Reduce Feed Waste

Posted in: Production by admin on January 1, 2009 | No Comments

There are steps you can take to reduce the risk of damaging feed on-farm. If
5% of feed is damaged and lost to dust and waste it can cost up to £5000/year on a
500 sow unit; this could increase to £20000 plus if finishers are included, equating
to an extra cost of 1 p/kg deadweight.

Use this guide to walk your system and reduce the risk of waste.
Working with your feed supplier and delivery driver can help a great deal.

Interactive effects of dietary fat source and slaughter weight in growing-finishing swine: I. Growth performance and longissimus muscle fatty acid composition

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The objective of this paper is to test the interactive effects of dietary fat source and slaughter weight on live performance, carcass traits, and fatty acid composition in 288 crossbred pigs. Results from this study indicate that fat source had little to no impact on live performance. However, feeding a polyunsaturated fat source altered the fatty acid profile within the first 17.4 kg of birthweight gain, therefore including %5 soybean oil in swine diets could lead to soft pork or fat. This could cause pork producers to suffer from economic ramifications based on poor quality pork.

For more information the full article can be found at http://jas.fass.org/

The special challenges of transporting high risk livestock

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Powerpoint presentation, presented at the 2009 livestock transportation conference. Includes definition of animal welfare, business eco-system reality, economic reality, animal level risks and decreasing stress.

Effects of dietary spray-dried plasma protein on sow productivity during lactation

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This study evaluates the effects of spray-dried plasma protein (SDP) on sow and litter performance during lactation. Dietary lactation treatments consisted of a corn-soybean meal control and a corn-soybean meal diet containing 0.5% SDP. Mature sows had a greater BW on d 107 of gestation, on d 1 postfarrowing, and at weaning; greater lactation ADFI; and greater litter BW after cross-fostering, but pig survival to weaning was decreased. Sows fed SDP had a greater gestation interval, litter BW at weaning, and litter ADG, with 1 less lactation day. The effect of SDP addition was dependent on sow parity, as noted by numerous SDP ¡Á parity interactions. The addition of SDP increased
lactation ADFI in mature sows but decreased ADFI in young sows. Mature sows fed SDP had a greater number
of pigs weaned per litter, litter and pig weaning weights, pig survival to weaning, and number of pigs weaned per litter weighing more than 3.6 kg, but the SDP diet had little to no effect on these responses in young sows. Subsequent farrowing data were collected, but no dietary treatment effects were observed.
The results of this research indicate that SDP increased productivity of sows in parity 4 or greater.

For more information the full article can be found at http://jas.fass.org/

Characterization of an influenza A virus isolated from pigs during an outbreak of respiratory disease in swine and people during a county fair in the United States

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In August 2007, pigs and people became clinically affected by an influenza-like illness during attendance at an Ohio county fair. Influenza A virus was identified from pigs and people, and the virus isolates were characterized as swine H1N1 similar to swine viruses currently circulating in the U.S. pig population. The swine isolate, /SW/OH/511445/2007 (OH07), was evaluated in an experimental challenge and transmission study reported here. Our results indicate that the OH07 virus was pathogenic in pigs, was transmissible among pigs, and failed to cross-react with many swine H1 anti-sera. Naturally exposed pigs shed virus as early as 3 days and as long as 7 days after contact with experimentally
infected pigs. This suggests there was opportunity for exposure of people handling the pigs at the fair. The molecular analysis of the OH07 isolates demonstrated that the eight gene segments were similar to those of currently circulating triple reassortant swine influenza viruses. However, numerous nucleotide changes leading to amino acid changes were
demonstrated in the HA gene and throughout the genome as compared to contemporary swine viruses in the same genetic cluster. It remains unknown if any of the amino acid changes were related to the ability of this virus to infect people. The characteristics of the OH07 virus in our pig experimentalmodel as well as the documented human transmission warrant close monitoring of the spread of this virus in pig and human populations.

