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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:
Influence of mating ratio and group size on indicators of fearfulness and stress of hens and cocks
Posted in: Welfare by admin on January 1, 2002 | No Comments
Heterophil to lymphocyte ratio and duration of tonic immobility are indicators of stress and fearfulness, respectively. This study was designed to examine the effects of the male to female mating ratio on the heterophil to lymphocyte ratio and on the duration of tonic immobility in two different experiments. In the first experiment, four different mating ratios (1:11, 1:5, 1:3, and 1:1) and 10 different Spanish breeds of chickens were allocated to breeding pens of 12 birds each. Experiment two used two different mating ratios (1:11 and 1:1) and four breeds allocated to pens of 60. There were significant differences among mating ratios for the heterophil to lymphocyte ratio in females of both group sizes. Hens housed with a mating ratio of 1:1 had a higher heterophil to lymphocyte ratio than hens with a 1:11 mating ratio in the group with 12 or 60 birds. In the 1:1 mating ratio, hens had significant heterophilia and lymphopenia. The 1:5 and 1:3 ratios did not differ from the 1:11 ratio. In the 1:1 ratio, the effect of group size was significant, but it was not significant in the 1:11 ratio. Tonic immobility did not differ between the mating ratios for hens. In the mating ratio of 1:1 and in the group size of 60 birds, cocks showed a shorter duration of tonic immobility than cocks housed with a 1:11 mating ratio. Results in the study suggest that very high mating ratios should not be used in conservation populations because they increase physiological and psychological stress responses.
The effects of cognitive behavioral intervention on the attitude and behavior of stockpersons and the behavior and productivity of commercial dairy cows.
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Two experiments were conducted among 123 commercial dairy farms in order to examine the effectiveness of a stockperson training program that was directed towards numerous attitudinal and behavioral variables previously related to fear of humans and productivity in dairy cattle. Treatments consisted of an Intervention treatment, which was designed to improve the attitude and behavior of stockpeople towards dairy cattle, and a Control treatment, in which no intervention was attempted. At Intervention farms, stockpeople showed more positive beliefs about the handling of the cows, and they used a lower rate of tactile interactions when handling the cows. The cows at these farms indicated a lesser fear of humans by allowing a shorter flight distance to the human. Alternatively, 36 % of Intervention farms failed to show a reduction in flight distance over two lactation periods. Intervention farms at which fear levels had declined showed a higher milk yield than other farms, although there were no significant effects of treatment on milk yield (i.e. Control vs Intervention on the whole). In the second experiment, a significant increase in milk yield was found among cows in the Intervention treatment. Protein and milk fat levels responded similarly. Conclusions indicated that cognitive behavioral interventions that successfully targeted key attitudes and behavior towards cattle that regulate the cow’s fear of humans offer good opportunities to improve the productivity of cows within the industry.
Influence of winter weather and shelter on activity patterns of beef cows.
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Cattle grazing native rangelands during winter must balance forage intake, a source of energy gain, while minimizing thermal stress, a potential source of energy loss. Another source of energy loss is related to time spent on different activities by cattle. Natural or man-made shelter may alter time spent on different activities. The objective of this was to determine if access to windbreaks altered diurnal activity patterns of beef cattle grazing a windy, foothill range site during winter, and if diurnal activity patterns could be related to weather. Diurnal activity patterns of cattle could be observed with and without access to windbreaks for two winters on an exposed pasture in southwest Montana. Actual use of windbreaks was only recorded in winter 2. Time spent behind windbreaks ranged from 0 to 30%. Activity pattern of wind break and nonwindbreak cattle differed in subtle ways indicating they used similar behaviours to minimize energy expended and o maximize energy gain. Wind velocity had minimal effect on grazing time, presumably because high wind velocities were associated with relatively warm days, or the animals were in sufficient condition to tolerate high wind velocities. Instead of minimizing energy expended by lying down during extreme cold, cattle spent more time standing, which maximizes heat gain from solar radiation. At times, winter weather may be energetically demanding, but results of this study indicate that these cows, under long-term selection for performing under such winter conditions, adjust physiologically and behaviourally to daily and seasonal weather events, as long as they are in sufficient body condition.
Effects of daily protein intake levels on the oral stereotypic behaviours in energy restricted lambs.
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Oral stereotypic behaviours are common in feedlot lambs and take the form of biting and licking objects. This study examined the effects of mild feed restriction on the development of these stereotypies, as well as the effects of protein level within the restricted treatments. All lambs (38 in total) were fed diets containing 12.1 MJ ME/kg DM. The restricted fed lambs were fed their diets at 85% of the ad libitum intake of the control animals. The two restricted groups had different levels of protein in their diets as well. Both restricted diets resulted in higher levels of various licking and biting behaviours. In terms of overall oral stereotypic behaviours, the high protein restricted treatment had higher levels than either the low protein restricted or the ad libitum treatments, which did not differ. Energy restriction resulted in increased oral stereotypies, and high levels of protein in the diet increased the levels of stereotypies even further.
