Aquacultural and socio-economic aspects of processing carps into some value-added products

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

Increase Profits by Segregating First-Litter Sows/Progeny

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Compared to older sows, first-litter sows have a smaller appetite and lose more weight and backfat in lactation, have a longer (+1 to 2 days) wean-to-first service interval, and are more likely to return later(8 to 12 days) post-weaning which results in smaller litters. Compared to the progeny of older sows first-litter sow progeny may be smaller at birth, grow more slowly in lactation, are lighter at weaning and can take longer to reach market weight. Also first-litter sows do not confer the same degree of immune competence to their progeny through colostrum as older sows, thereby reducing the progeny’s health status. Dr. Camille Moore, a private swine medicine and production consultant from St-Césaire Quebec, developed a novel breeding herd management program that segregates first-litter sows and their progeny from the rest of the herd. This program is being tested in a 10,000-sow herd in
Farnham, Quebec (R. Robitaille Inc.) and, so far, has increased weaning weight and subsequent litter size as well as reducing wean-to-first-service interval. Most established herds cannot completely change their management strategy, but they may benefit by introducing parts of Dr. Moore’s segregation program. This program designates easily accessible areas in the barn for first-litter and ‘thin’ sows, to provide these disadvantaged animals with specialized feeding and management programs. Top-dressing the diet of disadvantaged sows with soybean meal (0.3 kg minimum) for the first 12 days or the entire lactation if specific lactation diets are not fed and raising the progeny of first-litter sows in separate rooms or pens within a barn.

Utilization by pigs of diets containing Cambodian rubber seed meal

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Iron Deficiency in Outdoor Pig Production

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It has been claimed that outdoor-reared suckling piglets do not need iron supplementation. According to practical experience, outdoor-reared and non-iron-supplemented piglets show a lower performance in comparison with their iron-supplemented counterparts. The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of iron supplementation on outdoor reared suckling piglets. In a large Hungarian outdoor pig production unit, 4691 piglets were assigned to one of two treatment groups. Piglets in group 1 (n ¼ 2344): received no iron supplementation, whereas piglets in group 2 (n ¼ 2347)
were intramuscularly injected in the neck on day 3 postpartum with 1.5 ml of Ferriphor
10% solution (TAD Pharmaceutical GmbH, Bremerhaven, Germany). Animal weights, morbidity, haemoglobin concentration and mortality were recorded and analysed. At weaning the iron-injected piglets were significantly (P<0.05) heavier. The iron-supplemented piglets also revealed significantly (P<0.01) less preweaning morbidity and mortality and higher (P<0.01) blood haemoglobin concentration compared with the non-injected ones. This study suggests that in order to prevent pre-weaning losses and support piglet health and weight performance, iron supplementation should be administered to piglets in outdoor pig production units.

Producing Pork Without Antibiotic Growth Promoters: The Danish Experience

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On January 1st, 2000, antibiotic growth promoters were removed from animal production in Denmark. Antibiotics were only to be used for therapeutic purposes. The effect on finisher pigs has been fairly unproblematic in the majority of the herds. The effects on weaner pigs has been significantly negative, with increased post-weaning diarrhoea, increased infections, increased nutritional overload, and reduced utilization of nutrients in the feed. Many herds find it necessary to apply medicine for treatment of diarrhoea in young stock, resulting in an increased consumption of therapeutic antibiotics. Increasing management and nutrition is aiming to reduce these problems without the use of medicines. Management practices include health promoting housing systems, reducing overcrowding, decreasing batch sizes, good ventilation and temperature, and higher weaning weight. Nutritional practices include restrictive feeding (during the first 14 days post-weaning), additives (such as acidifiers), protective diets (low protein, high animal protein, high barley, organic acid product), and fermented liquid feed (increase acid content in stomach to kill harmful bacteria).

Choice of statistical model for estimating genetic parameters using restricted maximum likelihood in swine

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Restricted maximum likelihood (REML) was used to determine the choice of statistical model, additive
genetic maternal and common litter effects and consequences of ignoring these effects on estimates of
variance–covariance components under random and phenotypic selection in swine using computer
simulation. Two closed herds of different size and two traits, (i) pre-weaning average daily gain and (ii) litter size at birth, were considered. Three levels of additive direct and maternal genetic correlations (rdm) were assumed to each trait. Four mixed models (denoted as GRM1 through GRM4) were used to generate data sets. Model GRM1 included only additive direct genetic effects, GRM2 included only additive direct genetic and common litter effects, GRM3 included only additive direct and maternal genetic effects and GRM4 included all the random effects. Four mixed animal models (defined as EPM1 through EPM4) were defined for estimating genetic parameters similar to GRM. Data from
each GRM were fitted with EPM1 through EPM4. The largest biased estimates of additive genetic
variance were obtained when EPM1 was fitted to data generated assuming the presence of either
additive maternal genetic, common litter effects or a combination thereof. The bias of estimated
additive direct genetic variance (VAd) increased and those of recidual variance (VE) decreased with an
increase in level of rdm when GRM3 was used. EPM1, EPM2 and EPM3 resulted in biased estimation
of the direct genetic variances. EPM4 was the most accurate in each GRM. Phenotypic selection
substantially increased bias of estimated additive direct genetic effect and its mean square error in trait 1, but decreased those in trait 2 when ignored in the statistical model. For trait 2, estimates under phenotypic selection were more biased than those under random selection. It was concluded that
statistical models for estimating variance components should include all random effects considered to
avoid bias.

