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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:
Different Approaches to Handling PRRS
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on April 5, 2006 | No Comments
Knowledge on PRRS transmission is still lacking, but management strategies exist to control it. The strategy that will be most effective differs between barns based on location (if the area is hog-dense or not), herd health status, herd immunity, and strain of PRRS. Acute outbreak management strategies include implementing the McREBEL fostering system, strict all-in all-out protocol, and uniformly infecting the herd to gain immunity. Endemic PRRS persist in the nursery and finisher stages for long after the initial outbreak. The virus can be spread horizontally or vertically, and the source should be identified as soon as possible. Total or partial depopulation, strict all-in all-out, thorough sanitation and disinfection procedures, and vaccination are methods to eliminate endemic PRRS. Long-term control of PRRS is primarily strict biosecurity: the source of the initial outbreak should be located and fixed, and any other lacking areas fixed as well. New gilts should be isolated and acclimatized before herd entry, mass vaccination can be used, and herd closure or depopulation/repopulation can be used for long-term control.
Reproductive Innovations: Control of Sow Estrus and Breeding
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Typically artificial insemination (AI) gives poorer reproductive performance than natural insemination due to backflow and sperm death. If the time of ovulation was reliably known, then a single dose using fewer sperm would be able to ensure fertilization. Sows that have a wean-to-estrus length greater than 5 days have decreased reproductive performance for the next litter, so gonadotrophins can be used on sows with records showing a longer length. However, breeding management should be altered to include a day 3 breeding. Regumate can also be added to feed for 7 days post-weaning to control estrus, and increase farrowing rate and litter size. Trans-cervical insemination will decrease the number of sperm requires for fertilization. In the past this has only been achieved by a surgical or endoscopic procedure, but a new catheter design is expected to be on the market shortly to allow this. The timing of insemination is critical to ensure fertilization. Sows with a short wean-to-estrus interval have longer estrus, and tend to be late ovulators. Long wean-to-estrus will usually result in a shorter estrus and earlier ovulation. Gonadotrophin treatments can be used to synchronize estrus, but will make ovulation timing harder to predict. Porcine luteinizing hormone can help make ovulation timing more predictable. Artificial insemination can become more successful and use fewer doses of semen with less sperm if the ovulation timing can be accurately predicted in sows.
New Approaches to Weaner Room Management
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Optimal nursery management involves the environment, group formation, feeding, and overall good stockmanship. The lower critical temperature is 26-28°C the first week after weaning due to decreased feed intake and reduces body thermal insulation, but temperature should be gauged more by pig behaviour than the thermostat. If pigs are huddling they will be expending more energy simply trying to keep warm. Once pigs have started eating, temperatures can be lowered at night to save heating costs and stimulate appetite. Poor sanitation can reduce performance by reducing nutrient utilization and stressing the immune system. During mixing some aggression is expected for pigs to settle their new hierarchy, and this appears to have little effect on production. Sorting has generally produced no increase in performance, though pens for sick or particularly poor pigs can still be used. Increases in group size can slightly decrease performance, but may still be justified if it reduces costs in areas like construction or maintenance. More important than group size are the feeder space, feeder coverage, and water access. Performance can also be influenced by birth weight and weaning weight. However, some pigs with the heaviest weight at weaning can be slowest to start eating, and some lighter pigs can be the best performers. Identifying the poor performers and intervening early may be able to help them catch up. Finally, pigs that had been suckling from posterior teats seem to have increased growth compared to those that suckle anterior teats during lactation, but those on posterior teats maintain growth better during the first 4 days of weaning.
Understanding the Spread of PRRS Between Herds
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The PRRS mapping project in Ontario will allow the transmission of PRRS to be better understood. Currently 63 producers are involved, but to have accurate results it is important to have as many farms as possible participate – both positive and negative for PRRS. The mapping project involves questionnaires, PCR testing, PRRS sequencing, and GPS mapping. The project will help explain transmission, and also document the variety of types of PRRS.
