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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:
What have We Learned about Swine Dysentery in Canada?
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on June 11, 2013 | No Comments
The University of Saskatchewan has been studying Swine Dysentery since its re-emergence in western Canada in 2009. A new species, Brachyspira Hampsonii, has been identified since then, and it causes mucohaemorrhagic diarrhea in a similar way to swine dysentery. Samples collected from farms have shown 66% positive for a Brachyspira species, and 43% positive for B. Hampsonii. Other species of Brachyspira were only present in 12-14% of samples. With a new strain, new ways of accurately identifying it had to be developed, and a new PCR along with microbiologic tests can now do so. PCR is often used to identify Brachyspira, but it is not very sensitive and can result in false negatives. Genus-specific PCR should not be used for rectal swab samples, but can be more sensitive than cultures for higher starting material, like feces samples. Cultures are the preferred choice for rectal swabs, or for several individual pigs. Currently, the recommendation for sample submissions is to send as much as possible, but to avoid rectal swabs or feces samples. Live pigs submitted to have samples taken at the lab are preferred. Specific biosecurity breaches have not yet been identified for causing contamination, except for from other pigs. All age groups, with the exception of suckling pigs, can shed Brachyspira, and the source of it can be masked by medication included in feed. Vaccines are not yet available, and eradication without a known source is very hard. So far, increasing biosecurity remains the best way to prevent Brachyspira contamination.
PRRS, Swine Dysentery (Brachyspira) and the Next Disease: Canada’s Strategy on Control and Elimination
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles by admin on June 10, 2013 | No Comments
PRRSv, or swine dysentery, is caused by Brachyspira spp. and currently is the most costly endemic swine disease for the USA and Canadian pork industries. PRRS cases have been increasing for the last decade, and containment and elimination strategies are becoming necessary. There are regional projects being conducted to try to achieve this, and these projects could be a good starting point for larger objectives. In order to achieve elimination regional tools provided by various organizations can be used, as well as learning from the challenges these regional projects ran into. These challenges highlighted the need for strong leadership, feasibility studies, clear goals, confidentiality for participants, motivation and engagement of producers (especially through discussions and education), communication with transparency and to address concerns, on-going monitoring of status, and good data management to contribute to a database.
How Did We Change the Picture of Circovirus?
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Porcine Circovirus Associated Diseases have existed for over 100 years, though Porcine Circovirus type 2 (PCV2) was not discovered to cause disease in swine until the 1990s. In 2004 the outbreak of a new strain severely impacted the pork industry, and led to commercial vaccination. Vaccination changed PCV to endemic and subclinical, but not vaccinating leads to an increase in mortality. As well, PCV is affecting younger pigs, adapting into new strains, and can have long term reproductive and immune functioning impacts.
Measuring Performance and Decision Making
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Swine Management Services collects data from over 800 swine farms, and from both ends of the production spectrum. SMS has compiled suggestions for increasing production based on their observations of the data. The average production numbers from all farms show an increase in pigs weaned/mated female and pigs weaned/female from June 2011 to June 2012. Some suggestions on how to lower wean to 1st service include increasing feed on the first farrowing day and from weaning until breeding, also to have boar exposure and heat checks after weaning, and to not skip breeding. Farrowing rate can be improved by the technicians by training, breaks, records, and improving procedures. Also, farrowing rate can be improved by proper semen storage, temperature recording, rotating, and using old batches first. Increasing pigs born can be influenced by increasing the litter size for gilts, and this can be aided by allowing the gilts to skip a heat before breeding. Piglet survival can be increased by having more hours covered by a technician with defined responsibilities, providing heat to newborns, and euthanizing small piglets. Sow deaths can be reduced by having proper observation, procedures, and treatment of sick sows, and records kept after. Female non-productive days can be lowered by proper culling decisions. These suggestions come from observations of farms with high production levels, and could be used to aid low producing farms.
Productivity and Optimal Returns
Posted in: Economics, Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on | No Comments
Often the pork industry views maximum production as maximizing profit, but this only occurs with no costs associated (free input). When there are costs, the maximum level of production will be less than the maximum total production. In the 1980s to 2000s the focus shifted from the individual pig to herds and meat, and averages became the standard for evaluation. The goal became to spread fixed costs over more units, but did not account for the rise of variable costs after a certain output level. As well, it was about weight of meat produced, but failed to look at quality. Soon producing more specialized products did occur, and the global market opened. Then in the 2000s the volatile prices of feed and hogs changed the industry, and a high price for a hog no longer necessarily meant profit. Individual animal data is now rarely collected, and average group metrics are now used to determine future profitability. The future of production likely will continue to have volatile crop prices, and the need to keep records of crops will be important. The development of technology will continue, with more implementation. Metrics are currently looked at too individually, and correlations need to be assessed. In order to determine profit optimal production producers need to record more than averages because the distribution in a population is currently being overlooked.
Managing People and Pigs to Maximize Performance
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Two essentially identical facilities can have different production levels because of the people involved, but rather than blame staffing problems on employees it is good to consider it starting at the owner and management levels. A good owner will listen to ideas, have a clear path of communication with employees, and genuinely care the happiness and well-being of the pigs and people of his business. A great owner will attract great managers and employees. Managers should be inspired by the owners to be knowledgeable, provide great training, and inspire the employees below them. When there are great owners and managers, employees will more likely be passionate about their job, which is reflected in production. High employee turnover and negative exit interviews are two warning signs that management has critical flaws. The most common reasons people give for leaving a job after a short employment are the job wasn’t what was expected, a job and person mismatch, not enough feedback, too few personal opportunities, feeling devalued and unrecognized, overworked or work-life imbalance, and lack of trust in senior management. By correcting these issues employee happiness should improve, passion for their work increase, and overall production improve.
