Response of Growing-Finishing Pigs to Dietary Energy Concentration
In this trial, feeding lower energy, lower cost diets had no effect on ADG or on loin thickness, but did improve feed efficiency, and reduced backfat thickness. This indicates that lower energy diets may be used to increase net income. This experiment was...
Effectively Assessing Technology
New technologies are constantly being introduced into barns due to promised benefits and enhanced profitability. However, these innovations can also introduce new challenges and costs, such as the impact of new technologies on worker health and safety. So how do...
Precision Feeding for Gestating Sows
The objective of this project was to assess the impact of an individualized feeding strategy for pregnant sows whose dietary intakes vary depending on stage of gestation and the individual characteristics of the sow, on growth performances, productivity and feed...
Use of Novel Technologies to Optimize Pig Performance
The overall project is assessing several novel technologies which can help producers to monitor health, welfare and feed efficiency while also offering tools to predict and enhance carcass value. There are also technologies for packers to better evaluate carcass and...
The Effects of Water Availability and Space Allowance on Productivity and Profitability
Reduced floor space allowance for pigs may negatively affect growth performance as a result of competition for feed and water access, especially at later stages of the grower-finisher period. However, kilograms of pork produced per unit of floor space may increase with more pigs...
The Interaction Between Pig Density and Dietary Energy on Performance
Dietary net energy and stocking density independently affect performance, feed utilization and profits in the finisher barn. The objective of this experiment was to assess the interactions of stocking density and dietary energy, and determine how these interactions affect net income. When stocking density...
Neither Photoperiod nor Time of Weaning Impact Nursery Performance
Weaning, which requires adapting to a new feed source and environment, may result in anorexia and reduced growth in the initial 24 to 48 hours in the nursery. Th is study was designed to determine if altering the photoperiod in the farrowing room...
Dietary ω-6 to ω-3 Fatty Acid Ratios Affect Protein Deposition in Nursery Pigs
An experiment was conducted to determine if decreasing the dietary omega-6 (ω-6) to omega-3 (ω-3) fatty acid (FA) ratio would affect protein deposition in nursery pigs during a prolonged E. coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) inflammatory challenge. Following a one week long challenge, six week old...
Dietary ω-6 to ω-3 Ratio Impacts Nursery Pigs
Results from these experiments indicate that altering the omega(ω)-6 to ω-3 fatty acid (FA) ratio can improve nursery pig performance, and protein deposition, potentially by diverting nutrients away from an unnecessary inflammatory response. Additionally, we found no effects on piglet performance or health by...
Can Bovine Colostrum Mitigate the Post-Weaning Growth Lag?
Bovine colostrum is a good source of nutrients and growth factors, and is very palatable. It was added to the creep feed of piglets in the farrowing room and to the phase one diets immediately post-weaning to determine if it would increase feed...
Are My Pigs Eating?
Recent trials conducted at the Prairie Swine Centre, Inc. have confirmed the importance of feed intake by the piglet immediately post-weaning and/or consumption of creep feed in the farrowing room. We have also demonstrated that more than half of the piglets may not...
