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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:
Local and Global Impact of Disease Outbreaks
Posted in: Production by admin on January 1, 2002 | No Comments
Foot and mouth disease (FMD) and Classical Swine Fever (CSF) are highly contagious pig diseases and must be reported if an outbreak occurs. FMD affects cloven-hoofed animals and comes in large epidemics. Diagnosis is often difficult because the disease is unfamiliar to farmers and veterinarians if it has been unseen. In 1997, an outbreak in Taiwan led to the entire country being declared FMD infected. Four factors that contributed to the spread include delays before eradication, pig farm density, inability to shut down livestock markets, and lack of vaccinations. This led to loss of exports and cost of $379 million USD in the Taiwan pork market. Korea was able to contain the FMD outbreaks on cattle farms successfully through prompt control measures. It took a re-occurrence in the UK in 2001 about 1.5 years to eradicate. CSF is one of the most economically important diseases. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, USA, and some members of the EU have been successful in eradicating the virus. This disease is a constant threat to wild boar, which makes wild boar a constant threat to domestic pigs. Countries that are CSF-positive control them via vaccination, but this still limits their export capabilities. Before vaccination can be done, depopulation, slaughter, movement restrictions, and other measures must be taken, especially in areas with a dense pig population. In late 1998 and 1999 a disease called the Nipah virus broke out in Malaysia. The symptoms of Nipah are respiratory and neurological syndromes. This disease can be spread to humans. It originated from fruit and insect-eating bats, which most likely carried a similar disease in Australia called the Hendra virus. The mode of transmission was the movement of pigs in a very active pig trade. The neurological aspect of the disease typically affected sows while the respiratory aspect affected growing pigs. All pigs in the area of an outbreak were culled. Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is primarily spread by fecal-oral contact. Ensuring a clean water supply is the best preventative measure.
Weaning Weight Variation and New Approaches to Feeding Gestating Sows
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Gestation feeding programs should ensure that sows are at the proper body condition score at farrowing, reproductive performance is maximized, and nutrient requirements are met at the lowest cost. Back fat is the most important aspect of condition. Too little back fat reserves can reduce reproductive performance and increase sow mortality. Girth measurement can be used as a predictor of weight so individual sows can be fed accordingly. There are several machines available to measure back fat. Equations are then used to determine the amount of energy requirements for maintenance, maternal gain, and uterine gain. Each week, the sows back fat should be scanned and their feeders should be adjusted accordingly. Sows falling behind should be given 0.5 kg more per day of feed. On day 100, sows should be given 1 kg more feed per day for 2 weeks. Feeding according to body condition during the first 30 days of gestation is critical for minimizing embryo mortality. There is little known about feeding on days 30 to 75, but it is thought that high feed intake increased the number of secondary muscle fibers and improved growth rate and feed efficiency of the offspring during the growing period. Days 75 to 100 are important for mammary development and the sows should not be overfed to avoid over conditioning and decreasing milk yield. Feed should be increased by 1 to 2 kg from days 100 to 112 to prevent the sow’s body from deteriorating. From days 112 to 114, 2 kg or more should be fed per day to prevent the sow from going off feed.
Management of Disease – The UK Foot and Mouth Disease Experience
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Foot and mouth disease is a highly infectious viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals characterized by fever, loss of production, and vesicles on the mouth, feet, and teats. It is considered to be the most contagious disease of all animal virus diseases. February 19th, 2001 saw the first case of FMD in the UK since 1981. Infection was acquired at the abattoir. FMD transmits through movement of infected animals, feeding of animal by-products, and contact with mechanically carried FMD virus or aerosol spread. Carrier cattle can shed the disease and cause new outbreaks, but this is rare. FMD began appearing mainly in the west of England and southern Scotland and Wales. Infected sheep spread the disease to Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, France, and the Netherlands. Slaughter policies were extended to neighbouring farms of infected farms (within a 3 km radius). Slaughter was to be completed within 24 hours of diagnosis and 48 hours for neighbouring farms. Planning before an outbreak would have been helpful in improving the disease eradication procedure. Because the disease started in pigs, the spread to sheep confused the control program. Farmers did not pay enough attention to the disease when moving between flocks. The FMD virus had almost certainly been introduced with infected meat that was imported illegally and by feeding waste food to pigs that had come into contact with the virus. Carcass disposal quickly became a problem as there were too many to bury, too many to burn, and rendering plants were overwhelmed. The closure of public footpaths due to possible spreading of the disease had negative effects on the tourism industry. FMD can affect ruminants following recovery of disease, or even animals that have been protected by vaccination (even so, immunity lasts only 6 months). Vaccinations and close monitoring can help to re-establish an FMD-free status.
