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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:
Cross Fostering
Posted in: Production by admin on January 1, 2002 | No Comments
A PorkNet Summary/ — Work reported in the Canadian Journal of Animal Science, Vol. 80, looks at the consequences of cross fostering piglets older than two days of age. The cross fostering was typically done at six days of age. It was concluded that cross fostering at this time did not impair the growth of the piglets, but did facilitate their adaptation to unacquainted piglets after weaning.
Minimum space allowance for transportation of swine by road.
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The minimum space allowance required for pigs in transit at a broad range of body sizes has not yet been adequately assessed or well described. Consultation between the swine transportation industry, animal welfare groups, and a literature review produced a maximal loading pressure recommendation for pigs weighing from 5 to 250 kg body weight. Under ideal conditions, the recommended maximal loading pressure for swine loaded in groups can be described as a hoerl model y = (37.53)(0.9969)W(W0.5008), where y = loading pressure in kg body weight/m2 and W = average animal body weight in kilograms.
Using higher energy diets to improve weaned pig performance
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The weaning period is often associated with problems such as low feed consumption and reduced growth rate. Management of the weaned pig requires special attention to housing, environment and nutrition to reduce the post-weaning growth lag and to maximize performance. Environmental stressors such as weaning site, stocking density and group size can further reduce feed intake and thus the growth rate of weaned pigs. Understanding how the piglet responds to changes in environment and dietary nutrients will lead to improved piglet management and performance. To quantify the effectiveness of increasing energy density as a method to improve weaned pig performance, a study was designed where groups of similar pigs were provided diets ranging in digestible energy (DE) content. It was concluded that in young pigs (10 to 25 kg BW) with free access to feed, the limitation to growth is not due to gut capacity within the dietary digestible energy range of 3,350 to 3,650 kcal DE/kg. Increasing the energy density of the diet did not result in an improvement in pig performance in relation to daily body weight gain or protein deposition. It appears that growth limitations in the young pig are not overcome simply by increasing the dietary energy level. The reason for the lack of response to increasing dietary DE level is not clear; however, the source of energy and the crude protein content of the diet may play important roles in how efficiently the dietary energy is utilized.
Responsiveness of Swine Waste Management Costs to Feeding Low Crude Protein Diets
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Livestock waste management issues are of growing environmental concern in the United States and elsewhere. Lowering the quantity of nutrients excreted by pigs can ease associated environmental problems and at the same time can reduce waste management costs. Reduction in nutrient excretion can be achieved by feeding pigs with low crude protein diets. The paper develops a procedure for calculation of swine waste management costs as function of four dietary regimes. Feeding low crude protein diets significantly reduced amount of nitrogen excreted by pigs. As a result, reduction in waste management costs may be achieved, especially when the pig farm does not have enough land to apply all the manure it generates.
Strategies for Addressing Odor
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A new University of Manitoba study has evaluated several strategies for addressing odor. The 100-page a
Removal of Carbon, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus in Pig Manure by Continuous and Intermittent Aeration at Low Redox Potentials
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A laboratory experiment was conducted to study the effect of intermittent and continuous aeration at an airflow rate of 00667 l min1 l1 of manure on redox potential, pH, organic carbon, total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N) and soluble orthophosphate. Results showed that aeration at this rate could not bring redox potential up to truly aerobic level. A reduction of 24 and 264% in TKN and organic carbon, respectively, was observed during the continuous aeration process. The continuous aeration at this airflow rate also reduced the initial NH4+-N by 323%. Intermittent aeration was approximately as half as efficient in removal of organic carbon, TKN and NH4
+-N as the continuous aeration. However, within a 24 h aeration period, 75% of soluble orthophosphate was removed from solution for both treatments, suggesting that the phosphorus removal efficiency was independent of aeration schemes, so energy could be saved while still maintaining the removal efficiency.
New CAFO rule sits uneasily with livestock producers
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Soil Sampling Manured and Non-Manured Fields in Grass Forage Production
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This survey study was initiated to investigate the nutrient status of agricultural soils in South Eastern Manitoba that have a history of hog manure application and to compare these soils to similar soils that have not received manure. The land areas that were studied were characterized by coarse textured, low agricultural capability soils in grass forage production. The study locations would be considered representative of soil landscapes commonly known as the Poppleton, Pelan and Malonton soil associations. The variability in soil nitrate nitrogen and phosphorus with depth was determined at twelve manured locations and six non-manured locations each about eighty acres in area. Three soil-sampling procedures were conducted at each field location. The first consisted of individually sampling fifteen randomly selected sites identified with global positioning coordinates. The second involved taking a sub-sample from each of these fifteen sites for a single composite sample. The third procedure consisted of selecting, at the investigatora