Hitting the Target on Your Grid

Posted in: Meat Quality, Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on April 5, 2006 | No Comments

Market weights for a facility will depend on the genetics, the feeding program, and the packer’s requirements. The packer will generally have a range of acceptable weight, but pay more for a smaller core range. Backfat and lean mass can also impact the price the packer will pay for a hog. The price the packer pays is determined by a settlement sheet, which takes into account weight and carcass characteristics. Weighing pigs is time-consuming, but can result in more profit from the packer. Auto-sorters can reduce time and labour needed to sort out ideal market size pigs. However, pigs need to be accustomed to it and stress should be reduced for the pigs by providing space, feed, water, and reducing time spent waiting.

Welfare, Meat Quality, Growth Performance and Economics of Pigs Housed in Hoop Barns

Posted in: Production by admin on January 1, 2006 | No Comments

Hoop barns were designed to address welfare issues of pigs, but the results are fatter carcasses from higher feed intake and a poorer feed conversion. Pigs in the hoop barns consumed about 7% more feed than pigs in the confinement barn. Efficiency of gain was about 6% worse for pigs in the hoop barn compared to the confinement barn. Pigs reared in confinement produced loins with more marbling, lower drip loss, and lower shear force (tenderness) values than similarly fed pigs housed in hoop barns. Total labor required to care for pigs in the confinement barn was about 14 minutes/pig placed, while in the hoop barns 8.5 minutes were required to care for each pig placed. The value per pig marketed was at least $5.00/head lower in the hoop system than confinement, due mostly to greater back fat and lighter weight for pigs marketed from the hoops. The combination of bedding costs and lower sales prices for pigs in the hoop systems resulted in negative net returns for the hoops compared to the confinement system. Pigs housed in the hoop barns showed more exploratory behavior and were easier to handle, and the bedding and large group size provided more opportunities for locomotion and environmental stimulation. They were less fearful of humans and objects, which make them easier to handle. Because they are easier to handle, stress at load out becomes less, meaning no meat quality loss from the stress.

Carcass Trims – A Look at Arthritis and Adhesions Trims from Severely Affected Herds

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Pork carcasses require trimming when defects are present. Federal and provincial regulations require trimming of defects to reduce food safety hazards and improve product quality. The most frequent causes of trims in Alberta are arthritis, chest adhesions and abscesses. Other less common causes include injuries, belly ruptures, and erysipelas. The producer can reduce certain trim rates because they are the result of disease or management problems on the farm. Similar trims may have more than one cause; therefore determining the cause in each barn is essential to designing a solution for that barn. It is important to monitor trim rates routinely and set action limits, invest in a veterinary diagnosis and diagnostic testing to find the cause of trims, ask the processor or herd veterinarian to examine and photograph affected hogs at slaughter to aid in diagnosis, design a prevention program with a swine veterinarian, and prevent septicaemia and pneumonia rather than treat it.

NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN CONTRACT RELATIONSHIPS IN THE SWINE INDUSTRY

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Contracts at the Production and Marketing Phase are Evolving Coordination of the Chain
Continues
Forces Encouraging Coordination
• Branding of Various Kinds to Capture
Consumer Surplus and Overcome
Destructive Cost Competition as Only
Viable Strategy
• Traceability as a both a Legal and
Branding Requirement
• Critical Mass for Up-Chain
Negotiation
• Food Safety/Bio-Terrorism Issues
• Emerging Animal Welfare Issues
• Co-Permitting Threats

30 pigs/sow/year – Are we there yet?

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Big Sky Farms started a “30 Pigs Group” in late 2001 to improve replacement gilt performance, and to target 30 pigs weaned per mated female per year. The group has conducted on-farm trials, and held training workshops to improve farrowing performance. Big Sky Farms also implemented an enhanced genetic improvement system in their 650 sow nucleus herd using individual estimated breeding values (EBV) based on a best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) system. Currently Big Sky’s BLUP program is based on the number of pigs born and born alive, the percentage of pigs weaned, and age at first mating, with strong emphasis on the number of pigs born. Big Sky Farms also implemented a prolific program in their multiplication herd in the fall of 2003. Big Sky’s prolific program, preferentially selects gilts from litters of 13+ total born. To date, an increase in 0.15 total born and 1.5% units in farrowing rate (91 to 92.5%) has been achieved. Hi-prolific semen, used in 50% of sows at the multiplication level, has increased total born from 10.9 to 11.8, and farrowing rate from 81% to 88%. Emphasis has also been placed on selection of replacement gilts with a minimum weight of 115 kg upon entry into commercial units, and a target entry to service interval of about 32 days. Another system (The Danish system) weans 30+ pigs per sow per year and believes that several key components contribute to this achievement. These include the use of hyperprolific dam lines; breeding gilts at an older age (270+ days) and a heavier weight (160+ kg); paying close attention to the sow at farrowing to minimize stillbirths, and assist where necessary; split-suckle to ensure all piglets receive sufficient colostrums; extend gilt lactation length to 30 to 35 days by weaning their litter at ~20 days and fostering on a litter of 5 to 7 day old pigs; Feed sows a high-density diet (6% added fat and 0.85% digestible lysine) three times daily to optimize feed intake and finally, good management and production teams that are committed to the system’s goals. Although a few systems are achieving 30 weaned pigs per sow per year, on average the industry is still a long way from this goal.

Emulsifier content and side effects of oil-based adjuvant vaccine in swine

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Pork industry honours innovators at Banff Pork Seminar

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Three players in the western Canadian pork industry were honoured for innovation in the field of pork production at the 2006 Banff Pork Seminar Jan. 17-20.
The winners of this year’s F.X. Aherne Prize for Innovative Pork Production include Dr.
Pradip Maiti of Nutratech Inc. in Winnipeg, Man.; Tony Charanduk of Hypor Inc. in
Ituna, Sask.; and Darcy Pauls and Dr. Claude Mason of The Puratone Corporation,
Niverville, Man.

A Successful Nursery Nutrition Program

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There are many strategies for feeding weaned pigs, but a recent article by five scientists from Kansas State University helps to clarify some of the most important points to ensure a successful nursery nutrition program. First: it’s best to start with as heavy and old a pig as feasible. Second: switch from complex to simple diets as quickly as possible. Third: provide good management — start pigs promptly on feed and water and continually monitor and adjust feeders.

CFIA Carcass Inspection Procedures and Standards: Impact on Producers

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The focus of the CFIA is food safety. When there is a question as to a food or a process being safe or unsafe, the decision is always to make a mistake on the side of safety. In the slaughter plants, this means that if there is a question, the part is either sent as animal food or condemned. There was a directive (or change in procedure) issued in December of 2004 that has changed marking and identifying procedures in slaughter plants. This directive details the responsibilities of the plant personnel and the CFIA personnel. There are now 3 categories of defects: Operator Managed Conditions (such as contamination or over-scalding), CFIA/Operator Managed Conditions, and CFIA Managed Condition. Four items that cause the greatest loss to producers include abscesses (most significant reason for loss), arthritis (about 14% of all carcasses being condemned and about 50% of trim weight), adhesions (about 6 or 7% of the trims), and the deduction for boars and ridglings. Lower trims can be realized by preventing or reducing injuries, preventing or reducing systemic infections, preventing or reducing respiratory problems, and marking all piglets that have not had 2 testicles removed and removing them later.

Optimal Incentives under Moral Hazard and Heterogeneous Agents: Evidence from Production Contracts Data

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