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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:
Tips for Reducing Odor
Posted in: Environment by admin on January 1, 2003 | No Comments
Odor can be minimized with various management techniques. Minimizing the manure storage surface area, covering manure storage facilities, reducing dust and feed wastage inside buildings, increasing air exchange, filtering odorous air, modifying diets, utilizing pit additives and incorporating manure during land application all help minimize odours.
Over 60% of Iowa producers utilize a “100% containment of manure” system, which greatly reduce odours by storing manure below the buildings in concrete structures. Some final methods of reducing odours include limiting agitation time, limiting the pump outs per year, applying a manure management plan, reducing water and feed losses.
Supplementing Pig Diets with Organic Zinc
Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments
In the swine industry, inorganic zinc is commonly fed in high concentrations to nursery pigs to enhance their growth performance and to prevent diarrhea. This results in large amounts of the nutrient in the manure. When spread on fields it can build up faster than crops can use it, can cause nutrient pollution and water quality concerns. A study was done to determine if lower levels of a commercially available organic zinc-polysaccharide supplement would provide growth performance similar to the inorganic zinc typically fed to pigs. The results show that organic zinc supplements can be fed at rates almost 7 times less than inorganic zinc and still maintain pig growth performance and this could also reduce zinc levels in manure by 76%.
This benefit is not without cost as the organic zinc-polysaccharide costs four times as much per pound as the inorganic zinc. However, since less is rationed out, the additional cost is only 9 cents/pig. For large producers already struggling with nutrient issues, feeding pigs organic zinc could be part of an overall nutrient management plan. It is believed that it is only a matter of time before the Environmental Protection Agency begins to regulate zinc and other micronutrients along with nitrogen and phosphorus.
The next step is to identify the molecular pathways in the pig intestines that are responsible for the differences in organic and inorganic zinc uptake. Learning more about these pathways could further improve utilization of zinc, copper and iron, and lessen potential environmental impacts.
Site-specific Application of Fertilizer N for reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
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The Lack of Science in Kyoto: A Solution for a Non-Existent Problem
Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments
The Kyoto Protocol is a political solution to a non-existent problem without scientific justification. In the late 1980s, the global temperature appeared to be increasing. This brought a concern to the public and “global warming” quickly became an unsupported fact. Some scientists think that it is the carbon dioxide that is warming the earth while some think it is changes in the sun that are creating this increase. The problems with the global warming theory involve work by scientists that have consistently been proven incorrect, inaccurate computer simulations of the environment, and false facts (such as the earth’s atmosphere working as a greenhouse; this is an inappropriate analogy). Rather than the Age of Information, Age of Speculation would be more fitting. Y2K is an example of a speculation that became concern and caused the government to needlessly spend a lot of money on it. Global warming is following the same trend that global cooling followed from 1940 to 1980 where they predicted an ice age eventually. Global flooding is the concern with the ice caps melting. However, how do scientists know that the ice doesn’t displace the same amount of volume as melted water? There may be no change in sea level whatsoever. The panic of ice shelves breaking apart should not be so concerning; it is what ice shelves do! Computer modeling systems are highly inaccurate in both prediction and overall understanding of climate. Whatever the exact figures, human contribution of CO2 is minimal when the entire environment is taken into account. The earth has warmed throughout history (i.e. – North America melted some 20,000 years ago), and it can be safe to assume that this was not due to human-contributed CO2. The media has had its part in increasing concern. They tend to take the theory and distribute it to the public as a solid prediction of what will happen.
Practical Aspects of On-Farm A.I.
Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments
During the last decade, the use of Artificial Insemination (AI) has become common as producers wish to realize the benefits of AI within their herds. Among others, these benefits include the use of genetically superior boars, a reduction in disease transmission and lowered boar housing costs.
Careful attention to detail is required to successfully use AI in a production system. A successful AI program depends on effective heat detection, proper hygiene, correct handling and storage of insemination doses, and proper insemination technique.
Listed below are a few areas that can be trouble spots for a swine AI program and should be monitored closely.
Digestible energy content of low quality barley fed to pigs
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Current equations may not estimate the digestible energy (DE) content of low quality barley. In this experiment, equations were developed using barley’s chemical and physical characteristics to accurately predict the DE content of low quality barley. The best equation explained up to 6% of the variation in barley DE content.
Coping characteristics and performance in fattening pigs.
Posted in: Welfare by admin on | No Comments
A backtest was used to measure coping characteristics at three days of age. Pigs were placed on their backs and the degree of resistance was scored. Pigs either remained in their original litter or were cross-fostered based on backtest scores. Cross-fostering resulted in pens with either all active (high resistance), all reactive (low resistance), or a mixture (high, intermediate and low resistance). At nine weeks the pigs were moved and mixed into the fattening unit (the treatment groups were maintained). The backtest was repeated at 10 and 17 weeks of age. Cross-fostering changed the initial backtest results, such that each group had approximately the same mean backtest results. As a result, there was no relationship found between initial backtest scores and performance on a pen level. However, there was a relationship found between these parameters at an individual level. There was a tendency for active animals to grow faster and have leaner carcasses.