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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:
Effects of daily protein intake levels on the oral stereotypic behaviours in energy restricted lambs.
Posted in: Welfare by admin on January 1, 2002 | No Comments
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
Posted in: Production by admin on | No Comments
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.
Regulatory Changes for Confined Feeding Operations: New Rules, New Attitude
Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments
In July of 2001, the Government of Alberta announced, effective January 1, 2002, its intention to create a provincial regulatory system for Alebrta’s confined feeding operation (CFOs). CFOs have been defined as fenced or enclosed areas where livestock are confined for the purpose of growing, sustaining, finishing, or breeding by means other than grazing. As a result, Alberta’s hog production will now fall under this system.
The various pieces of legislation that form the backbone of this new regulatory system have been developed by Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development and will be responsible for the Alberta Operations Act and the various associated regulations and standards. Both the approval and compliance processes and requirements set out under the Act, however, will be delivered by the Natural Resources Conservation Board (NCRB). As currently envisioned this will include recieiving and reviewing applications for new or expanding CFOs, providing public hearing when unresolved concerns remain, and ensuring that ther is ongoing compliance with the conditions contained within and approvals issued.
Mineralization of Manure Nutrients
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CONSTRUCTED WETLAND DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE FOR SWINE LAGOON WASTEWATER TREATMENT
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