For more information the full article can be found at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03781135

Consistency and influence on performance of behavioural differences in Large White and Landrace purebred pigs

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The main objective of this research was to evaluate behavioural differences between pigs of Large White (LW) and Landrace (LD) breeds. As far as the breed factor was concerned, more predicted correlations were found in LW than in LD pigs (e.g. exploring and standing time in novel object test). With respect to productivity, tonic immobility (TI) individuals of both breeds showed higher growth rates than non-TI individuals (e.g. mean daily growth of 1168.77 g vs. 1112.14 g, P < 0.05, respectively, in LW pigs). Correlations between the TI test and the other behavioural tests suggested the existence of behavioural differences between LW and LD pigs. These probably related to differences in robustness between the two breeds, which would potentially explain the stronger correlations for LW pigs.

For more information the full article can be found at http://journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/applan/issues

Genetic parameters for measures of residual feed intake and growth traits in seven generations of Duroc pigs

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RFI is estimated by the difference between actual and predicted feed intake for an animal. The predicted feed intake
is the amount of feed the animal is expected to consume on the basis of its maintenance and production. Variation in RFI
may reflect differences in the efficiency with which animals digest and utilize energy for maintenance and production. The objective of this study was to estimate genetic parameters for and genetic relationships between measures of RFI and growth traits, and to examine the genetic trends of these traits in Duroc pigs over seven generations of selection based on average daily gain (ADG), loin eye area (LEA), backfat thickness (BF), and intramuscular fat (IMF). Results of this study indicate that residual feed intake was moderately heritable, and should respond to selection.
Genetic correlations indicate that it should be possible to select for reduced residual feed intake without adversely
affecting average daily gain. Daily feed intake and backfat would also decrease, and eye muscle area would increase. The
amount of change in backfat or eye muscle area would depend on which measure of residual feed intake one uses.

For more information the full article can be found at http://www.journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/livsci

Hog manure plus mortalities equals compost

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While the science to convert manure into compost is
well-established, intensive hog and poultry businesses now have a
new means of converting dead animals into valuable compost.
Hog production company Puratone Corporation has developed a
composting device called a Biovator that can convert about 2 lbs.
of mortality mixed with wood shavings to about 1.6 lbs. of
pathogen-free and nutrient rich compost. Each pound of carcass requires about .07 cubic feet of wood
shavings. Other input combinations involving various amounts of
wood shavings, liquid hog manure and recycled compost work
equally well.
Paustian Enterprises gathers and spreads the compost generated
by the Biovator on its farmland, although the amount is not
sufficient to have reduced their need for commercial fertilizer.

COOL vs. Choose Canadian Program

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In 2008 the Canadian pork industry’s Pork Marketing Canada (PMC) group
launched the Choose Canadian program. PMC, which administers the Choose
Canadian Program, is a strategic alliance of pork organizations across
Canada set up to streamline consumer marketing efforts. The launch of the
Choose Canadian program was an action driven by an unprecedented crisis in
the Canadian pork industry, one that was replicated to varying degrees in pork
industries around the world. This presentation recaps the crisis that drove the need for the Choose
Canadian program, the rationale and structural approach of PMC, the logic
and details of the Choose Canadian effort, the results of the program to date,
what’s coming for market research and plans for the future. While the initial goal of this program was to stop the bleeding, the longer term
goal is to grow the business by identifying and developing opportunities.
Partnerships will be key in this and the fact that pork organizations are
working together to streamline and enhance their efforts is a major factor in
success.

Formulating with Opportunity Ingredients

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This paper will discuss the use of opportunity ingredients in grow-finish pig
diets and what potential they offer to increase margin over feed and facility
cost (MOFFC; net return). There are many existing, and some new, opportunity ingredients that can be used to increase
MOFFC but we must understand the nutrients they contain, risks associated
with using them and potential economic benefits when formulated correctly
into pig diets. Examples of new opportunity ingredients are: dried distillers
grains with solubles (DDGS) and expeller processed canola meal. Existing opportunity ingredients that have been around for some time are canola meal, peas, lentils, faba beans, bakery by-products, Extrapro, stillage, and liquid
whey from dairy industry. These opportunity ingredients can offer significant diet and feed cost savings if
formulated correctly into diets. However there are risks associated with using
them. The risks can be mitigated by acquiring as much information on the
ingredient as possible prior to using such as nutrients it brings to the diet,
impact on diet palatability and diet handling characteristics. As the demand for
traditional feed ingredients increases we will be forced to use more
opportunity ingredients in diets and optimize the use of current ingredients if
we are to control feed costs and remain competitive.