Liquid Diets for Young Pigs: A “Solution” for Post-Weaning Morbidity and Mortality

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

Piglet mortality and morbidity in the farrowing and nursery stages have shown little, if any, improvement in the past 10 years. Losses can be contributed to poor feed conversion, cost of treatments, and early weaning. Evidence shows that piglets can grow 70% faster on a liquid diet, which implies that sow milk production is not enough to sustain piglets at an older age. All milk-replacer contraptions must be cleaned and sanitized at regular intervals to minimize bacterial growth. This is why many milk replacements have been acidified; it helps to reduce bacterial growth.

Studies have shown that 18 day old pigs grow 2.3 times faster on milk replacement than pigs weaned straight to the nursery or left to suckle. These pigs gained more body fat, 10% more protein, and have a more developed small intestine. The difference is also significant in hotter temperatures.

Energy is the most difficult aspect of milk replacement. Much of the energy in sow milk comes from fat calories. Feed conversion is better in piglets fed high fat milk replacements than low fat replacements. A negative aspect of high fat replacement is an increase of amino acid oxidation (ultimately they excrete more). This results in less muscle deposition than piglets fed low fat replacement (most likely due to the low-fat feed piglets consuming more feed). Corn syrup solids (CSS) fed as a carbohydrate replacement to piglets had no effect on growth performance, feed conversion, or average daily feed intake. It can be a quality alternative to lactose (the main milk protein) in liquid milk replacement diets.

The Real Impact of Boars in Breeding Programs

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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.

Phosphorus Transformation in Pig Slurry due to Diet and Intermittent Aeration Treatments

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The experiment was conducted to study the transformation of phosphorus (P) in slurry from pigs fed two
different diets, i.e. the regular maize–soya bean meal diet with or without a supplement of 9% sugar beet pulp (SBP). The slurry was collected and treated either without or with aeration and intermittent aeration (aeration on/off ratio=10 h:14 h) at an airflow rate of 0
6 lm3 s1 for 15 days. Slurry sources and treatments were composed of a 2 by 2 factorial design. The results indicated that aeration increased (probability Po0
01) the slurry pH by 0
5–0
8 within 24 h, from 6
5 to 7
0 for the SBP slurry, and from 6
9 to 7
7 for the control slurry, but the pH reached 7
6 and 8
0 for the SBP and control slurry in 3–4 days. The average pH of the SBP slurry was lower (Po0
01) than that of the slurry from the control diet (6
67 versus 7
38). However, little change in pH was observed in the non-aerated slurry. Aeration decreased total inorganic P, insoluble inorganic P, and soluble P, but increased organic P by approximately 30mg l1. The average organic P in the slurry for both diets with aeration was about 17
4% higher than that in the same slurry without aeration. Aeration decreased
insoluble inorganic P by about 7
2% and soluble P by about 4
5%. The mass balance of P fractions showed transformation of insoluble inorganic P into organic forms during the aeration stage. The insoluble inorganic P took about 68% of the total P in the slurry, so it is essential to perform solid–liquid separation prior to aeration to enhance the efficiency of soluble P removal because insoluble inorganic P is mainly contained in the slurry solids.

Natural Resource and Environmental Issues Related to Hog Expansion in Alberta

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This study identifies environmental issues and natural resources in certain landscapes in Alberta, which have the potential for expansion. The factors to investigate are 1) soil zone, most hog production is concentrated in the Black soil zone; 2) water supply, the expansions of the hog industry was not found to be limited by it; 3) feed supply ,Alberta has more than enough to support the hog industry there; 4) population density, critical when considering the development permit process because of the neighbor complaints about odour and; 5) minimum distance separation (MDS), there must be the appropriate distance for the manure spreading process as well as the facility itself as there needs to be enough land in the area for the amount of manure that is to be spread or else leaching and run-off will be the results.
Alberta’s livestock associations have taken the lead in developing voluntary guidelines to assist municipalities and producers in siting, design and management of new and expanding livestock facilities in order to deal with the environmental issues relating to livestock production. The development of new livestock operations is controlled at the municipal level in Alberta. New operations will have some form of public review and permit process. Well-defined planning approval processes have greatly reduced risks and uncertainties faced by livestock operators and neighboring residents. With all these different factors being taken into consideration, Alberta is attempting to identify where opportunities lie for expansion of the industry. The most important factors were population density and feed supply. Areas of Alberta have now been chosen for further investigation.

Integrated real-time control strategy for nitrogen removal in swine wastewater treatment using sequencing batch reactors

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Experimental human exposure to inhaled grain dust and ammonia: towards a model of concentrated animal feeding operations

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Agronomic conversion of treated pig slurry on forage crops

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Solid-liquid phase separation of pig slurry allows to control and reduce the amount of phosphorous released in the environment, an advantage for the many farms in a situation of excess phosphorous. Various methods of slurry phase separation allow a relatively important concentration of the phosphorous into the solid phase, whereas most of the nitrogen stays in the liquid phase. We studied the utilization, as nitrogen sources, of liquid by-products obtained through natural decantation, filtration through woodchips, anaerobic digestion and physicochemical flocculation. The agronomic and environmental performances of these liquid by-products to those of raw slurry and mineral fertilizers have been compared. During three consecutive seasons, nitrogen loss through ammonia (NH3) volatilization and emissions of dinitrogen oxide (N2O, a greenhouse gas), after each field spreading have been measured. Dry matter yield and major nutrients’ uptake of timothy were measured for each type of fertilizer. Raw slurry emitted 3 to 4 times more NH3 than mineral fertilizer and 20 to 25% more than liquid by-products. Slurry emitted significantly more N2O than the mineral fertilizer and the liquid by-product resulting from anaerobic digestion. This liquid by-product, followed by the one obtained through flocculation, also resulted in timothy yields and nutrient uptake similar to those of mineral fertilizer. Slurry generally allowed lower timothy performances than did mineral fertilizers and liquid by-products. Despite the agronomic and environmental advantages showed by solid-liquid separation of slurry, the higher nutrient availability of the liquid by-products commands caution when spreading in the absence of actively growing crops.