How Canada Plans to Stay Free of Foreign Animal Disease

Posted in: Production by admin on January 1, 2002 | No Comments

A disease such as foot & mouth disease would spread very quickly in Canada. Entry of a livestock disease into a susceptible population would devastate the economy, and tie up agriculture department personnel and resources. The blow to the economy would be the closing of borders to exports, which is extremely important. Serious diseases could be spread via an innocent traveler, a not so innocent traveler, and even docks in Vancouver that handle risky material from foreign countries. The outbreak of FMD in the UK served to show veterinarians worldwide that no country is invincible to disease. Canada has prepared for such an outbreak by conducting exercises designed to point out the weaknesses in the plans to fight a disease and improve on them. Additional money has been provided to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to employ more inspectors so that a higher percentage of incoming freight is being examined. This includes powerful x-ray machines to detect anything harmful. Public awareness is one of the most important factors in preventing and educating about foreign animal disease. Trust has to be given to countries that they are reporting all cases of reportable diseases so that the risk of spread to a traveler’s home country is eliminated. What must be dealt with is the swill (“garbage”) feeding that goes on. This is the feeding of rendered animals to livestock. Maximum monitoring must be present in order to ensure no disease enters.

The use of diet manipulation to alter water utilization patterns of growing pigs

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Concerns relating to the use of water resources by the livestock industry, combined with the rising cost of storing, hauling and spreading manure have resulted in greater interest in more precisely defining the drinking water consumption of pigs. In particular, little information is available on the impact of diet composition on voluntary water intake in swine. In addition, diets are currently not formulated with considerations involving their impact on water usage in pigs. Some researchers studying the effect of diet on water consumption patterns of growing pigs have observed altered water intake patterns in response to changes in dietary crude protein or mineral levels, while similar studies have not produced conclusive results. Two experiments were conducted at PSCI’s Floral research facility to examine a nutritional approach to reducing the demand for water by pork production units while maintaining pig performance and well-being. Varying levels of dietary minerals and crude protein level as well as the protein source were used to examine the use of diet manipulation to alter pig water intake. The first experiment involved a total of 54 barrows averaging 72 days of age with an average body weight of 36.0 kg. Pigs were limit-fed diets of varying crude protein levels (14.5,18.5 and 22.5 % CP), an animal protein diet using meat and bone meal, a vegetable protein diet with mineral levels similar to that of the animal protein diet or a high mineral diet. A second experiment involved 48 barrows given free access to diets of increasing CP (16.9, 20.9 and 25.7 %) or a high mineral diet (20.6% CP). Drinking water intake was unaffected by the level or source of dietary protein or the mineral levels when pigs were limit-fed. Similarly, urine output was not different in response to dietary treatment. The high water:feed ratios and individual variability in water intake observed in the first experiment were suggestive of polydipsia, a behaviour that has been related to hunger in limit-fed pigs. To minimize the effect of over-drinking due to hunger, pigs were allowed free access to feed in the second experiment. There were no significant treatment effects on overall water balance; however there was a tendency toward increased drinking water intake and urine output in pigs receiving the highest protein diet. Further analysis indicated that dietary nitrogen and feed intake had a strong influence on the pig’s daily water consumption.

Farmers feedback on pig production technology in Kwara State, Nigeria

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DEVELOPMENT OF A RESPIRATION RATE MONITOR FOR SWINE

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Cross Fostering

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A PorkNet Summary/ — Work reported in the Canadian Journal of Animal Science, Vol. 80, looks at the consequences of cross fostering piglets older than two days of age. The cross fostering was typically done at six days of age. It was concluded that cross fostering at this time did not impair the growth of the piglets, but did facilitate their adaptation to unacquainted piglets after weaning.

Minimum space allowance for transportation of swine by road.

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The minimum space allowance required for pigs in transit at a broad range of body sizes has not yet been adequately assessed or well described. Consultation between the swine transportation industry, animal welfare groups, and a literature review produced a maximal loading pressure recommendation for pigs weighing from 5 to 250 kg body weight. Under ideal conditions, the recommended maximal loading pressure for swine loaded in groups can be described as a hoerl model y = (37.53)(0.9969)W(W0.5008), where y = loading pressure in kg body weight/m2 and W = average animal body weight in kilograms.

