Precision livestock farming is an innovative production system approach, which is based on intensive and integrated use of advances in animal sciences and in the new technologies of information and communication (Berckmans 2004). Its main objective is to optimize animal production and the management of the productive processes (Groot Koerkamp et al. 2007). Today, this approach offers many opportunities, such as the increased feed efficiency that can be obtained by reducing uncertainty in decisions relating the control of the variability that exists among farm animals (Wathes et al. 2008). A relevant contribution in this regard of precision pig farming is the development of precision feeding systems (Niemi et al. 2010; Pomar et al. 2009) which lays the groundwork for addressing key issues in today intensive livestock farming which are: (1) reducing feeding cost by improving feed and nutrient efficiency (2) improving production system sustainability by increasing profitability and reducing production footprints and (3) increasing food safety through traceability. This paper presents key elements for the development of sustainable precision livestock farming and a vision for the future of the Canadian swine industry.

Feeding rather simple, corn and soybean meal based diets to nursery pigs reduced post-weaning growth performance, but had no long-term effect on growth performance in the growing-finishing phase, days from weaning to market and carcass characteristics. Therefore, a reduction in feed costs may be obtained in the nursery phase by feeding less complex diets without compromising subsequent growth performance and carcass value.

Detailed nutritional analyses and in vitro nutrient digestibility and availability assays confirm the substantial variability in nutritional value of corn distillers grains plus solubles (DDGS) that are used in Ontario.  While color provides a reasonable prediction of the nutritional value of individual sample of DDGS, especially the available lysine content, this simple measurement has limitations. Given the relatively high fiber content of DDGS, fiber-degrading enzymes and microbial inoculants may be used to enhance the nutritional value of corn DDGS.  The combined use of exogenous enzymes and inoculants appears more effective at enhancing the feeding value of corn DDGS in liquid-fed finishing pigs than in conventional dry feeding.

This topic is broad. Therefore, the emphasis is on parts of the program funded by the Canadian Swine and Research Development Cluster and industry partners that is focussed on changes in diet formulation that: 1)  alter the profile of feedstuffs to less grain and more co-products from processing of crops or 2) alter the profile of dietary carbohydrates (starch and fibre). These two parts are linked: the changes in feedstuffs by default will change dietary profile of carbohydrates to more fibre and less starch. Dietary feedstuffs play an important role in feed costs and thus competitiveness. Functional characteristics of carbohydrates, digestion patterns of starch and fermentation patterns of fibre, play an important role in value-added attributes such microbial profile in the gut and thus intestine health; however, such characteristics are not used widely yet in feed formulation.