits can be generated when a producer makes a practice change that results in either a removal or reduction of GHG emissions. Valid GHG offset credits can only be created through projects that meet certain conditions and are approved by a regulatory authority. The goal of the federal and provincial offsets system is to have rules in place by 2005/2006 that would allow for a more transparent, lower cost approach to generating offsets from agriculture, forestry, and other sectors. The availability of certified offsets will allow regulated companies to meet their GHG reduction target at the least possible cost. It will essentially delay internal technological changes. Before producers decide to change management practices to sell GHG offsets, they should consider market uncertainties such as baseline, price of carbon and ownership. Any offset project must be able to answer whether or not the GHG reductions are measurable, clearly owned, permanent, surplus, real, verifiable, or additional. In today’s carbon market, GHG offsets are selling from $1 to $3 US per tonne of GHG emissions. Experts expect this price to increase between 2008 and 2010. Canada has put a ceiling of $15 per tonne. In Alberta, the landowner owns the carbon in the soil. In the case of reduction credits, ownership is in the hands of the initiator of the reduction/removal practice unless otherwise stipulated by contract. It is important for producers who initiate actions to reduce or remove emissions to get signed contracts with other possible claimants as to what portion of the reductions/removals they own and have the right to sell. Participating in projects today can be a risky business, but there are a number of hedging strategies buyers and sellers can use to mitigate some of the risks. The trick is to identify the risks, understand them, and address them through contract-based strategies. Until the rules for offsets are firmly established, the amount of money to be made is limited due to the high transaction and administrative costs needed to develop contracts.

Performance characteristics of three aeration systems in the swine manure composting

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