Alternative farrowing accommodation: welfare and economic aspects of existing farrowing and lactation systems for pigs

Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Welfare by admin on September 25, 2013 | No Comments

From the evaluation of welfare and economic performance of systems described in this paper, the designed pen appears to offer the best indoor alternative to conventional farrowing crates. However, it is important to make efforts to refine these systems as there are still concerns, particularly regarding safety and ease of operation, and robustness to variability in maternal behaviour. Research into physical attributes of the systems that can facilitate the former and biological strategies (e.g. breeding for better maternal behaviour) to target the latter are important on-going objectives. In addition, to futureproof systems for a developing pig industry and uncertain market, additional research is needed to determine the environmental impact of certain systems and their economic feasibility in a national and international market place.

Sandra Edwards

Factors influencing aggression between sows after mixing and the consequences for welfare and production

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Hierarchy positions in groups of sows are settled relatively quickly, though long term stability can be affected by several factors including method of feeding. Fighting is less intense between pigs of unequal sizes, may be reduced by previous exposure but is less affected by the presence of a boar. Larger groups have more hierarchy positions to resolve and therefore more fighting. Greater space allowance appears to have little effect on fighting at mixing but can reduce aggression in the longer term. Barriers can limit aggression by allowing losers to escape more easily. Provision of ad libitum feed has been shown to reduce aggression over the short term. Straw bedding has no effect on fighting. Chemical intervention techniques would appear to delay rather than reduce fighting. Newly mixed sows should be supervised to reduce fighting. The fighting which occurs during mixing results in physiological stress responses which can have detrimental effects on reproductive parameters. However, the short-term nature of this response means that detrimental effects can be avoided by careful timing of regrouping. It is therefore possible to achieve equally good reproductive performance in group-housing systems as in systems with individual housing, provided that good management is practised.

Sandra Edwards

Positive handling in late pregnancy and the consequences for maternal behaviour and production in sows

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Fear of humans is an important welfare indicator for many reasons. First of all, fear reactions are the most immediate responses that the animals show to potentially dangerous stimuli in the environment. Secondly, it is associated with physiological stress and has negative effects on growth, food intake (performance), important health parameters (immune status) and, not least, reproductive performance (Gonyou et al., 1986; Hemsworth
et al., 1981, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1994, 1999; Boissy, 1995; Jones, 1997; Janczak et al., 2003a). Fear responses to humans show great similarities between different species of farm animals, and can be easily monitored both under experimental conditions (e.g. Janczak et al., 2003b), and on commercial farms (e.g. Hemsworth et al., 1994). Furthermore, fear responses are fairly consistent over time (i.e. represent a part of personality; Janczak et al.,
2003b). Because of the many negative effects of fear of humans, this is an important measure of welfare as well as of great economic interest to the farmer. Even in larger herds, where handling may be minimised by increased technology and more effective handling facilities, there will still be situations where direct contact with the animals is necessary. Positive and consistent handling should therefore be of great importance in any production
system.

Sandra Edwards

Identification of risk factors associated with poor lifetime growth performance in pigs

Posted in: Pork Insight Articles by admin on September 23, 2013 | No Comments

The abstract for a study on the effect of birth and weaning weight on later growth rates. Two databases were analyzed, and growth rates calculated from the information provided. Three methods of analysis were used. The logical regression supported low birth and weaning weight leading to a poorer growth performance. The linear plateau model showed birth and weaning weight not having a linear relatinoship with growth. Finally, weight category analysis showed that pigs with low birth and weaning weights can compensate later, and move up a weight category.

