Sow Productivity, Determinants of lactation success in primiparous sows -Banff 2017

Posted in: Nutrition, Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on May 8, 2017 | No Comments

Preparing a gilt for a successful first lactation will benefit lactation performance in subsequent parities and thus the producers bottom line. Nathalie Trottier discussed several determinants of a successful first lactation.

Maximizing feed intake during lactation

• Setting body condition scores for gilts entering the breeding herd and monitoring body condition during gestation
• Feeding multiple times a day during gestation to encourage them to stand

Increasing fiber intake during gestation

• Improves gut fill and satiety during a time where gilts should be feed restricted on a calorie basis
• reduces risk of endotoxin build up whioch inhibits the secretion of prolactin

Increasing feed frequency during lactation

• 3-4 times per day

Increasing the length of the lactation period

Maximizing mammary glad use

• Nursing all of the available glands is crucial during the first lactation
• Cross fostering if needed to meet each teat
• Shown to improve teat function in future lactations

Selection for udder conformation

• 14-16 well defined functional teats

Preventing teat injury

Stimulating mammary cellular activity and growth

Dealing with contamination

• Gilts are more sensitive to ergot contamination

Sow productivity banff 

Sow Productivity, Farrowing room managment -Banff 2017

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Dr. Egan Brockhoff,

Before farrowing

• Sanitation
  • Proper selection of detergents and degreasers
  • Focus on fully drying the room

Farrowing, Fostering and Day 1 Critical Care

• First 4 days are the highest risk period for mortality
• Colostrum from piglets own mother is critical for the first day
• Intense observation of climate
• Quickly identify piglets at risk of falling back
• Warming and drying piglets is the first priority then minimizing time to the first suckle
• If the birth interval is any longer than 30 mins piglets should be closely observed
• Foster litters should be established within the first 3 days

Nursing, Rapid growth and Weaning

• Success during lactation starts at the selection of quality replacement gilts
  • Body conformation and the number of functional teats are key
    • 14 teats minimum
  • 300lb minimum at second heat to increase litter weaning weights
• Creep feeding does not improve growth pre-weaning but improves post-weaning performance

Sow Productivity, Farrowing room managment -Banff 2017

Preparedness for a foreign animal disease & Modeling the transboundary survival of foreign animal disease pathogens in contaminated feed ingredients -Banff 2017

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Dr.Chris Byra of Byra consulting gave a speech about foreign animal disease (FAD). FAD can cost industry billions of dollars as demonstrated by the UK’s outbreak of FMD, Byra used this as a basis for his talk.

Components of FAD preparedness

1. Prevention
2. Early Detection
3. Response to a Positive FAD case
   • Critical Areas to focus on when mounting a response
     1. Producers
     2. Processors
     3. Governments
     4. Recovery to Resume Trade

A study was preformed by Scott Dee and his colleagues of FAD  contaminated feeds being transported from China. The focus of the study was to determine if PEDV in imported ingredients would remain viable  during a trans-pacific shipment. At the conclusion of the 37 day shipment PEDV was detected in soybean meal, Vit D, Lysine hydrochloride and choline chloride, however PEDV was not detected in any samples treated with one of the 2 chemical mitigants. This study concluded that certain FAD’s are transboundary risk factors.

Preparedness for a foreign animal disease

Animal Proteins Challenging Role in Feeding the Planet -Banff 2017

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Sandra Vijn offered 3 key ways to reach the goal of sustainability in agriculture.

1. Engaging platforms and multi-stakeholder initiatives
2. Improved production efficiency
3. Engaging consumers

Animal Proteins Challenging Role in Feeding the Planet -Banff 2017

Sustainable Intensification -Banff 2017

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This lecture focuses on production efficiency and GHG emissions, stating that livestock will need to continue to intensify in order to be able to feed the expected population of 9 billion by 2050. Comparing USA to countries like Mexico and India where more animals are needed to produce equal amounts of product Dr.Mitloehner states that the US has fewer inputs and thus fewer impacts meaning that as livestock production intensifies its carbon footprint will decrease. His talk ends with the comment that there are 5 fundamentals for sustainable agriculture. 1.Financial, 2.Animal Welfare, 3.Food Safety, 4.Workers availability and well-being, 5.Environmental. He states that all five are required for sustainable agriculture not just focusing on environment.

Sustainable Intensification -Banff 2017

Immunity & Vaccination – PIG TALES Health From A Pig’s Point of View – Talk

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This talk followed 3 main subjects

Vaccination

1.The pig’s immune system

• Innate and Adaptive Immunity
  • Innate: Present at birth with the same response everytime
  • Adaptive: Developed after birth with a specific memory
• Vaccines & Immunity
  • Adaptive Immunity triggered in 2 ways:1.Exposure to pathogen

    2.Vaccination

    Either will provide long-term protection against future infection by the same pathogen

2.Getting the most out of Vaccines

• Timing/Doses
  • 1.Vaccination should be given ahead of challenge–Pig needs 10-14 days to respond to vaccine

    2.Maternal antibodies can interfere with vaccines

    –Depends on maternal Ab level and the vaccine

    3.Flexi Dose vaccines can help

  • Two Doses Can Help If:1.High level of maternal antibodies are interfering with Dose 1