Hour of Weaning, Photoperiod and Weaning to Estrus Interval in Sows
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Sows are usually weaned at a time of day most convenient for processing the weanlings, with little thought as to any effect it may have on the sow’s return to heat. However, with a goal of optimizing pregnancy rate and litter size, having better control over the weaning to estrus or heat interval (WEI) and time of breeding becomes extremely important. Research with the University of Manitoba sow herd at the Glenlea Research Station has been focusing on determining whether the hour of weaning, as well as the photoperiod the sows are in, can impact the WEI and the time of ovulation. Improving the predictability of WEI and ovulation will help optimize breeding management and reproductive performance of sows. In the first phase of the research, conducted as part of the Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree of Kelly Bowen, multiparous Cotswold sows were housed under a short photoperiod (9 hours of light) from entry into the farrowing barn at 105 days of pregnancy, throughout their 17-day lactation and during the rebreeding period. Sows were weaned either as soon as the lights came on at 8:00 AM or at 4:45 PM, just before lights went off, with the idea that any differences would show up by weaning at these two extremes of the day. Following from these initial studies, the recent M.Sc. research of Jennifer Burt has investigated the actual timing of ovulation, with real-time ultrasonography, following 8:00 AM weaning, as well as the influence of longer day-lengths (photoperiod) during lactation. Sows were kept under either long days (14 hours light) or short days (9 hours light) throughout their time in the farrowing barn until weaning at 17 days. Breeding barn photoperiod was at 9 hours of light as is routine in our Glenlea Swine Research Unit. Combined, these investigations clearly demonstrate that sows kept under short photoperiod during 17 day lactation and weaned as soon as lights come on, have less variable WEI than do those sows weaned later in the day or kept under longer photoperiod during lactation. In effect more sows under short day-lengths and weaned early in the day, began their standing heat period between 8:00 AM and noon when heat checks are routinely conducted. With time of ovulation being fairly consistent from actual estrus onset in these sows, being able to accurately determine the onset of heat ensures more reliable time of insemination to optimize conception and subsequent litter size.
Alternative housing systems for pigs: Influences on growth, composition, and pork quality
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A growing interest has been shown in alternative pig
production systems because of the low capital cost of
outdoor systems, which varies from 40 to 70% of the cost for conventional indoor systems. Concerns for animal welfare and awareness of niche
marketing opportunities have increased interest in the
production of free-range animals characteristics.
The overall objectives of these experiments
were to examine the effects of alternative pig housing
systems on growth and meat quality measures using
both controlled university trials and field studies. It was found that pigs finished in alternative and outdoor systems had
carcass and pork quality characteristics similar to those
of pigs finished in conventional indoor systems on slatted
flooring. In mild climates, pigs housed outdoors may
grow faster than pigs housed indoors during warm
months. Pig birth environment may play an important
role in growth and performance throughout the finishing
period. Alternative pig housing systems, such as
bedded facilities or outdoor finishing, can be successful
under proper management. Seasonal differences in
growth may exist with pigs finished outdoors. Further
research comparing pigs born outdoors and indoors
should be conducted to examine differences in growth,
meat quality, and pig welfare that may exist in conventional
and alternative finishing systems.
Mammary Gland Amino Acid Update and Litter Size
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Twelve multiparous sows (PIC Camborough 15; parity >2) were used to investigate the relationship between litter size and day of lactation, and plasma amino acid (AA) arteriovenous differences (A-VD), AA uptake, and plasma flow across the mammary glands. Sows were assigned randomly to one of the following litter sizes: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, or 14 pigs per litter by cross fostering on d 2 postpartum. All sows were surgically fitted with catheters in the carotid artery and the main mammary vein. Matched arteriovenous blood samples were obtained on d 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, and 24 postpartum. Daily mammary uptake of AA was based on the product of plasma A-VD and daily mammary plasma flow (MPF). Daily MPF was estimated using the Fick method based on lysine conservation across the gland, and daily milk production. For the majority of AA, as litter size increased, AND did not increase, except for alanine (P < 0.05, linear and quadratic) and valine (P < 0.1; trend; linear and quadratic). As day of lactation increased, A-VD for the majority of AA increased (P < 0.05, linear and quadratic) except for arginine, lysine, and phenylalanine. As litter size increased, net daily mammary AA uptake increased for all indispensable AA (P = 0.001 to P < 0.05, linear and quadratic), excepting arginine. Milk production increased with increasing litter size (P < 0.001, linear) and with increasing day of lactation (P < 0.05, quadratic). Daily MPF increased (P < 0.05, linear) with increasing litter size, but did not change during the period measured from d 9 to 24. In conclusion, litter size appears to be a major determinant of net mammary AA uptake with daily mammary plasma flow a driving variable, whereas AA AND is a function of day of lactation and a major variable in determining net AA uptake with advancement of lactation.Source: The effect of litter size and day of lactation on amino acid uptake by the porcine mammary glands.