Using higher energy diets to improve weaned pig performance

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The weaning period is often associated with problems such as low feed consumption and reduced growth rate. Management of the weaned pig requires special attention to housing, environment and nutrition to reduce the post-weaning growth lag and to maximize performance. Environmental stressors such as weaning site, stocking density and group size can further reduce feed intake and thus the growth rate of weaned pigs. Understanding how the piglet responds to changes in environment and dietary nutrients will lead to improved piglet management and performance. To quantify the effectiveness of increasing energy density as a method to improve weaned pig performance, a study was designed where groups of similar pigs were provided diets ranging in digestible energy (DE) content. It was concluded that in young pigs (10 to 25 kg BW) with free access to feed, the limitation to growth is not due to gut capacity within the dietary digestible energy range of 3,350 to 3,650 kcal DE/kg. Increasing the energy density of the diet did not result in an improvement in pig performance in relation to daily body weight gain or protein deposition. It appears that growth limitations in the young pig are not overcome simply by increasing the dietary energy level. The reason for the lack of response to increasing dietary DE level is not clear; however, the source of energy and the crude protein content of the diet may play important roles in how efficiently the dietary energy is utilized.

The effect of DL-methionine supplementation on digestibility and performance traits of growing pigs fed broken rice and water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica)

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Predicting Sensor Placement Targets on Pigs using Image Analysis

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This work forms part of a longer-term project aimed at developing a robot to bring a sensor into contact with an animal. The example application is to place an ultrasonic sensor onto the back of a pig as it uses a feeding stall. This paper presents the accuracy required in placing the sensor, and the accuracy of target location achieved using a linear function of landmark points on the pig outline, located by image analysis. The P2 standard position is close to a local minimum in fat thickness. When the target is chosen to be 25mm ahead of the last rib and 50mm from the mid-line of the pig, then a positional error of
10mm laterally and
25mm longitudinally will give a backfat measurement within 5% of the minimum. A linear model predicting the target position from six points on the outline was trained on 7549 images and tested on 2978 images. On the test data the root means square (r.m.s.) errors in the X and Y directions were 16 and 38 mm, respectively. A linear model with separate offset terms in X and Y coordinates for each sequence gave r.m.s. errors of 6 and 8 mm. However, this requires the offset value to be calculated for each sequence. An active system is proposed where multiple measurements from each pig will be used to improve the backfat estimate to within 5% of the minimum value.

Nutrition and Management of the Sow to Maximize Lifetime Productivity

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Good nutritional management of the gestating sow will result in a high level of weaned piglet output, minimized wean-to-estrus interval, and increased subsequent litter sizes. These objectives require an excellent gilt development program. Early gilt immunity is essential for when it comes time for herd entry (done be fecal feedback). Gilts should be fed for bone growth and development right up to about their second litter. Lower body weight can lead to a higher wean-to-estrus interval (usually any less than 150 kg is no good). They should be fed to minimize the loss of body protein and fats. There are 3 stages of pregnancy that require different feeding strategies. Maternal growth is important for embryo survival and implantation, and young females should be fed to increase body protein and fat mass without altering body condition. The second stage is bodily growth in order to recover body reserves lost during lactation. This should be for 30 to 45 days and should target 16 to 18 mm of back fat. Late pregnancy is the third stage and it aims to maximize foetal and mammary growth. Sows need much more feed at this stage (at least 7.5 Mcal digestible energy per day) to prevent breakdown of bodily reserves. Feeding the lactating sow should be to maximize feed intake. A lot of energy is required to produce vast amounts of milk and sustain a healthy growing litter of 10+ piglets for 21 days. Lysine and energy content are particularly important nutrients in the diet. Phase feeding for first litter females can also be done in lactation. High feeding from post-weaning to mating has shown a reduction in wean-to-estrus intervals. This leads to a higher percentage showing estrus within 10 days of weaning. First litter sows can be segregated in order to control nutrition and body condition. Piglets from gilts can be segregated because they have less passed on immunity, plus gilts piglets always tend to be smaller. This can impact the finisher barn efficiency. Good gilt nutrition can improve the immunity passed on, even beyond that of colostrum. Good nutrition of the gilt will result in good nutrition of the piglets and their digestive system will develop better.