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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:
New Handling and Transportation Strategies under Canadian Conditions
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on March 29, 2012 | No Comments
The dead on arrival (DOA) rate for pigs during transport is fairly low, but can be a large economic loss. As well, there appears to be large variation in rates depending on the producer, transporter, and packer. Producers are required to withdraw feed before transport, but one Quebec survey showed only 15% of producers doing so correctly. The loading facilities and handling can have an impact on DOA rate, as pigs that are more stressed are more likely to die or become non-ambulatory during transport. Factors that can affect stress include the alley and ramp design, size of groups moved, and the use of electric prods. The trailer design can decrease the proportion of DOA if pot-belly trailers are avoided, the microclimate is controlled through ventilation, insulation, and sprinklers, and the distance duration is kept under 6 hours. However, it was found that very short (>1 hour) trips appear to cause pigs to remain stressed throughout the trip. Reducing DOA losses can be accomplished through design and handling changes, and can result in less economic loss and higher animal welfare.
Pig Handling and Transportation Strategies Utilized Under U.S. Commercial Conditions
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Dead and non-ambulatory pigs account for only 0.69% of shipped pigs, but this still result in $46 million profit loss per year. There is no national data on non-ambulatory pigs, so only commercial field trial data can be used. This data shows that the majority of non-ambulatory pigs are fatigued rather than injured. Seasonal variation results in more dead pigs during transport in summer months, and more non-ambulatory pigs during fall and early winter. Some of the management strategies to reduce dead and non-ambulatory pigs during transport can be through changes in preparing the pigs for transport, facility design, handling, and transport conditions. For preparing the pigs, ways to reduce stress include previously handling pigs and withdrawing feed around 24 hours beforehand. The facility can be improved by decreasing loading distance, having large pens with pre-sorting capabilities, and changing the ramp design (angle). To minimize stress during handling, pigs should be moved primarily with boards, the use of electric prods should be minimized, groups should be kept small, and the intensity of handling should be reduced to give pigs time and space to move. Ways to optimize the trailer design are to use a straight-deck, provide more space per pig, avoid mixing unfamiliar pigs, and have strategies to reduce the impact of hot and cold weather. Many of these strategies require more studies on larger groups of pigs to confirm the results. Reducing the stress during transportation can help lower death and non-ambulatory rates during transport, and reduce the economic loss from these pigs.
Making an On-Farm Trial Work
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Trials run on products are typically done in university or research herds, and they may not accurately reflect how a product will work in commercial conditions. On-farm trials can more accurately reflect how a product will work with a commercial stocking density, herd health status, and general environment. Before starting an on-farm trial it should be decided which questions to answer, and determine if there will be financial benefit to the trial. Trial design is typically uses completely randomized design (CRD) or randomized complete block design (RCBD) to assign treatments to experimental units, and the replications per treatment need to be the same. CRD is the simpler option, but RCBD avoids confounding variables like starting weight or parity of sow being used in results. The number of replications depends on what level of difference needs to be detected, and the variability in the value used to measure results. A detailed trial protocol should be written up before starting the trial. Once data collection is completed, the data should be checked, summarized, and can be analyzed through programs like excel. It is often useful to analyze data in economic terms. Once the trial is complete, a more informed decision can be made for including a new product into production.
Making On Farm Research Trials Work
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Government funding for research has decreased, so producer-run research can allow facilities to contribute to research and to optimize their facilities production. Before starting an on-farm trial, the costs, equipment, and manpower should be considered. As well, the number of replications (at least 3), the experimental unit, and the experimental design should be determined before starting. During the trial, accurate data collection is necessary, and any pigs that are removed from the trial should be recorded with a reason. When comparing data to other trials it is important to consider the differences that exist between the trials, and adjusting the data to compare the same values. Between treatments it is important to keep all other variables the same. For example, flooring, feeders, drinkers, temperature, humidity etc. Properly conducting on-farm trials will determine is something is worth incorporating into production, whereas poorly conducted trials can give false results and end in wasted time and money.
Pork Production in a Youtube Environment
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The introduction for Trent Loos’ London Swine Conference, 2012 presentation, the presentation is available on video at www.londonswineconference.ca.
Collaboration between the Ministry of Labour, WSPS and You
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The Ministry of Labour and Workplace Safety and Prevention Services (WSPS) provide information for workplace safety. There can be proactive or reactive visits to workplaces to assess the safety. WSPS also provides training and audits.
Evidence Based Decisions: Combing Science-Based Studies with Experience
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Making treatment and prevention decisions for swine should be based on scientific studies, and veterinarian and producer experience. An internet search on a problem will often give a variety of responses, but the value of the information can be low if it is not supported by data. In descending order of reliability, the scientific resources used to make decisions are systemic reviews, randomized blinded clinical trials, observational studies, case reports or studies, peer reviewed manuscripts, and proceedings papers. Producers can run their own clinical trials, but often make the mistake of giving one batch a treatment and using the next batch as control. This can often confound the results due to differences in performance between batches. When making health decisions, producer and veterinarian experience is still invaluable. The combination of a veterinarian’s training and experience with a variety of herds, and the producer’s intensive knowledge of the herd health can help make the best decision for the herd.
Maximizing the Impact of High Value and High Fertility Boars
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on March 28, 2012 | No Comments
Fertility of boars is usually evaluated through physical exams and semen evaluation, but this can only identify sub-fertile boars. As well, artificial insemination in swine uses pooled semen with high sperm numbers, so less productive boars can be masked. If fertility of boars could be accurately evaluated, less fertile boars could be removed and offspring could have increased productivity. Sperm fertility traits can be grouped into compensable or uncompensable based of whether large numbers can overcome the defect or not. Fertility data for boars in use is lacking, but thought to be varied and normally distributed. Around 2/3 of boars are thought to be have good fertility levels, but the bottom 1/3 drags down the overall performance, which could result in 1 less pig born alive per litter. If only the elite boars could be used, then breeding could be done with fewer doses of semen and less sperm per dose. Utilizing higher performing boars could be achieved through a 3 stage process. In stage 1, all new boars have their semen processed in single-sire doses, and the lowest 1/3 of boars are identified and removed. In stage 2, post-cervical AI and lower count (1-1.5 billion) single-sire semen is used to breed sows, and the lowest 1/3 of boars is again identified and removed. The final stage involves breeding sows with a single 1-1.5 billion count single-sire dose using single, fixed-time and post-cervical AI techniques. The lowest performing 1/3 of boars is again removed. The identification and use of elite boars is predicted to improve pig value by $0.80-1.30 per pig.
Why Benchmarking is Important
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Benchmarking allows for meaning comparisons to be made between companies or regions, and areas capable of improvement to be identified. When opportunities for improvement are identified, the entire team should be aware of the new goals, clear measurements should be tracked, long term growth should be considered, and knowledge can be shared with the benchmarking group. To succeed, benchmarking need significant commitment, accurate measurements of variables, and continuous data recording.
Implementing Simple and Useful Production Benchmarking
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Benchmarking allows for comparison within an industry to provide insight in how to improve. Paradigm blindness is when business leaders become focused on their own operation and fail to consider outside factors. When benchmarking, it is important that all of the values being compared have been calculated in the same manner. As well, performance data can be useful, but the real benefit of benchmarking usually comes from comparing financial results. One way to ensure the variables compared are the same, and to compare current performance and financial information, is to use a benchmarking company such as Agri Stats.