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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:
Getting the Message Out – Using Social Media
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles by admin on May 26, 2012 | No Comments
Social media provides a great outlet to communicate to the public, and allows the public to get in touch with companies as well. Getting started in using social media can be challenging, so it is important to become familiar with the big sites first. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube are the most frequently used sites. Other tips include using some discretion (you’re talking to the entire public), consistency, and value.
New Code of Practice and Impact on Producers
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The Pig Code started in 2010 to set standards for animal care. So far they have six areas in which standards must be set: pain control, euthanasia, pig space allowance, sow housing, social management and space allowance for sows. The standards will be determined by biological functioning, affective state, and natural living. Once the code is produced it will help keep animal welfare accountable.
Food Company Perspective on Animal Welfare
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The pork industry in Denmark has five levels of animal welfare. Level 1 is the general Danish public, and requires loose housing for dry sows, rooting material for sows and growers, cooling facilities and no fully slated floors for growers. The UK Welfare Production is level 2, and includes the same as level 1 with the addition extension of loose sow housing from after weaning until 7 days prior to farrowing. Level 3 is called Freedom Foods, and sows do not have crates, and must be able to turn around during farrowing confinement. Growers receive bedding, are kept in lower densities, and not castrated. Level 4 is Free Range: farrowing sows are outside with 1000m2 grassland/sow, other sows must have outdoor access, groups and bedding, and weaning is after 5 weeks. Growers have outdoor access, bedding, more room, and no tail docking. Finally, level 5 is Organic Production. Sows have 1200m2, bedding, roughage, and weaning is at 7 weeks. Growers have more room, 50% full floors, covered outdoor access, and roughage. Companies like Tican are looking to increase products from different levels, both to comply with changing legislation and to provide products for public demand.
Viscosity dependent dual-permeability modeling of liquid manure movement in layered, macroporous, tile drained soil
Posted in: Environment, Ontario Pork, Pork Insight Articles by admin on | No Comments
Liquid swine manure has nitrogen and phosphorus that can be utilized for crop fertilization, but due to high levels of application the manure will often flow through macropores. If the manure reaches the water table it can pose an environmental risk. The permeation can be slowed by low permeability skin layers in the macropores, compact soil crusts, low permeability plowpan layers, or a tile drainage system. As well, the percent of dry matter in the liquid manure will affect viscosity, with a 5% increase in dry matter increasing viscosity by one order of magnitude. This study’s goal was to modify a dual-permeability model and apply it in field, determine the sensitivity of tile drain discharge rates, and numerically assess nutrient residue with additional variabilities. The dual-permeability model was able to give a fairly accurate prediction of liquid manure movement. The modified model included application method (injected or surface banded), the effect of soil crust and plowpan layers, and the anisotrophy ratios for the macropores. Viscosity was important to manure flow rates, and increasing viscosity of manure should be considered to slow permeation. Movement depends on soil features: a solid crust will slow movement, but a plowpan layer with vertical macropores will increase it. Flow has temporal variability, and the leading or trailing edges will be influenced differently by the soil properties. Overall, it is important to understand how the combination of specific soil characteristics influence liquid manure movement, and the dual-permeability model is a effective model to do so.
Fueling the immune Response: What is the Cost?
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles by admin on May 23, 2012 | No Comments
This presentation by Dr. Rod Johnson of the University of Illinois was presented as the 6th in a series of 8 webinars on Feed Efficiency hosted by the Prairie Swine Centre. To access the presentation scroll down and click on Download PDF.
Dietary Omega-6 to Omega-3 Fatty Acid Ratios Affect Body Fat Mobilization During Lactation
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Increases in production management have led to sows producing larger litters, although there has been even greater increases in piglet mortality. This may be because a sow can’t create enough energy for its entire litter. This experiment sets out to find if altering the fatty acid ratio in sows will have an impact on fat mobilization in the body potentially effecting body condition and longevity of the sow. The experiment consisted of five diets specialized for farrowing and gestation, all with the same amount of fat but different omega-6:omega-3 ratios. The diets consisted of one control diet (tallow) three plant oil based ratios (10:1, 5:1, and 1:1) as well as a fish based oil ratio of 5:1. Piglet growth rate was measured and milk samples were taken. Piglets raised on the 5:1 plant diet had the highest birth weight and weaning weight while the fish oil had the lowest in both. Piglet growth rate and sow body weight were unaffected by diet. Altering the ratio in sow diets did not affect milk composition or output, suggesting that sows will compensate for changes in feed intake through body fat mobilization. Reducing the omega-6:omega-3 FA ratio below 5:1 put sows into a state of increased body fat mobilization, which may have negative impacts on body condition and longevity.
