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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:
Mineralization of Manure Nutrients
Posted in: Environment by admin on January 1, 2002 | No Comments
CONSTRUCTED WETLAND DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE FOR SWINE LAGOON WASTEWATER TREATMENT
Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments
Le phosphore dans le sol et dans l'eau
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Le phosphore, un nutriant essentiel A la vie des plantes et des animaux, peut nuire A la qualitA
The effect of dietary energy concentration and lysine: Energy ratio on the growth performance of weaned pigs
Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments
Amino acids should be included in the diet in proportion to energy content to ensure adequate intake. The results of this experiment indicate the optimum ratio for pigs growing from 7.5 to 22 kg is 4.65g total lysine/Mcal DE. This is higher than most previous recommendations. Increasing dietary energy did not improve pig performance. The most economical diet for weanling pigs will change as market prices and ingredient costs change.
Alternative housing for sows and litters Part 3. Effects of piglet diet quality and sow-controlled housing on performance and behaviour.
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Fifty-four sows and their litters were used to determine the effects that piglet diet and the ability of the sow to control contact with her litter would have on sow and piglet performance. Sows were either assigned to a confined or sow-controlled housing system. The piglets were fed either a standard diet or a high-complexity diet, which resulted in four possible treatment combinations. Confined housing kept the sow and her litter together, while sow-controlled housing allowed the sow to leave her piglets whenever she wanted. The two diet treatments were a standard diet, which is similar to what is typically fed to weanlings, and the high-complexity diet was divided into three phases throughout the experiment and was higher in protein and fat content. The sows’ and piglets’ were weighed, as were their feeders, to determine gains and feed consumption. The weaning-to-oestrus interval was recorded for the sows. The piglets were weaned from the sow at 28 days of age and the study concluded at 49 days of age. Prior to weaning piglets that were fed the high-complexity diet consumed more creep feed than did piglets on the standard diet. By day 41, the piglets on the standard diet weighed the same as those fed the high-complexity diet, which is likely due to the piglets fed high-complexity diet being switched to the standard diet 10 days before the completion of the experiment. Sows housed in the sow-controlled pens had a 10% decrease in nursing frequency, which resulted in the piglets assigned to this treatment consuming 69% more solid feed. Despite the increase in creep feed consumption by the piglets on the sow-controlled system, they still gained less weight than piglets in the confined housing treatment. After weaning, piglets from the sow-controlled housing system ate more feed and showed a reduction in the amount of weight they lost. This was not enough to compensate for the lower weight gains seen before weaning, thus piglets in the confined housing treatment weighed more at the end of the study. There was a strong linear correlation between the amount of time the sow spent away from here piglets with nursing frequency, and piglet feed consumption prior to weaning. There was also a weak linear relationship with sow feed intake and weight loss and piglet weight gains during the week following weaning. The housing treatments did not have an affect on the weaning-to-oestrus interval.
Feeding small quantities of grain in the parlour facilitates pre-milking handling of dairy cows: a note.
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The idea that a food reward can be used to train animals to submit voluntary to management procedures is becoming well developed in the literature on animal welfare. Grain feeding has been studied a way to induce cows to use automatic milking machines on a regular basis. The aim of the present study was to determine how the amount of concentrate fed affects the cows’ behaviour in entering the parlour, and the likelihood that cows will defecate or urinate in the parlour. Cows within one milking group received 0, 0.3 or 0.6 kg of concentrate per milking in the parlour using a computer controlled feeding system. Cows were observed before and after the treatment began, recording order of entry, latency (s) to fully enter the parlour, if the cow needed to be pushed into the parlour and if the cow defecated or urinated while in the milking parlour. Cows receiving feed moved up in the milking order by 7.6 positions once the treatment period began. The latency for these cows to entered the parlour reduced during the treatment, and these cows were 59% less likely to require being pushed. This latter effect carried over to the control cows that were not fed in the parlour: these control cows were less likely to be pushed during the treatment period. There was no effect of feeding on the proportion of animals that defecated or urinated while in the milking parlour. Although feeding had a positive effect on entry into the parlour, the amount of food provided had no effect. Therefore the results of this study indicate that even small quantities of concentrate can act to motivate parlour entry, reducing the need for pushing and other interventions that may have negative effects on the cows.