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Industry Partners
Prairie Swine Centre is an affiliate of the University of Saskatchewan
Prairie Swine Centre is grateful for the assistance of the George Morris Centre in developing the economics portion of Pork Insight.
Financial support for the Enterprise Model Project and Pork Insight has been provided by:
Performance response of piglets to acid-preserved, high-moisture wheat
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Prairie Swine Centre by Ken Engele on July 19, 2018 | No Comments
One objective of this trial was to determine the effectiveness of feeding acid-preserved, high moisture wheat as an alternative to directly supplementing acid to the wheat diet of weanling pigs. Acidification of wheat with propionic acid resulted in a significant improvement in feed efficiency (G:F) in pigs on days 8 to 21 after weaning, regardless of the method of application. This improvement occurred by contrast to the non-acid control and to diets containing phosphoric acid. So feeding acid-preserved wheat using propionic acid (APW-Prop) had comparable performance with pigs fed acidified diets using propionic acid (AD-Prop).
Results & Perspectives about Automated Water Intake Recording, Infrared Thermography & Vision Systems
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by student on July 17, 2018 | No Comments
Author: Frederic Fortin
Reference: Banff Pork Seminar Proceedings 2018
Summary: “Swine Cluster 2: Generating Results Through Innovation” is a research program designed to develop and test new technologies that could prove beneficial to the swine industry. As a result they have tested a variety of technologies including:
- Recording and analyzing individual water intake during grow-finish phase
- Infrared cameras to capture individual and grouped pig images corresponding to heat emissions on the skins surface
- Different vision systems to evaluate weight and conformation
- Different tracking systems to assess pig’s behavior
Each of these are described in detail in the article below
Results and Perspectives about Automated Water Intake Recording..
Animal Welfare, Animal Rights: What’s the Difference?
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Author: Geraldine Auston
Reference: Banff Pork Seminar Proceedings 2017
Summary:
“Protecting an animal’s welfare involves providing for its physical and mental needs. Ensuring animal welfare is a human responsibility that includes consideration for all aspects of animals well-being, including proper housing, management, nutrition, disease prevention and treatment, responsible care, humane handling, and, when necessary, humane euthanasia.” – American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA)
The Five Freedoms:
1. Freedom from Hunger and Thirst
2. Freedom from Discomfort
3. Freedom from Pain, Injury or Disease
4. Freedom to Express Normal Behavior
5. Freedom from Fear and Distress
“Animal rights means that animal;s deserve certain kinds of consideration – consideration of what is in their best interests, regardless of whether they are “cute”, useful to humans, or an endangered species and regardless of whether any human cares about them at all. It means recognizing that animals are not our to use – for food, clothing, entertainment or experimentation.” – The Vegetarian Resource Group
What can you do to minimize challenges caused by animal rights groups?
- Utilize a animal care code of conduct
- Consider people’s temperament and how they will work with animals when hiring them
- Continually train
- Establish a reporting system that allows employees to express animal welfare concerns
- Document incidents
Livestock transport is a focus of animal rights protestors, how can an individual respond to an incident like this?
- Establish communication with the plant
- Act as if you are being filmed as it is likely you are
- Stay inside the truck if activists are too close hindering safely continuing
- Do not engage with activists, conversation of physical
- Avoid horn utilization
- Move truck ahead once you have verified it is safe to do so
- If protesters approach again, warn them and contact the police
- If you feel threatened contact the police
When the Headline is YOU
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Author: Jeff Ansell
Reference: Banff Pork Seminar Proceedings 2018
Summary:
Knowing how to properly answer difficult questions can pose a challenge to even the most skillful of speakers. Jeff Ansell is a communications expert who has a proven process to successfully manage media encounters. His process includes:
- Creating compelling messages
- Responding to difficult questions
- and how to frame negative news
Transition to Antibiotic-Free Production: On Farm Management Strategies
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Author: Greg Wideman, DVM
Reference: Banff Pork Seminar Proceedings 2018
Summary: Antimicrobial-free is growing in demand as concern for the interplay between antibiotic use and antimicrobial resistance is expressed. As a result, South West Vets’ has made it their objective to best equip their clients to raise antibiotic free pigs.
Good data management and performance monitoring systems include:
- Simple and up to date
- Accurate
- Web-based, which allows for the entire production team to access
- Time period closeouts
- Ability to follow “treated” and “program” pigs
- Allowing for accurate bench marking when necessary
Essential for an antibiotic free system is the elimination and control of critical diseases. As well, weaning age is an important factor influencing the success of antibiotic free production. It has been demonstrated to manage specific diseases in older weaned pigs.
Daily management that harbors positive results in an antibiotic free system includes:
- Colostrum to mitigate early infections
- Effective fostering protocols that reduced horizontal disease transmission
- Processing hygiene
- Iron utilization and monitoring to ensure thrifty pigs are weaned
- Transport and auditing
- Individual pig treatment
- Water quality monitoring and treatment
In addition to all of this, a key factor that can strongly influence the success of an antibiotic free practice is communication.
Using Futures and Option to Manage Hog Price Volatility
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Author: Larry Martin, Ph.D.
Reference: Banff Pork Seminar Proceedings 2018
Summary:
When looking at USDA’s September 2017 report compared to the previous year, hogs were up 2%, 1% more breeding stock, and 3% more market hogs. Hog production has been on a constant incline since 2013/2014. There are three factors that relate to the increased demand:
- More capacity and competition for hogs
- Domestic demand for red meat is increase, with pork seeming to be gaining on beef and chicken
- Growth in export demand. Canada exports approximately 65% of its hogs most years.