Reducing Piglet Mortality with Oxygen & Heat

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Mortality in the first day of life of newborn piglets is often excessive because of asphyxia and cold stress. Even when weak piglets survive through day one of life, many die on day two or three because they are either unable to suckle and/or are crushed during this energy deficient period. For simulating practical farm conditions, this experiment was designed to observe the effects of administering energy and immunity products along with supplemental oxygen and heat to reduce mortality during the first seven days of life. The results from this experiment confirm that heat or oxygen can save small piglets, piglet daily mortality can meet and exceed the less than 1% target by using oxygen inhalation and oxygen inhalation by newborn piglets is the most effective means for improving piglet survival. Administered colostrum also improved piglet survival and can be very effective when combined with oxygen or heat to reduce mortality between days two and seven. However, oxygen administration needs to be done within a short period after birth and thus may put a time burden on the staff within the farrowing unit. This study suggest that an additional heat lamp positioned at the rear of the sow during farrowing and supplemental colostrum on day one are a very practical and economic means for saving small piglets on all Canadian pork producing units, especially where large litter sizes are prevalent and light piglets are common.

Nutritional evaluation of crop residues for pigs; pepsin/pancreatin digestibility of seven plant species

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Optimum Strategies In Artificial Insemination, With Emphasis on the Timing Relative To Ovulation and the Role of the Boar

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Artificial insemination can be extremely effective with as little as one dose in the 24-hour period prior to ovulation. The problem occurs in determining when ovulation is going to occur. This optimal 24-hour period ensures maximum fertilization potential of the sperm and the egg. Extender, age, dosage, freezing, and backflow during AI all affect the fertilization potential. Increasing semen quality, deep uterine insemination, uterine white blood cell reduction, and certain sow characteristics are all being investigated to improve the fertilization of sows.

Predicting ovulation timing is difficult due to the variability between sows. Work is being done to identify the application of varying stimulus intensities to identify different stages of estrus. For example, it is possible that the shade of vulva redness can be used to identify what stage of estrus the sow is showing. A red inner vulva would mean to put off the insemination until the redness disappears.

When it comes to insemination frequency, studies show that 24 hour intervals between inseminations has the same reproductive results as 12 hour intervals. In fact, insemination of sows as often as possible may not just be a waste of semen, labor and money, but may also have negative effects. This is due to uterine infections interfering with maximal fertilization. The optimal timing of insemination during estrus varies between farms. Sows with a short (3-4 days) wean to estrus average have a long estrus, associated with an advanced ovulation time. To get farm-specific data, farmers should establish the duration of estrus and also take into account the effect of weaning to estrus interval on the duration of estrus. This also enables checking of the appropriateness of insemination timings of individual sows.

Sperm transport within the sow is essential. External boar stimulus increases the hormone oxytocin, which initiates uterine contractions. Boar presence during insemination is a must-have, as it positively influences uterine contraction activity especially when the contraction pattern of a sow is low.

New Generation Partnerships: Is the Future Co-operatives?

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The initiation of cooperatives is defensive in nature. Business usually succeeds when cooperatives derive from market failure rather than low prices. The second stage of a cooperative is survival of the entity. The third stage is the description of ill-defined property rights followed by the fourth stage, which addresses these problems. The fifth stage is action, where shares can be sold on the stock market. New Generation Partnerships require up-front capital investment and commitment from members. They either own the processing capacity or develop a strategic alliance with the existing processor. They minimize many problems and have the potential for long-term success. The question is, can an NGP work in the hog sector? The future trend looks to be less government assistance, more tight linkages between producers and supply chain management, and an increase in food safety and quality. Internally, the number of hog farms has been decreasing at a fast pace with large-scale growers increasing. Packers in Canada are being purchased by US owned entities, which is bringing down the traditionally 100% Canadian owned industry. Since the price crash in 1998/1999, there has been increased interest in hog cooperatives in the US. There seems to be a strong desire to move toward fully integrated production processing units. Producers themselves feel that cooperatives have potential due to leverage-able assets in hog production.