Employee Retention – Keeping the Best
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The key to hiring and keeping good employees involves good recruiting, working conditions, training, communication, attitude, delegation, evaluating performance (barn and staff), promoting from within, compensation, recognition, and involvement.
How to Hire and Keep Employees
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Employee turnover is often high in the pork industry, so data from Statistics Canada was analyzed to try to explain this. It was found that compensation and appreciation are things employees looked for in a job, and would like improved. Swine industry jobs were found to be paid less and have longer hours than similarly skilled jobs. Small farms tended to have less turnover than large farms, and offered less hours and more pay for more skilled positions. Employee turnover is expensive as it involves exit interviews, training a new employee, and paying a senior employee to oversee the new employee. The estimated cost of a single employee turnover is $7,018. To decrease turnover, employers are recommended to offer more flexible hours, fair compensation, training and interaction, vacation and statuary holiday compensation, and a job description on hire.
Some Thoughts on Pork Production Challenges Around the World – the Good, the Bad and Some Suggestions
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By visiting global pork producers insight can be gained on what areas Canadian producers are doing well, and which need improvement. One issue is whether group housing is implemented, and if it is the EU can be used to learn what works. The Danish set an example of paying for lean meat rather than carcass weight, and Britain has used partial depopulation with success. Countries with hot climates have the challenge of getting sows to eat, which can be used here during lactation feeding. Germany can show good examples of wet feeding. Despite the differences between countries, there are some general things done well and poorly across the industry. Breeding, nursery management, use of a veterinarian, and dedication are all strong points. Areas that need improvement include business management because there is a lack of planning due to being involved in daily barn affairs. This lack of management can come from being understaffed and not utilizing off-site help for repairs. Secondly, preventative immunity can help avoid costly disease outbreaks, yet is often neglected. Seeing what producers in other countries are doing and being open to changes can help producers improve their facility, and Canada to improve its global status.
Pork Production in Canada – Challenges and Opportunities
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Canada can offer many opportunities to pork producers, but also challenges through the climate and dependence on export. Geographically, Canada has a large amount of land available for pork production, and is situated close to both the US and Asia markets. Canada’s low population mean that pork producer’s should be able to become established without interfering with towns or cities, but also is a challenge for local consumers and labour. The climate in Canada can help break disease cycles, although temperature control in barns can be a challenge. Canada is dependent on export of pork, and this leaves the industry vulnerable to border issues, global demand, and competition. Likewise, because of the dependence on export, currency can impact Canada’s industry. Other strengths are the strong disease status and the unity of the industry across Canada. Finally, the pork industry has access to diverse investors.
Making Progress Through Research
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Ontario pork research is largely conducted by the University of Guelph, and funded mainly through the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMFRA) partnership. The research is conducted in various animal holding and laboratory facilities. Financial benefit from pork research can be long-term over the span of decades, or can be almost immediately applicable and economically beneficial. Pork research has an estimated cost-benefit ratio of 22.4 to 1. Some of the University of Guelph’s significant past projects include creating SPF pigs, understanding E. coli effects, discovering the PSS gene, and developing pig breeding strategies based on mathematical procedures. Some of the more recent research has included the creation of molecular tests for Salmonella, herd health monitoring projects, group housing research, and many more.
New Approaches for Controlling Nursery Diseases… Or Back to the Basics?
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Diseases in the nursery are likely to persist due to diseases evolving, poor practices, or biosecurity breaches. Disease development cannot be controlled, so instead good management and production practices should be focused on. One of the prevention practices is to minimize the number of sources of nursery pigs. Another consideration is where the nursery is located in relation to other swine barns, with hog dense areas needing stricter biosecurity. Herd stability and high passive immunity, strict all-in all-out nursery and farrowing pig flow, and avoiding coinfections influence nursery disease prevalence. Finally, a good human resource team, management, and developing SOPs for other employees will help keep all aspects of the barn running well, including nursery health.