The effects of feeding level upon protein and fat deposition in Iberian heavy pigs

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Beware a truck carrying gilts that hasn't been washed, disinfected and dried

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The role transportation of gilts can play in the spread
of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome
(PRRS) is just one of the findings beginning to emerge from
an ambitious project that is looking at the spread of the
disease in Ontario. Launched in 2005 by University of Guelph
researchers Dr. Cate Dewey, chair of the Ontario Veterinary College’s department of population medicine, and Dr.
Zvonimir Poljak, an assistant professor with the department,
the project has mapped clinical problems linked with PRRS
in Ontario herds from September 2004 to August 2007. One of these is the recognition that if a truck carrying
gilts visited other farms before visiting your farm and
if it wasn’t always washed, disinfected and dried before it
arrived, “you were put at an increased risk of getting PRRS,”
says Dewey.
The problem is Ontario-specific, she adds, pointing out
that in some North American jurisdictions, “they wouldn’t
dream of putting gilts on a truck which hadn’t been cleaned.”

Effects of on-farm diets for organic pig production on performance and carcass quality

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In recent years, economic pressure on pig production
has resulted in intensification of production methods
in order to decrease production costs. As a consequence,
animal health and welfare and environmentally
friendly production have been pushed into the background.
Furthermore, the production of lean carcasses
to meet consumers’ demands for low-fat pork has resulted
in a substantial decrease of intramuscular fat
levels and an increased concern that eating quality may
be consequently reduced (Cisneros et al., 1996).
To face these new challenges, alternative production
methods such as organic livestock farming have been developed. Due to the extensive production
system there is doubt whether organic production can
meet the demands of high carcass quality (Branscheid,
1996). There is, however, very little information on the
impact of organic feeding regimes on growth, carcass,
and meat quality characteristics of pigs. The results from this experiment suggest that the organic livestock production standards do not necessarily
result in lower pig performance. The exclusion of synthetic
amino acids can be compensated for by other
protein sources such as potato protein. The avoidance
of supplementation with amino acids favors the production
of meat with high intramuscular fat without causing
an overly fat pig. The strategy to increase intramuscular
fat by a reduced supply of limited amino acids
requires further studies in relation to the impact on
palatability. The organic approach provides a tool for
producers to manipulate intramuscular fat levels to
meet specific market requirements with limited impact
of on-farm performance. The higher intramuscular fat
content has higher production costs than the conventional
product but is in tune with the philosophy of
organic agriculture.

Utilization of distillers dried grains with solubles and phytase in sow lactation diets to meet the phosphorus requirement of the sow and reduce fecal phosphorus concentration

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This study was completed to determine the potential for using distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) in diets with or without phytase to provide available phosphorus, energy, and protein to highly productive lactating sows without increasing their fecal phosphorus. The results indicate that highly productive sows can sustain lactation performance with reduced fecal phytate phosphorus when fed DDGS and phytase in lactation diets.

Influence of dietary fiber on luminal environment and morphology in the small and large intestine of sows

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This study determined the effect of feeding different types of amounts of dietary fiber (DF) on luminal environment and morphology in the small and large intesting of sows. It was shown that there was an increased retention time, decreased amount of material, and a decreased tissue weight after feeding the low-fibre diet compared to the high-fibre diet. It was also concluded that feeding the diet providing the greatest amount of fermentable carbohydrates resulted in significant morphological changes in the colon compared with the low-fibre diet.

Growth performance, carcass characteristics, meat quality, and tissue histology of growing pigs fed crude glycerin-supplemented diets

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The effects of dietary crude glycerin on growth performance, carcass characterisits, meat quality idices, and tissue histology is growing pigs was determined in a feeding trial. It was found that dietary treatment did not affect blood metabolites or frequency of lesions in the examined tissues. This experiment shows that pigs can be fed up to 10% crude glycerin with no effect of pig performance, carcass composition, meat quality, or lesions score.

Triticale as a replacement for wheat in diets for weaned pigs

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The nutritional value of triticale for weaned pigs is poorly characterized.
Six mash diets containing either 66.5% one of two wheat samples or one of four winter or spring triticale cultivars were fed
to 72 pens of weaned pigs for 28 d. Average daily feed intake and gain did not differ between pigs fed wheat and triticale
diets (P>0.05). Replacing wheat with triticale increased feed efficiency by 0.02 for spring triticale and 0.03 for winter
triticale (P<0.001). Apparent total tract digestibility of dry matter, crude protein, and gross energy was 1.2, 2.5, and 1.0% higher, respectively, for the triticale diets than the wheat diets (P<0.05). The nutritional value of the four triticale samples was 1.5% higher for energy than the two wheat samples included in western Canada diets for weaned pigs.

Genetic parameters and predicted selection results for maternal traits related to lactation efficiency in sows

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The objectives of this study were to estimate genetic parameters for lactation efficiency (LE), its underlying traits, and to predict the consequences of current selection strategies in dam lines. Inclusion of LE in the breeding goal will improve stayability, as defined by the first-litter survival of sows and LE itself, without
negative consequences for other economically important traits. Nevertheless, it might be worthwhile to
design a breeding goal in which LE increases and feed intake remains unchanged.

Selected parameters in urine as indicators of milk production in lactating sows: A pilot study

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This study aimed to investigate whether urine parameters could be used to predict milk production in sows. It was found that the absolute concentrations, the ratios relative to creatinine, and the fractional excretions of all elements in urine were not significantly associated with milk production and further research is necessary.

On the rewarding nature of appetitive feeding behaviour in pigs (Sus scrofa): Do domesticated pigs contrafreeload?

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Contrafreeloading is the phenomenon that animals prefer to ‘‘work’’ for food even though ‘‘free’’ food is
available nearby. In this study,we investigated whether pigs express contrafreeloading in a test situation where
the searching, finding and consuming of food items resembles a natural foraging situation. For that purpose, we
investigated whether pigs prefer an environment with straw and hidden food rewards (chocolate raisins) to an
environment with straw, but without hidden food rewards and with food rewards ‘‘freely’’ available in a trough. The results show that pigs express contrafreeloading when using a natural foraging task and they suggest that the reinforcing effects of anticipation, which occurs during natural foraging in the delays between searching and finding food, may contribute to the observed expression of contrafreeloading in pigs.