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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:
Distillers Dried Grain Product Innovation and Its Impact on Adoption, Inclusion, Substitution, and Displacement Rates in a Finishing Hog Ration
Posted in: Production by admin on January 1, 2008 | No Comments
This study focuses on the impact of product development of DG in adoption, inclusion, and displacement rates. We also want to estimate what savings in feed cost, if any, can be attributed to the use of DG in a finishing hog ration. It was found that inclusion of DDGS in a feed ration saves feeder-finisher operations $2.17 per head if traditional DDGS is used and $8.06 per head if newer generation DDGS products are used. Finally, with their higher substitution and displacement rates, newer-generation DDGS products can better alleviate the trade-off between food, feed, and fuel in the
continuing expansion of biofuels.
Assessment of lactose level in the mid- to late-nursery phase on performance of weanling pigs
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The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of various levels of lactose in diets during week 3 and 4 postweaning. It was concluded that pigs respond to dietary lactose during the mid to latter phase of the nursery period and that the response was obtained under different management and facility conditions.
Determining an optimum lysine:calorie ratio for barrows and gilts in a commercial finishing facility
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The objective of this study was to determine an optimum lysine to calorie ratio for 25-120 kg barrows and gilts in a commercial finishing environment. It is suggested that feed cost per kilogram of gain decreases, and reduction in biological performance and income over feed costs are rather modest when feeding lysine deficient diets early in the growerfinishing period. However, there was severe growth reduction when they were fed marginally deficient lysine diets in the late finishing period.
Effects of coextrusion of flaxseed and field pea on the digestibility of energy, ether extract, fatty acids, protein, and amino acids in grower-finisher pigs
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The objectives of this study were to to determine the ileal and total tract digestibility of individual fatty acids, ether extract, energy, protein, and amino acids in a mix of flax and field peas. This was done to determine if exptrusion improved the nutritional value of this mix. It was concluded that coextrusion of flax and field peas increased digestibility of ether extract, fatty acids, energy and amino acids.
The behaviour of early-weaned piglets following transport: Effect of season and weaning weight
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Two groups of 48 Cotswold piglets were weaned at 1791 d of age and
assigned to road or simulated transport during summer or winter. Following transport (0, 6, 12 or 24 h), piglets were
grouped by weaning weight (light, medium and heavy) in pens of four. Piglet behaviour was recorded on days 14, 7 and 14
after weaning and transport. As transport duration increased, drinking behaviour increased (P<0.05). Control (0 h) piglets
fed less (1.5%) than transported piglets (3.1%) during the first 3 d in housing. Significant differences were observed on
days 2 and 3 only (P<0.02). Across season and transport treatment, heavy piglets spent more time fighting (P<0.005)
during the first day in housing, and less time feeding (P<0.05) during the first 3 d in housing compared with light and
medium piglets. During the first 3 d in weanling pens, piglets spent less time feeding following road transport (2.4%) than
following simulated transport (2.9%, P<0.05). Piglets transported by road also spent more time engaged in oral/nasal
behaviour during the first 3 d in housing compared with simulated transport groups, although this reached significance on
day 3 only (P<0.05). These results suggest that transport of early-weaned piglets may exacerbate the stress of weaning
through additional stress related to factors associated with truck movement, such as noise and vibration, and by imposing
an increased risk of dehydration following long journeys (>12 h).
Lairage during transport of eighteen-kilogram pigs has an impact on innate immunity and commensal bacteria diversity in the intestines
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The objective of this study was to determine whether a midjourney lairage influenced swine innate immunity and intestinal microbial populations after a 16-h transport. Four replications were conducted, 1 in each of 4 seasons.
The results of this study indicate that adding a lairage to an extended transport alters immune functions, receptor, cytokine and chemokine expression, and gut microbiota compared with pigs transported for 16 hours with no break (lairage).
Walk-through weighing of pigs using machine vision and an artificial neural network
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An image-based walk-through system was developed in this study for
pig liveweight approximation without having to restrain the pig to a certain area for
stationary imaging. It was found that it easier for stockmen to obtain the liveweight of pigs using the machine vision-based weighing system.
The effect of feed restriction on belly nosing behaviour in weaned piglets
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The objective of this study was to determine the effect of feed restriction on the behaviour of newly weaned piglets. It was found that individual differences in response to feed restriction suggest that there is a causal relationship between low feed intake and belly nosing, but only in piglets with a predisposition for the behaviour.
The association between disease and profitability in individual finishing boars at a test station
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The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of disease on the Proftit margin (PM) using data from individual boars at a Danish boar test station. Treatments were used as indicators of disease in the finishing period and, records of pathological lesions were used as an indicator of disease at slaughter. The objective was studied by means of a multivariable hierarchical analysis. The explanatory variables comprised breed and weight at 4 weeks. It was found that disease had a significant negative effect on the PM in individual boars reaching a slaughter weight of at least 80 kg. Parenteral treatment was associated with a larger reduction in the PM than oral treatment. Also pathological findings at slaughter were associated with a negative effect on the PM. The effect of pathological
findings was influenced by breed. The results were shown to be robust to changes in the price of a 30 kg piglet and relatively robust in regard to the price of feed. However, price of kg carcass weight and medicine appeared to influence the analysis results.
Effect of adding Lactobacillus plantarum or a formic acid containing-product to fermented liquid feed on gastrointestinal ecology and growth performance of piglets
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The present study was carried out with the aim of
investigating whether adding a starter culture or a formic
acid containing-product to fermented liquid feed of
suboptimal microbial quality (high pH, low concentration
of lactic acid, and high number of Enterobacteriacea)
could improve the characteristics of the feed and
the gastrointestinal health and growth performance of
piglets. The results indicated that addition of a
starter culture or a formic acid containing-product to
fermented liquid feed of suboptimal microbial quality
are strategies that can improve growth performance of
piglets. However, these treatments did not result in
substantial effects on the ecology of the gastrointestinal
tract of the animals. Further studies are needed to confirm
these observations and to elucidate the mechanisms
behind the reported results.