Value of Feed Peas to Swine Diets
Posted in: Economics by admin on | No Comments
This study was undertaken with the following objectives: 1) identifying feed deficit regions in the United States, 2) determining the value of field peas as a ration ingredient in swine diets, and 3) identifying the most valuable nutritional components of peas for this use. The results of the study suggest that peas are an attractive alternative as a feed ingredient in hog diets, especially in feed deficit regions. Peas can be part of the least-cost diet replacing corn, barley, and soybean meal. Except at high prices or under low-cost periods for alternative feedstuffs, peas can constitute up to 39 percent of the diet for pigs in the 50 to 80 pound weight category. For hogs 80 to 140 pounds, peas account for up to 52 percent of the diet if prices are low enough. Peas can constitute 36 to 42 percent of the diet for hogs in this class. It is possible for peas to account for 63 percent of a least-cost diet for hogs 140 to 190 pounds, but this would require lower than average prices received in recent years in North Dakota. With reasonable prices, though, peas could account for up to 54 percent of the least-cost diet for hogs in this phase. With very low prices, it is possible for the least-cost diet for 190 to 260 pound hogs to consist of 71 percent peas. Even with this high inclusion rate, methionine is not added because the larger hogs have lower requirements for amino acids.
Next Generation AI – New Developments to Maximize Efficiency
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The number of doses per boar ejaculate is important for determining the efficiency of artificial insemination. Per year, an average boar can service 600 to 750 sows. In order to increase the sperm output per ejaculate, researchers have been experimenting with fatty acids and vitamin E, with fairly good success. It has shown to give 100 more piglets per 100 sows tested. Methods are being discovered to reduce the number of sperm per dose from 2.5 – 3.0 billion down to 20 million! This is done by deep intra-uterine insemination, where insemination occurs past the cervix and into the uterus. Treatment with PGF2 can increase the uterine contractions/sperm uptake, which could potentially result in less sperm required per dose. Pinpoint time of ovulation is also being studied in order to enable a single, successful insemination. In order to reduce semen wastage, work is being done to enhance extender to allow a longer shelf life and tolerability to lower temperatures, and in turn research is being conducted to identify successful methods of freezing semen. If producers were able to sex the sperm it would help the breeding pyramid of the operation.
Salmonella Control in Feeder Barns
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Salmonella is a bacterium that can infect humans as well as livestock. One such example of a Salmonella infection resulted in a 3.9% mortality in a 2000 head finisher herd. The pigs were water treated with Neomycin and injected with Borgal. After the herd finished out, a new bunch was brought in. This group developed the same characteristic yellow diarrhoea. Mortality was contained at 1.3%. After that batch the barn was washed more thoroughly a new batch was brought in. These developed Salmonellosis as well but to a much lesser extent. This carried on for 2 more batches of pigs. The problem subsided when an internal biosecurity system was created, routine chlorination of water lines began, more thorough cleaning, and better rodent control. No more clinical infections were seen after that. The question remained: where did the infection come from? Testing various sources concluded that the purchased feeder pigs, trucks, and feed were unlikely candidates while water was a possible candidate. Rodents were the likely cause of survival of the Salmonella between batches. Aerosol spread was the likely cause of the spread between rooms (the Salmonella would have gotten around in the re-circulation ducts).
How Feed Evaluation and Feed Intake Are Related
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Voluntary feed intake of pigs determines nutrient intake levels and thus has a great impact on efficiency of pork production. Adequate feed intake is hard to maintain on many farms and is then an important factor limiting productivity. Stressors (for example, hot temperature, increased stocking density and reduced health status) together with genotype influence feed intake and thus growth. Furthermore, dietary factors, including energy density, deficiencies or excesses of nutrients, antibiotics, flavours, feed processing, and availability of water influence feed intake. Differences in intake of pigs fed different batches of ingredients have rarely been described. The spectrum of factors that affect voluntary feed intake is very broad. The purpose of this paper is to highlight some of these factors, to describe issues relating feed intake to feed evaluation, and to give an overview of feed evaluation research at Prairie Swine Centre. Various stressors influence voluntary feed intake in swine. Stressors can be grouped into environmental (temperature, humidity, air circulation, etc), social (space allocation, group size, re-grouping, etc.), and immunological (disease, pathogen concentration, etc.) factors. The DE content of feed appears to be an important factor to determine feed intake of grower-finisher pig, and determination of DE content of individual ingredient samples is thus important. Ingredient factors other than DE content may play a role as well. Because feed intake is the ultimate driver of pig performance, and thus the barn throughout, this is a critical area of future research.