A new intelligent electronic nose system for measuring and analysing livestock and poultry farm odours

Posted in: Ontario Pork, Pork Insight Articles by admin on August 27, 2013 | No Comments

In livestock and poultry farming, odour measurement and reduction are necessary for a cleaner environment, lower health risks to humans,  and higher quality of livestock and poultry production. This paper introduces a new portable intelligent electronic nose system developed especially for measuring and analysing livestock and poultry farm odours. It can be used in both laboratory and field. The sensor array of the proposed electronic nose consists of 14 gas sensors, a humidity sensor, and a temperature sensor. The  gas sensors were especially selected for the main compounds from the livestock farm odours.  An expert system called “Odour Expert” was developed to support researchers’ and farmers’ decision making on odour control strategies for livestock and poultry operations. “Odour Expert” utilises several advanced artificial intelligence technologies tailored to livestock and poultry farm odours. It can provide more advanced odour analysis than existing commercially available products. In addition, a rank of odour generation factors is provided, which refines the focus of odour control research. It is easier and cheaper to operate than using olfactometry or human panel. Thus it has good commercial potential. Field experiments were conducted downwind from the barns on 14 livestock and poultry farms. Experimental results show that the predicted odour strengths by the electronic nose yield higher consistency in comparison to the perceived odour intensity by human panel. The “Odour Expert” is a useful tool for assisting farmers’ odour management practises.

Pain control for castration and tail docking

Posted in: Ontario Pork, Pork Insight Articles by admin on August 26, 2013 | No Comments

A study was performed to determine if the pain killer, meloxicam could be used to minimize the pain associated with processing piglets (castration and tail-docking). Both male and female piglets were given an injection of meloxicam or a placebo at least 30 minutes prior to processing. Mortality and growth rate were monitored and treatment was found to have no effect on these parameters. Castrated piglets receiving meloxicam displayed significantly less tail-jamming behaviour and tended to exhibit less isolating behaviour compared to piglets receiving the placebo. These behaviour results suggest meloxicam did reduce pain.  A second piglet study was performed to evaluate a different pain killer, ketoprofen. Results were similar to the meloxicam study, with no difference in growth rate and mortality between pigs receiving a pain killer and those pigs receiving the placebo, but behaviour and cortisol levels suggested a positive reduction in pain during the first few hours after castration. Another study evaluated the use of a local anesthetic (lidocaine) injected into the testicle to reduce the pain associated with castration.  The local anesthetic helped block the acute pain caused by severing the spermatic cord and removing the testicle, and the combination lidocaine and meloxicam helped reduce behavioural changes up to 24 hours after castration. Our conclusion from this work is that an analgesic given at the time of handling for processing is practical and not a significant economic burden, but the combination of local and analgesic is questionable both from a welfare and a labour standpoint.

Estimation of Amino Acid Requirements for Modern Sows

Posted in: Ontario Pork, Pork Insight Articles by admin on August 19, 2013 | No Comments

This paper will review recent sow nutrition research and suggest feeding strategies for sows. Firstly, amino acid requirements in late gestation are greater than in early gestation. Threonine and isoleucine requirements increased, relative to lysine, from early to late gestation while the tryptophan to lysine ratio showed little change. The threonine to lysine ratio was greater for both early and late gestation in the third vs. second parity. These changes in amino acid requirement have important consequences. First, the magnitude of change in requirements makes it nearly impossible to satisfy the requirements using a single diet during gestation. Second, the data show that the amino acid ratios change as pregnancy progresses and as sows age. These changes in ideal amino acid ratios for sows are probably caused by the changing contributions of requirements for maintenance and maternal and fetal growth to total amino acid requirements. Secondly,  it can be expected that energy requirements increase as pregnancy progresses because of sow weight gain and because of the exponential growth of fetuses. Because of the changes in energy and amino acid requirements during gestation, a single phase feeding program will lead to overfeeding during early gestation and underfeeding during late gestation. Overfeeding in early gestation results in unwanted fat deposition, while underfeeding in late gestation leads to sows entering lactation in a severe catabolic state. Therefore, phase feeding gestating sows is necessary to supply nutrients in the right amount at the right time.