    2.High level of pathogen challenge in the barn

    –Clinical disease with diagnostic confirmation

    3.Pigs were sick/stressed when given Dose 1

    4.Ensures that all pigs received vaccine (2nd chance)

• Diagnostics
  • Identifying the pathogen in the pig1.PCR Tests

    2.IHC Tests

  • Measure the pig’s response to the pathogen1.Antibody Titer

    2.CMI Response

3.Pigs, People and Vaccinating

PIG TALES_APR 11 2017 – Merged

Evaluation of the optimal space allowance for nursery pigs

Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Prairie Swine Centre, Production, Welfare by admin on May 5, 2017 | No Comments

2 studies were preformed to determine the effects of space allowance and group size on:

• Piglet growth and feed efficiency
• Behaviour and welfare

2.Compare the effects of controlled studies (Phase 1) and commercial trials (Phase 2)

• In grow-finish pigs a k value (space allowance coefficient) of 0.0335 is recommended below which productivity (ADG) decreases
• Relatively little is known about the effects of space allowance in nursery pigs

PHASE 1

-Lower space allowances resulted in pigs feeding more frequently and for a shorter duration, but did not have an obvious impact on growth or welfare

-Pigs at higher space allowances had higher cortisol levels, possibly as a result of higher activity levels

-Overlying was greatest at nursery entry and reduced over time

–No clear effect of density on growth

–Seasonal effects

-limited effects found in PSC trials

–Some effects of space on behaviour

–Effects of group size on behaviour

PHASE 2

• Commercial trials show density effects on growth and behaviour
• General agreement with Code values
• ADG reduced at lower space allowances

2017 Strathmore RK-April 12

25 Years of Swine Research

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This presentation outlines some of the major findings Prairie Swine Center has made through its history.

EVALUATION OF FEEDERS

• ADG and feed disappearance were greater with wet/dry feeders.
• Use of wet/dry feeders will enable pigs to be marketed 5 – 7 days earlier
• ADG increased by 5% or $1.85/hog

ERGONOMIC EVALUATION OF FEEDER DESIGN (Goal was to determine optimal feeder width, depth and lip height for different ages of pigs)

These were the optimal dimensions found

PRE-SORTING PIGS BY WEIGHT (Compared a all in/all out (AI/AO) or continuous pig flow management with and without weight sorting)

• ADG and behaviour did not differ between pigs in uniform and variable weight pens
• Rooms emptied 2 days faster in a AI/AO system
• Continuous flow – Uniform and variable weight pens emptied at the same rate
• AI/AO – variable weight pens emptied 6 days (104 vs. 110) faster than uniform pens

EFFECT OF ERGOT ON PERFORMANCE (The impact of ergot-contaminated wheat on performance of weaned pigs)

• Feeding high levels of ergot caused severe reductions in growth performance
• ADG was similar with diets up to .10% ergot
• Impact most pronounced in week 1 and 2
• .10% ergot allows for 10% wheat to be safely included in a nursery diet

IMPACT OF REDUCED NOCTURNAL TEMPERATURE ON PERFORMANCE

• Setpoint temperature reduced 6°C (18 to 12)
• Two trials showed increases in ADG in the RNT rooms increased from 2.1 to 5.2%

Nipple Drinker Height and Flow Rate on Water Wastage 

• Low nipple height increased wastage by 10% in growers and 20% in finishers
• Wastage was increased by 7% at higher flow rates (500 vs. 1,000ml/min)

CONCLUSIONS

• On average, PSC research projects return $4.10/hog back to producers
• Approximately 33% of all projects with economic return are considered easy to adopt
• PSC projects generate $4.00 for every $1.00 of industry contribution

25 Years of Swine Research

PRRSV and the Pregnant Female -Banff 2016

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The Pregnant Gilt Model (PGM1) was a large-scale, multidisciplinary project led by University of Saskatchewan researchers in 2012.

Some of the key project findings were as follows:
• Larger fetuses are more susceptible to transplacental
PRRS infection.

• The presence of fetal and umbilical lesions increased the likelihood of fetal meconium staining.
• Events occurring in the fetus are essential in the pathogenesis of reproductive PRRS.
• Progression of the immune response to PRRS appears to be faster in resistant pigs than in susceptible pigs.
• Genetic basis of fetal response to PRRS, which may ultimately lead to alternative control strategies to reduce the impact of reproductive PRRS.

PRRSV -Banff 2016

Gilt Acclimation Project -Banff 2016

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Genetic variations in animals can produce differing levels of resistance to infectious diseases. This study followed over 3,000 gilts as they transitioned from high health multiplier farms to cooperating commercial farms where the females would encounter a number of natural disease loads. The early data from the outbreak farms led to exciting results. It was shown that two regions of the swine genome on chromosome seven explained 40 per cent of the genetic variation with the PRRS S/P ratios. Not only were those ratios inheritable, but they correlated strongly with traits such as number of mummies and number born alive while under a PRRS challenge.

Altogether, the results indicate that response to PRRS in gilts and sows is heritable and that immune and reproductive performance might be improved using genomics.

Gilt Acclimation Project -Banff 2016