Early feather pecking as a form of social exploration: the effect of group stability on feather pecking and tonic immobility in domestic chicks.

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The feather pecking behaviour from the day of hatching was compared in lines of chicks that were prone to feather peck with those that were not likely to feather peck. Feather pecking was present the day after hatching and by the third day after hatching there was a marked difference between the two different lines that remained for the following weeks. Feather pecking appeared to be socially oriented rather than being related to ground pecking, as when a group of feathers was present the chicks did not peck at them as there was not a social link with the feathers. Therefore, feather pecking may be a result of social exploration rather than the hens redirecting foraging behaviours.

Estimating the Prevalence of Salmonella spp. in Swine Herds a

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Information about the proportion of truly Salmonella-free herds is required for an evaluation of the epidemiological situation, the development of control strategies and their implementation. Findings regarding the presence of salmonellas in faeces and intestinal lymph nodes as well as the presence of Salmonella antibodies in meat juice from slaughtered pigs were obtained in the context of a study conducted by a number of institutes. These data were used for an analysis of the validity of data on the prevalence of infected animals within herds and on the prevalence of infected herds. The proportion of batches or herds with exclusively negative individual findings was found to depend not only on the true proportion of truly Salmonella-free animals within herds but quite essentially also on the distribution of the proportion of infected animals within herds, the sensitivity of the methods of examination and sample sizes. When taking into account the existing dependencies, it was found that among the swine, the real numbers of Salmonella carriers were much higher than shown by bacteriological and serological examination. Regarding salmonellosis in swine, also a number of contaminated herds must be expected which is far higher than that shown by the number of herds with positive findings in at least one animal. Even a low contamination of all or almost all herds would result in the numbers of negative batches observed, i.e. batches with exclusively negative individual findings. A rating of the salmonella exposure of herds as high, low, or very low is possible and may, and should be, used for measures of consumer protection, irrespective of the proportion of truly Salmonella-free herds.

Reproductive Management of Pigs: A Simple to Use CD-ROM for Accessing Information

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Producers struggle to find information regarding effective reproductive management to increase profitability of their operation. Scientists from around the world have gotten together to put together a CD-ROM containing valuable information that can be used by producers to increase their knowledge of many subjects. Topics for breeding herd management include gilt management, mating management, boar/AI management, pregnancy management, farrowing management, lactation management, weaning-to-estrus interval, and culling management. Topics for production modification include nutrition, environmental factors, and hormones. Other topics of interest include litter size, litters/sow/year, and a problem solving section.

Creating Special Pork for the Japanese Market

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The Japanese market has two pork markets: delicious or healthy. The Japanese consumers accept Canadian pork and it is sold chilled (not frozen) beside domestic Japanese pork. The most famous type of pork in Japan is the English Berkshire Pork (Kurobuta). It costs a lot more than regular pork but it is known for its great taste. Tokyo X pork is derived from the Beijing Black Pig. It is known for its marbling ability, which directly improves the flavour. This pork in Canada would cost about twice as much as regular pork. Golden Pork/Super Golden Pork are very highly marbled. It took 50 years to create Golden Pork from the lines of Large White, Landraces, and Duroc (Super Golden Pork was created from Duroc, Large White, and English Berkshire). Super Golden Pork is the most expensive on the Japanese market. Smithfield in the US has a hand in marketing these products. Japanese value tenderness the most, which is why highly marbled pork is desirable in Japan.

VALUE OF FEED PEAS TO SWINE DIETS TO SWINE DIETS

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Selection Programs for Seedstock Producers

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Seedstock producers require sound selection programs to ensure genetic progress for their customers. This fact sheet will aid seedstock producers in determining their selection objective(s) and how
to make selection and culling decisions while managing risk. The concepts of performance testing, expected progeny differences (EPDs), accuracies and selection indexes will also be briefly
reviewed. However, this is not a comprehensive publication on genetic improvement. Before using this fact sheet, it may be worthwhile to read NSIF fact sheets #9 and #10.
The order of topics in this fact sheet are:
1. Determining selection objectives
2. Basics of performance testing
3. Expected progeny differences (EPDs)
4. Accuracies
5. Selection indexes
6. Making selection decisions
7. Selecting and culling sires
8. Selecting and culling females
9. Managing selection risk
10. Summary

La production animale et les questions de santé

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Il arrive que les voisins d’une exploitation d’élevage soient préoccupés par les incidences d’une telle entreprise sur leur santé. Des questions comme la salubrité des sources d’approvisionnement en eau de la région, la qualité de l’air et la transmission possible de maladies des animaux aux humains méritent une certaine attention.

What Airbourne Contaminants are Pig Barn Workers Exposed To?

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Pig barn workers are exposed to dust, gases, and endotoxins (Wenger, 1989). Pig barn dust originates from many sources including pig dandruff, dried fecal material and from feed. The gases workers are exposed to include NH3, H2S and CO2 gas. Endotoxins are constituenst of the cell walls of gram negative bacteria. To date, there has ben no published research on concurrent, simultaneous personal exposures tp speciality pig barn workers to important contaminents in pig barn enviornments. The purpose of the research study was to identify and quantify the exposures to airbourne contaiminants of specialized career pig barn workers udring low ventilation rates in winter and high ventilation rates in summer.

Riparian Zone Impact on Phosphorus Movement to a Coastal Plain Black Water Stream

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SWINE WASTEWATER TREATMENT IN ANAEROBIC DIGESTERS WITH FLOATING MEDIUM

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