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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:
The causes of seasonal variation in backfat thickness of pigs in Western Australia
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AI Success in Swine
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Good heat checking can help optimize the timing of insemination, and can lessen the impact of poor sperm/semen quality and aged semen. Some desirable technologies include the ability to freeze semen, ovulation timing, sexed semen, and single service AI. Intra-uterine insemination (IUI) can be done surgically into the tip of the uterine horns. The advantage to this is the minimal number of sperm required is far, far less than conventional intra-cervical techniques. This is beneficial because it improves the number of doses per boar ejaculate and could make use of frozen/thawed semen. Proper storage, extender, and handling of semen may affect the quality of the sperm. The attributes studied at commercial boar studs include motility, % abnormal cells, and sperm concentration. Errors can result from cold semen disrupting the motility analysis. All of these examinations give an estimate of viable sperm cells per dose at the time of insemination. The ability to freeze semen would be huge for the industry. This would allow producers to back up quality semen in case of an emergency or transport semen across borders without worrying about time. The main problem that exists today is freezing of semen affects the motility and survivability of the sperm. Sexed semen is one of the most desired reproductive technologies. Work is being done to accomplish this, but all such attempts have been unsuccessful.
Value at Risk: What is it and How Can it be Used?
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The Value at Risk (VaR) risk management tool focuses specifically on the downside risk facing an operation and measures these risks in financial terms by using a single monetary value that is easy to interpret. The process of risk management includes identifying the sources of risk, measuring the effects of the risk sources, and managing the risk. To identify, producers must identify the mains sources of risks that will impact a financial measure of interest to the operation. These risks should have potential impact on financial success and have the potential to be managed. To measure, the probabilities of each outcomes occurrence must be measured. This can be achieved by using historical production data such as the data collected when using programs such as PigCHAMP. Measuring the distributions of historical hog prices, feed prices, and production numbers will allow us to determine how often each value has occurred and how widely the values have ranged. From here an estimate can be drawn about how often the values are going to occur. The combined effect is then measured using computer software. From here strategies can be employed to choose the best risk management strategy. VaR can be used in an operation that is having liquidity problems and is approaching its capacity to obtain financing. It can also be used when a manager has multiple risk management strategies to choose from or when negotiating a price contract. It is important for managers to consider using VaR in addition to other risk management tools and methods currently used by the operation. It strictly focuses on managing an operations downside risk rather than dealing with maximizing financial performance and choosing the most profitable contract or risk management strategy.
The effect of wheat phosphorus content and supplemental enzymes on digestibility and growth performance of weaner pigs
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A 2×4 factorial experiment was conducted with the respective factors being wheat phosphorus (P) content (low-P variety: 2.52 g/kg DM, and high-P variety: 3.76 g/kg DM) and enzyme supplementation (no enzyme, xylanase, phytase, and xylanase plus phytase). The enzymes were xylanase (Porzyme® 9300, minimum activity 4000 U/g endo-1,4-B-xylanase) and phytase (PhyzymeTM XP, activity 4100 U/g phytase). Eighty male weaner pigs (Landrace×Large White, 5.4±0.07 kg) were fed an identical pre-trial diet for 1 week and then received their respective experimental diet for 3 weeks. All diets contained 610 g wheat/kg and similar concentrations of calculated digestible energy (14.2 MJ/kg), available lysine (0.78 g/MJ DE), available P (3.2 g/kg) and Ca:P (1.46:1). Collection of faeces was made for three consecutive days from day 14 for determination of digestibility, using titanium dioxide as an indigestible marker. The main effect of wheat P content on the coefficient of total tract apparent digestibility (CTTAD) of DM, CP, energy, P and Ca was not significant (P > 0.05). Enzyme supplementation, as a main effect, influenced the CTTAD of DM (P < 0.01) and energy (P < 0.01), such that xylanase plus phytase decreased their CTTAD. Xylanase plus phytase improved the CTTAD of P and Ca in the high-P wheat variety diet but not in the low-P wheat variety diet (interaction P < 0.001 and P < 0.05, respectively). For performance, significant improvements (P < 0.05) were only seen in week 1 of the feeding trial. In summary, the wheats used in this study responded differently to xylanase and phytase, and a synergistic effect of xylanase plus phytase supplementation was not significant for either digestibility or pig performance.
A LITERATURE REVIEW OF SWINE HEAT PRODUCTION
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Mortality Management
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There are several options for managing livestock deaths. The first obvious investigation should be into the causes of death. Nutrition should be adequate, and if disease is a problem then veterinarians will help to fix any problem areas. If appropriate, carcasses can be rendered into value-added products. It is appropriate if the carcasses contain no zoonotic disease (that can be transferred to humans). Storage and pick-up of carcasses are necessary for rendering to be a viable option. Incinerators are a good method as well. They are regulated by Saskatchewan Environment and must be designed and used with their accordance. They regulate fuel type and permits and such. The incinerator designer provides information and technical support. Composting is a method that has 2 types of systems. The “In-vessel” method has three bins. One has a substance such as sawdust for a bulking agent, and the second one is filled. They are then moved to the third bin after a time. Composting requires management of moisture, temperature, and carbon-to-nitrogen ratios. They must be designed so as to not be hazardous to the environment. A properly designed burial pit can also be an acceptable method. Water supplies and winter mortalities must be taken into account when managing a burial site. Animals must be covered as soon as possible and should continuously be covered with soil. Unfortunately, catastrophes can happen that result in huge losses. If it is naturally caused (such as a fire, non-foreign disease, or a flood), the local authorities will direct the disposal. A good burial site will have natural features to protect the environment. The area should not be subject to flooding and should be 100 meters from a source of water, highway, property, or other livestock facilities. Minimize the distance from the burial site to the barn.