Phase Feeding for Pregnant Sows

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This paper will review recent sow nutrition research and suggest feeding strategies for sows. Firstly, the requirement for amino acids must be greater in late gestation compared to early gestation. Overfeeding in early gestation results in a waste of feed and money, while underfeeding in late gestation leads to sows entering lactation in a severe catabolic state.  Secondly, the changes in amino acid requirement have important consequences. The magnitude of change in requirements makes it nearly impossible to satisfy the requirements using a single diet during gestation and the data show that the amino acid ratios change as pregnancy progresses and as sows age. Threonine and isoleucine requirements increased, relative to lysine, from early to late gestation while the tryptophan to lysine ratio showed little change. The threonine to lysine ratio was greater for both early and late gestation in the third vs. second parity. These changes in ideal amino acid ratios for sows are probably caused by the changing contributions of requirements for maintenance and maternal and fetal growth to total amino acid requirements. In terms of energy requirements, it can be expected that energy requirements increase as pregnancy progresses because of sow weight gain and because of the exponential growth of fetuses. The benefits of increasing feed allowance especially for young sows are not only the maintenance of sows’ body reserves before parturition, but also reduced backfat loss during lactation so that less feed may be needed in the next parity to enable the sows to regain body mass lost in lactation.

Isoleucine Requirement of Pregnant Sows

Posted in: Ontario Pork, Pork Insight Articles by admin on August 13, 2013 | No Comments

The objective of this study was to determine the Ile requirement in early (EG, 37 to 61 d) and late (LG, 89 to 109 d) gestation using the indicator amino acid oxidation method. Seven 4th parity sows were used in EG and LG. Each sow received 6 diets based on corn, corn starch and sugar in both EG and LG at constant ADFI of 2.5 kg/d. Diets in EG contained Ile at 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 and 120 % of the Ile requirement (6.2 g/d, NRC 1998) for sows of similar BW, expected maternal gain and litter size, and 60, 80, 100, 140, 160 and 180% in LG. The 13C background in expired CO2 and plasma free Phe was determined for 1.5 h. Sows were fed 2 mg/(kg BW·h) of L[1-13C]Phe over 4 h in 8 ½-hourly meals. Expired CO2 and plasma free Phe were analyzed for 13C enrichment above background. Requirements were determined as the breakpoint in 2-phase nonlinear models. Sow BW was 246.5 kg in EG and 271.6 kg in LG. ADG was similar in EG (344 g/d) and LG (543 g/d). Sow maternal gain was 19.1 ±4.4 kg and litters of 17.7 ± 0.75 piglets weighed 22.6 ± 0.87 kg at birth. Energy retention was similar in EG and LG, but the respiratory quotient decreased (P = 0.047) from EG (1.05) to LG (0.98) and decreased (P = 0.016) with increasing dietary Ile level, indicating lipid mobilization in LG when Ile was at or above the requirement. The increase in Ile requirement from EG to LG suggests that phase feeding during gestation is necessary. Diets for LG should contain more Ile and be fed at greater allowances than in EG to meet the sows’ demands for nutrients.

Tryptophan Requirement of Gestating Sows

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The objective of this study was to determine the Trp requirement in EG (d 35 to 53) and LG (92 to 111) using the indicator amino acid oxidation method. The same 6 second parity sows were studied in EG and in LG at a constant ADFI of 2.4 kg/d. Each sow received 6 diets based on corn, corn starch and sugar in both EG and LG at constant ADFI of 2.5 kg/d. Diets in EG contained Trp at 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 and 120 % of the Trp requirement (2.5 g/d) in EG, for sows of similar BW, maternal gain and litter size, and 60, 80, 100, 140, 160 and 180% in LG. The 13C background in expired CO2 and plasma free Phe was determined for 1.5 h. Sows were fed 2 mg/(kg BW·h) of L[1-13C]Phe over 4 h in 8 ½-hourly meals. Expired CO2 and plasma free Phe were analyzed for 13C enrichment above background. The Trp requirement of pregnant sows was 1.7 g/d (P = 0.001) in EG and 2.6 g/d (P = 0.016) in LG. Phe retention increased (P = 0.001) from EG to LG, and Phe oxidation (P = 0.029) and body protein breakdown (P = 0.017) decreased from EG to LG. Phe retention and oxidation responded quadratically (P = 0.038) to increasing Trp intake. The changes in Trp requirement and energy retention during gestation cannot be adequately met by increasing the feed allowance of a single diet throughout pregnancy. Therefore, phase feeding of 2 diets with different Trp contents is necessary to balance Trp and energy intake with the changing Trp and energy requirements in pregnancy.