The use of extrusion to reduce dietary ergot toxicity in growing pigs
Consumption of ergot alkaloids by livestock results in reduced feed intake and growth and a dramatic reduction in the hormone prolactin, which is important for milk production in sows. Previous research at the PSC demonstrated that extreme processing in the form of steam explosion reduced...
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Ken Engele
Managing High Feed Costs
Feed costs always will be the single largest component in costs associated with pork production. Finding ways to effectively reduce feed costs while optimizing pig performance helps producers economic sustainability. This publication focuses on four key areas including: 1) Diet formulation 2) Diet processing 3)...
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Ken Engele
Can hybrid rye replace wheat in swine diets?
Modern rye hybrids are less susceptible to ergot contamination than traditional rye, and has greater yield compared with wheat grain, which was a good incentive to evaluate feeding hybrid rye to grow-finish hogs. Rye is known to have greater fibre content than wheat grain, consisting...
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Ken Engele
Effectiveness of functional amino acids in Salmonella-challenged low and normal birth weight pigs
We wanted to determine the influence of birth weight (normal – NBW vs. low – LBW) on pig response to a subsequent disease challenge and on the effectiveness of functional amino acid (FAA) supplementation in ameliorating this response. Weanling piglets were fed one of two...
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Ken Engele
Animal protein-based nursery diets and functional amino acids improve performance and health status of weaned pigs
Nutrition strategies in the post-weaning period are geared towards providing high quality diets (i.e., inclusion of animal-based protein sources) to mitigate the effect of weaning stress and immature digestive and immune systems. Some studies suggest that the inclusion of animal-based protein sources may not be...
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Ken Engele
Feeding canola meal or soy expeller at two feed energy levels to growout hogs
Previous research trials that we’ve conducted showed that we can feed reduced net energy (NE) diets (≤2.3 Mcal/kg) to growout hogs instead of traditional energy levels (≥2.4 Mcal/kg) as long as hogs can increase feed intake to compensate for reduced dietary energy level. Conventional (solvent-extracted)...
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Ken Engele
Particle size
What can I do to reduce my feed bill? One option is to maximize feed utilization through processing. Grinding (particle size reduction) is an integral part of feed processing that increases the digestibility of nutrients. The smaller the particles, the more significant the improvement in...
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Ken Engele
Strategies to reduce feed costs, feed formulation, feed efficiency, and economics of feeding programs
Do you know what your feed is actually costing you? The most basic calculation to consider is feed cost per kilogram of gain ($/kg gain), which is feed efficiency (kg feed/kg gain) x feed cost ($/kg feed). Determination of either the margin over feed cost...
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Ken Engele
The utilization of corn DDGS in swine rations. Some “reminders”
Corn distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) is an ingredient that has been successfully incorporated into swine diets for many years. The following is an update on some recent research with this ingredient, plus some ‘tips’ or reminders when incorporating corn DDGS into swine rations. The...
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Ken Engele
We need to start thinking about more than essential amino acid requirements
An increased understanding of essential amino acid requirements has led to the ability to reduce dietary protein content while maintaining animal performance. A major assumption behind these low protein diets is that pigs are capable of producing sufficient amounts of non-essential AA (NEAA) to meet...
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Ken Engele