Where do we think prices are going to go in 2018?
- Resistance and Support Planes – points when the market spikes up, or down, then stops.
- Key Reversals – occur very occasionally at life of contract highs and lows. Most reliable indicators that the market is going to move down
- Fibonacci Retracements – occur frequently, useful as they are easy to employ on most charting packages.
- Relative Strength Index (RSI) and Moving Average Convergence Divergences (MACD) – RSI is calculated based of the previous 14 days of prices, MACD comes from a longer series. MACD is a variable value.
- Breakouts – when fundamental change and result in a change in price it represents a breakout.
These factors are utilized when making pricing decisions. There is considerable uncertainty regarding hog prices for 2018 which is increased by the volatility of hog prices.
Ten Thousand (10K) Sow Startup Experience in Mexico
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Author: Ezequiel Guardado
Reference: Banff Pork Seminar Proceedings 2018
Summary: With increasing To break the PEDv cycle companies have taken to building modern sow farms in isolated places, aiding in increased biosecurity. There are four components assisting in maximizing pork production including: genetics, health, nutrition and management. Human resource is another key aspect heavily influencing the operation.
Successfully, a 10,000 sow operation was developed in Northern Mexico. When designing the facility the first decision that has to be made is the location. A location is ideal if it enhances biosecurity.
Design is another aspect that needed by considered. When considering design it must
- also improve biosecurity,
- follow current health standards and regulations,
- be functional,
- a healthy atmosphere for both the production animals and the farm workers,
- and be consistent with the operational protocols of the company
A closed concept facility increases biosecurity and with utilizing fewer entry points the risk to the farm is decreased. This operation was designed with five points of entry: showers, reception window, disinfecting and down room, load area and mortality loading.
The overall size, length and width of the pens influences movement of both the animals and the production workers, to increase efficiency long pens and numerous hallways were utilized in the construction of this facility.
When bringing animals into the facility, all animals were retained for a corresponding quarantine and sampling process. One of the goals of this operation was to be completed breeding by 10 AM, to influence this the farm was built in a way that allows two teams to be breeding at one time.
So far, this operation has been able to hit breeding targets allowing for constant flow to the grow finish units. On average the farm is weaning 6002 piglets a week.
Comparison of alternatives for the control and detection of boar taint in market hogs
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Prairie Swine Centre by Ken Engele on July 12, 2018 | No Comments
Author: Brian Sullivan, Brianna Sullivan and Laurence Maignel – Canadian Centre for Swine Improvement
Reference: Centred on Swine. Volume 24, Number 2
Summary
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. Genetic selection based on specific genetic markers shows potential for producing intact males with naturally low enough levels of androstenone and skatole to avoid boar taint problems.
However, more research is needed on genetic evaluation methods, consideration of influence of genetics from the maternal breeds and to incorporate newly identified genetic markers. The impact of management and environment also needs to be considered as large differences in the levels of boar taint were observed between trials. The combination of management and genetics could result in lower and lower probability of carcasses from intact males having boar taint. A new technology based on DNA aptamers shows great promise to lead to a reliable, practical and affordable screening test for boar taint. This could be in the form of a simple kit similar to a home pregnancy test available for humans. The ability to screen for boar taint combined with genetic selection to lower the frequency of intact males that have boar taint problems could lead to a viable alternative for control of boar taint.
Personality Typing and Profiling: Effectively Communicating & Working
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by student on July 6, 2018 | No Comments
Author: Trish Hyshka
Reference: Banff Pork Seminar Proceedings 2018
Summary:
Personality gives a good understanding to:
- Where people derive there energy from
- The way that people learn
- How people make decisions
- How they interact socially
Keirsey Temperament Questionnaire: How people react, respond and take action on different situations is summarized into a Four Letter Personality Type Indicator. Personality is divided into four categories:
- Extroverted or Introverted
- Intuitive or Sensing
- Thinker or Feeler
- Judger or Perceiver
Understanding different personality types develops and appreciation for why people may respond differently during a “crisis” and how they respond “normally”.
Nutrition to Support Healthy Weaned Pigs
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Author: Joel Spencer
Reference: Banff Pork Seminar Proceedings 2018
Summary: The bottom line of the producer can be significantly impacted at weaning. The intestine serves two distinct functions in the weaned piglet, absorbing nutrients and secreted water and electrolytes and it serves as a pathogenic barrier. When the piglet is not consuming dry matter it affects the integrity of the intestine ultimately resulting in negative implications such as:
- opportunity for enteric pathogens to colonize
- reduced nutrient utilization
- nutritional hypersensitivity reaction to dietary compounds
Intestinal health can also be affected by feeding a nutrition program that does not fit the changing physiology of the piglet.
Technology to Improve Gut Health and Immunity Development in the Piglet
- Probiotics, direct fed microbials (DFM’s) and live cultures: through oral administration
- Prebiotics: unique substrates that only specific bacteria can use
- Botanical products: From a class of products called phytogenics. Improve intestinal health and animal performance.
- Acidifiers: Low cost feed additive that has been shown to be beneficial in the nursery
Ensuring a good initial feed intake aids in optimal growth, but it is also important to transition the piglet well so that intakes and growth are not interrupted.
Inorder for a nutrition program to be successful, considerations need to be taken with regard to:
- Quality control of ingredients
- Removing access nutrients that would increases nutrients available for pathogenic bacteria
- Matching nutrient delivery to the physiology of the group of pigs
- Utilizing feed additives in a cost effective manner.