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Feeding Mycotoxin Contaminated Grains
Mycotoxins are chemicals (secondary metabolites) produced by moulds or fungi infecting grains. There are over 400 known mycotoxins; however only a small number of these probably affect pig performance on a regular basis. It is important to note that the presence of the mould or fungi does not guarantee the presence of mycotoxins; conversely, mycotoxins can be present in a sample with no obvious mould contamination. Several factors contribute to the production of mycotoxins in grain, including humidity and temperature during the growing and harvest periods, oxygen availability during growth, harvest, transport or storage and insect or bird damage. Multiple mycotoxins may be present at the same time and mycotoxins may be “masked”. These are mycotoxins bound to another molecule which may make them undetectable by routine assays.
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Are Sows Motivated for Movement?
Research results indicate that stall-housed sows and gilts are motivated to access time out of their stall. The levels of motivation for both rewards are equal in gilts, but in sows the motivation for movement is moderate when compared to their greater motivation for feed. The greater motivation to receive a feed reward in sows may be because they were recovering from lactation during the testing period. To provide more substantial evidence on which to base Code recommendations, further studies will be done to examine sows’ motivation to exit the stall at different feeding levels, and a comparison of the impact of weekly exercise compared to group housing and stall housing on sow behaviour and production when fed at different feeding levels.
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Alternatives for Control & Detection of Boar Taint in Market Hogs
Many recent studies have compared intact males and castrates, or castrates and Improvest® treated males. This study is rare in that it includes females, castrates, Improvest® treated males and intact males from the same litters, all tested under similar conditions. These comparisons provide valuable information on differences that can be expected for both producers and packers to plan for and make decisions related to options for control of boar taint. This study confirmed the advantages of raising intact males in terms of growth performance compared to females and castrates. Improvest® treatment is an interesting option because it gives the benefit of improved growth performance of intact males while producing carcasses of similar composition to castrates.
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Enriching the Living Space of Pigs to Comply with the Code
There are several options available for producers to enrich the environment of pigs. Some options are more expensive than others. However, environmental enrichment can be done at a lower cost by reusing materials or objects already available on the farm. Even so, it is important to hold pigs' interest, and this means changing the materials and the enrichment items on a regular basis. Since this practice could have beneficial effects on animal performances, farmers may see advantages to adopting it.
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High Fibre Diets for Swine
Feed cost represents more than 60% of the variable cost of swine production and a major part of the feed cost is to ensure that pigs have adequate energy and protein supply to reach their optimum potential in terms of the production goals. Corn, wheat, barley, and soybean meal have been the most widely used feedstuffs to meet the energy and protein…
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Recommended Flow Rates and Heights for Nipple Drinkers
Previous wokr on water wastage found grower/finisher pigs wasted 25% of water from the nipple drinker at standard flow rate (700 ml/min) and height (5 cm higher than the shoulder height of the smallest pig). However, on commercial farms, water wastage from a nipple drinker has been measured as high as 40~60%. The difference between these results may partly be attributed to the improper drinker height and flow rate on pig farms.
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Coming Events
Manitoba Swine Seminar - February 7-8, 2019 - Winnipeg, Manitoba
Cramer Livestock Expo - February 21, 2019 - Swift Current, Saskatchewan
London Swine Conference - March 26-27, 2019 - London, Ontario
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