Effects of Transport Duration on the Stress Response and Pork Quality of Pigs
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In Canada, pigs sometimes have to travel for long distances to get to market. An experiment was carried out to see what impacts these trips were having on the stress of the pigs and meat quality. Over eight weeks transport trailors were loaded and traveled either six, twelve, or eighteen hours. Each trailer had 16 focal pigs put in one of four trailer compartments. After traveling to market the pigs were slaughtered and examined. To measure physial stress samples of creatine kinase, cortisol and lactate were measured in 48 pigs per week. Meat quality was quantified based on muscle ph and temperature 24hrs postmortem . Also colour and drip loss was scored. Higher levels of CK were found in the twelve and eighteen hour trips and in compartments near the back of the trailer. Pigs in the front compartment had little to no increases in stress. Summer was the season that caused the most stress to pigs in transport probably do to excess heat. Drip loss was degraded for pigs who took long trips and road in the back of the trailer, pigs in the front didn’t have any significant change in drip loss. Ph was highest for pigs traveling in the back of the trailer, although there was no change for six hour trips. The colour of the meat was darker in the back compartments. The study concludes that improvements in trailer design have potential to improve pig welfare and meat quality.
Impact of Repeated Applications of Liquid Swine Manure and Biogas Production By-Products on Soils and Crops
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An experiment was done to find out the long and short term impacts liquid hog manure had on soils compared to manure biodigestate that is produced from biogas production. Three amounts of hog manure (1,500, 3,000 and 6,000 gallons per acre) were applied along with three rates of urea: 50, 100 and 200 lbs N/acre. Assessments of grain and straw yield, nutrient concentrations, soil nutrients and properties were made on plant and soil samples collected every three years to determine how manure applications affected crop growth and soil properties. There was little difference in crop yields between applying traditional liquid hog manure and biodigestate. It was found that applying 3000 gallons per acre produced the best yields without creating nutrient excretion. When assessing the soils it was found that excess manure helped with N levels after harvest. Also soil salinity was only effected when greater than 4000 gallons were applied. Application of swine manure at rates of 3000-4000 gallons over three years had little impact on soil properties like pH, salinity and organic carbon compared to the urea fertilized treatments and the unfertilized control. In the long-term (>10 yrs) liquid swine manure trials, application rates of 3,000 – 4,000 gallons per acre every year gave near optimal yields for the crops examined (oats, canola, barley) and were not associated with any loading of nitrate or phosphate in the soil.
The Efficiency of Energy Utilization by Growing Pigs Selected for Potential Growth Rate
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Despite years of trying to breed out differences in pig herds there are still variations in pig characteristics. An Experiment was conducted to see if early growth rates had an impact on energy utilization later in a pigs life. This could help with matching diets closer to pigs specific needs. Sixty barrows were tracked through-out there time in the nursery and removed once they reached 30kgs. They were then put into one of three groups slow, average, or fast growing. From these groups pigs were put on one of two diets, high or low energy and also pigs were either fed ad libitum or 85% ad libitum. After the pigs were removed at 60kgs their carcasses were ground and they were examined. Fast growing pigs took 71 days to reach 30kgs, average pigs took 78 days and slow pigs took 98 days. Despite this the time to grow from 30 to 60kgs was not significantly different. A higher energy diet had no effect on growth rate but the higher energy diet produced less feed intake and therefore better feed efficiency. Pigs fed complete ad libitum had improved growth compared to the incomplete ad libitum. Energy utilization had no significant differences between fast, average and slow growing pigs. The efficiency of the utilization of dietary energy for growth was comparable among pigs selected for high or low potential growth rate. This implies that segregating pigs and feeding based on PGR is not a tool that will improve our ability to match feed to requirements.
Immune response phenotype induced by controlled immunization of neonatal pigs varies in type 1:type 2 bias
Posted in: Ontario Pork, Pork Insight Articles by admin on May 22, 2012 | No Comments
Immune response (IR) of pigs varies by litter and by individual such that ratios of type-1 and type-2 IR differ. Estimates of heritability for antibody and cell-mediated IR suggest that genotype and the environment contribute approximately 20% and 80% to this variation. It is hypothesized that the IR phenotype of outbred neonatal pigs is immature and variable progressing with age from type-2 bias to a more balanced phenotype. To test this, pigs were IR phenotyped by a standardized protocol using two intramuscular injections of the combined type-1 and type-2 antigens (Ag) Candida albicans (CA) and hen egg white lysozyme (HEWL). Immune response was measured by wheal and flare reaction to HEWL and double skin fold thickness (DSFT) response to each Ag injected intradermally at 35 days of age. Blood was collected at 14 and 35 days of age to measure immunoglobulin IgG1, IgG2 and IgE isotype-relatedness of antibody (Ab) to CA and HEWL. Comparison was made between two different groups of pigs (A) and (B), from the same herd tested separately at an interval of two and a half years. An unexpected group difference in IR bias was observed. Bias in IR was not consistently toward type-2. Increase in DSFT to CA, an indicator of type-1 IR, was greater in A while frequency of wheal and flare to injection of HEWL, a type-2 IR correlate, was greater in B. Frequency of individuals with positive serum Ab activity to both Ags was greater in B than A for most isotypes. Ratios of Ab activity by type-1 and 2 isotypes and DSFT to type-1 and 2 Ags indicate diminished type-1 relative to type-2 biased IR response in B. We conclude that in normal neonatal pigs under standard husbandry IR bias is not invariably toward type-2. Phenotype varied between groups in type-1:type-2 bias with implications for protective and immunopathogenic IR. While the etiology was not pursued it is possible that unidentified environmental variables may have induced this change in IR phenotype.