Impact of Pre-Slaugter Withdrawal of Vitamin Supplements on Pig Performance and Carcass Quality

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Predicting Nutrient Requirements Based on Protein Deposition Rate

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Impact of pre-slaughter withdrawal of vitamin supplements

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Research reported in last yeara

Predicting nutrient requirements based on protein deposition rates

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By partitioning the piga

Estimation of the energy content in barley

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Barley is the main cereal grain used by the pork industry in western Canada and thus is a primary source of energy in the piga

How animal handling influences animal behaviour

Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on January 1, 1995 | No Comments

Animal handling is a part of all animal production systems and can have a large effect on the welfare of the animals. Among production systems there are various methods of handling animals as well as purpose. This review discusses some of the features of animal handling and handling systems. The goal of handling, facilities and equipment used as well as personnel all make a difference in the behaviour of the animal during handling and the effectiveness of the handling. Benefits of any handling procedure must be weighed against its costs. Economic costs include labour, facilities, equipment and productivity losses. There is also the ethical component of handling related to the stressfulness of the procedure. Producers should be willing to make changes in order to reduce stressfulness.
Understanding the behaviour of the animals plays a major role in successful animal handling. Being aware of signals is part of the process of turning stockmanship from an art into a science. One of the greatest challenges is to avoid fearful reactions, as it is much harder to calm an animal once it has been startled. Handling is an important part of any livestock operation. The cost of poor handling remains unknown as there is little work directed to this topic. Understanding the reaction of animals to their surroundings is an important step in improving handling facilities. Efforts in this area will yield economic rewards as well as improve the welfare of the animals.

Whey replacement for nursery diets

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Spray-dried whey and skim milk have long been used in nursery diets as sources of high quality protein and lactose (milk sugar). More recently, further processing of these dairy industry byproducts has resulted in deproteinated whey and pure lactose being available at economical prices. Spray-dried plasma is now commonly used as a high quality substitute for the milk protein traditionally supplied in nursery diets using skim milk. Spray-dried blood cells is a product with an extremely high lysine content which has been shown to partially or totally replace fish meal in nursery diets. More recently, we have been questioning whether spray-dried blood cells and lactose could partially or totally replace fish meal in nursery diets.
One hundred and forty four pigs weaned at 17 days were used in a three-seek long trial. The objective was to compare the effects of the partial (50%) or total (100%) substitution of whey by spray-dried blood cells and lactose in Phase 1 (0-21 d post weaning) nursery diets. Pen feed disappearance and individual pig body weight gain, feed disappearance and feed:gain ratios for each weekly period and overall were then calculated. For any weekly period or overall, average daily weight gain and feed disappearance were not different between pigs offered the control diet or the diets in which whey was partially or totally replaced by spray-dried blood cells and lactose. Moreover, the pigs offered the diets in which whey was partially or totally replaced by spray-dried blood cells and lactose had significantly better feed:gain ratios than those pigs fed the control whey diet during the third weekly period and overall. The results of this trial, not only indicate that a combination of spray-dried blood cells and lactose can partially or totally substitute whey in Phase 1 nursery diets, but also showed that the feed conversion efficiency of weanling pigs can be improved.

Removal of vitamins and trace minerals from finishing diets

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Maximizing net income from pork production requires consideration of all aspects of diet formulation. Energy is the most expensive component of the diet, followed closely by amino acids. While representing a smaller portion of the total feed bill, minerals and vitamins still represent a significant expense, one which needs to be reflected in benefit to the pig and value to the pork producer. The finishing phase of production was targeted in this study because this is the period when most of the feed is consumed. In addition, it is known that certain vitamins are effectively stored in the liver and fatty tissue and also that cereal grains and other dietary components contain significant quantities of at least some of the vitamins which are less effectively stored by the pig. With animals destined for market, there would be no need to consider the impact on subsequent reproductive performance. This experiment was conducted to determine if removal of vitamins and trace minerals from the finishing diet for periods of approximately 3 or 5 weeks prior to slaughter would affect the animal performance and carcass merit. No differences among treatments were observed, suggesting that removal of such supplements may be without affecting animal performance or well-being. The economic benefit of such a change will vary among farms, depending on the current cost of supplementation; it is estimated that a typical savings of about $1.00 per pig sold may be realized.

Methionine sources for weanling pigs

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Along with the practice of earlier weaning, we have recently adopted the feeding of highly complex nursery diets. These commercial nursery diets contain high levels of spray-dried plasma and whole blood or blood cells. These rendering byproducts are known to be low in methionine. Thus, after lysine, methionine is the second limiting amino acid for weanling pigs in typical nursery diets presently. Although it has become customary to add supplemental methionine to nursery diets, questions remain as to which source of supplemental methionine should be used. Considering the importance of getting weanling pigs consuming dry feed as quickly as possible, and the benefits of weight gain during the nursery period on reducing days to market, it is important to determine if the different commercially available sources of methionine affect diet acceptance.
During the first, third and fifth week following weaning at approximately 21 day of age, pigs were offered a choice between a basal diet (control) or the basal diet supplemented with DL-methionine, liquid methionine or liquids methionine hydroxy analogue (MHA), with or without a flavouring/aromatic agent. Daily feed disappearance was used as an indicator of diet preference.
The diet supplemented with DL-methionine was preferred by pigs over the control diet for the first three days following weaning. Both the DL-methionine and the liquid MHA supplemented diets were preferred by pigs over the control diet for the last three days of the first week of the study. The dietary addition of DL-methionine, liquid methionine or liquid MHA increased the preference of pigs for these diets compared with the basal control diet during the entire third and fifth week. These results indicate no adverse effect of these supplemental methionine sources on the diet preference of nursery pigs.
The dietary addition of the flavouring/aromatic agent used in the present study reduced the preference of pigs for the treatment diets irrespective of the supplemental methionine source.

Managing pig space: Feeder position and orientation

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Movement is a major and defining aspect of animal life. Animals are distinct from plants in that they move about within their environment, and this ability gives them a quality that we often refer to as behaviour. If an animal is hungry, it is motivated to move and search for food. The requirement animals have for space is that which is needed to accommodate this movement.
Space requirements are usually defined in terms of quantity. Often these requirements are given as units of area per animal, or in relation to body weight. Space can also differ in terms of quality. Quality may involve the shape of the space provided, or the location of resources within that space. High quality space accommodates the behaviour of the animals in relatively small amounts of area. Poor quality space only accommodates the behaviour of animals in large amounts of space are provided.
This report relates to a series of experiments we have conducted in which space has been modified by the position and orientation of feeders within a standard pen. Both the behaviour and the productivity of the animals have been studied. The goals of the research include both an evaluation of currently available pen and feeder configurations, as well as developing a model which predicts behaviour in novel conditions. The long-term goal is to address practical barn design problems using computer modelling rather than trial and error.
This series of experiments identifies the fact that feeders should be positioned such that pigs enter from the sleeping area, rather than from the back of the pen.