Feed Additives and Feeding Strategies to Replace Antibiotics
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During weaning piglets are susceptible to enteric diseases causing diarrhea and reduced growth performance, a problem which is often dealt with by formulating feed with antibiotics and additives like blood plasma. However, public concerns with antibiotic use, and human safety concerns for the use of blood plasma have led to the study of alternative additions for the weaning diets. Pharmaceutical levels of zinc oxide can reduce the occurrence of diarrhea, but have a possible environmental impact from waste. Weaning gastric pH is higher than grow-finish gastric pH as they transition to solid food, so organic acids can lower the pH and reduce intestinal pathogens. Probiotics are microorganisms that are thought to benefit gastointestinal health, although studies showing no benefit exist, that may be due to dose, strain, diet, and facility sanitation. Prebiotics can also aid the microbiota in the intestines, and can be obtained from fermentable carbohydrates like wheat bran or sugar beet pulp, or from treating the feed with enzymes. Antibodies can reduce pathogen-caused diarrhea, but it is the most useful if the pathogen is known rather than just a general treatment. Sow milk is higher in nucleotides than starter diets, so supplementation may be able to help. However, responses vary, probably due to the presence of other active compounds in nucleotide containing products. Finally, reducing the crude protein can help reduce diarrhea in piglets, but amino acid supplementation should be added to meet nutritional requirements. As antibiotics and blood plasma come under scrutiny, it is useful to have alternative feed additives to help piglet intestines adjust to solid feed.
Why We Should Reduce Antibiotic Usage and Ways to Do It
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Whether or not livestock antibiotic use contributes to bacterial resistance in human pathogens is debatable, but it does create resistance in livestock pathogens and its use is negatively viewed by the public. Current antibiotic use in Canada is not well recorded (at least in mg/kg of pig produced), but Denmark and the Netherlands have recorded and reduced their use. Denmark no longer uses antimicrobials for growth performance, and has a system in place for encouraging the reduction in use for therapeutics as well. The Netherlands is working on reducing their use by requiring the record of use to be available to the public, and possibly restricting veterinarian right to sell the drugs if the goal is not met. There are many ways to reduce the use of antibiotics as therapeutics: one obvious way is to increase the health of the herd, for example creating clean herds with strong biosecurity. Management can have an effect because smaller barns with an all-in all-out system will reduce the chance of a pathogen cycling through repeatedly. However, some environments may be more susceptible to spreading certain pathogens, even when all other conditions are the same. Increasing weaning age will decrease the chance of enteric diseases post-weaning, and alternative ingredients in feed or water can reduce certain disease occurrences. If antibiotics are used year round, it may be possible to reduce the use to only the high season for the target disease. Selection for higher health breeding animals can reduce use, as can separating males and females – as females tend to be healthier and require less drug use. Separating parities can also help, and treating individuals or pens instead of entire herds. Vaccines will provide a major reduction in antibiotic use needed, as can increased biosecurity, lowering doses, and phase treatments. When antibiotics are still necessary, it is important to use the lowest priority in order to reserve high priority for when it is truly needed.
Mechanisms of Antibiotics: How Do They Really Work
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Metabolic inflammation (MI) occurs in the small intestines of production animals after eating, and its level of response depends on the dietary energy of feed. High energy feed in large quantities will cause increased MI, which can lead to muscle catabolism, decreased feed intake, and susceptibility to pathogen infection. The anti-inflammatory properties of antibiotics and antimicrobial growth promoters (AGP) reduce MI, and result in increased growth performance. Antibiotics are used at sutherapeutic levels and the spread of pathogen resistance, and this indicates it is not the antibiotic properties causing weight gain. The spread of bacterial resistance and negative public opinion calls for stopping antibiotic use, and alternatives with anti-inflammatory properties should be able to be used just as effectively. The alternatives include NSAIDs or plant options, and should be nonphamaceutical, require low doses, and be able to reach the small intestine without encapsulation. New options can be evaluated using in vitro assays with lipopolysaccharide-activated macrophages, and comparing the results to a AGP reference.
Lessons Learned From a Decade of Transitioning Sow Farms from Stalls to Pens
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As the end of gestation stalls seems to be occurring, it is important to consider different setup options and management needs. Gestation stalls were initially used to ensure individual animals received nutrition and care, and to avoid negative social interactions. One thing to consider when switching to group housing is group size. Small groups can be best if similar age and size sows are together, whereas large groups can avoid strict social hierarchy from occurring. Group structure can be static or dynamic. Static structure is all-in all-out and may not utilize space efficiently, and dynamic structure utilizes space, but works better in a large group without social hierarchy. The timing of formation of the group can be pre-implantation, and will result in most of the gestating sows housed in groups. Post-implantation minimizes the effect of negative social interactions on pregnancy, and results in fewer sows being in groups at any one time. Feeding system has a large impact on competition between sows, and can result in varying body conditions if the non-dominant sows are not able to eat their full amount. Systems that can be used include floor feeding with or without stalls, trickle feeding, cafeteria style, free access stalls, or electronic sow feeding (ESF). Electronic sow feeding has a lot of potential since it will allow individual sow nutrition to be determined. Some considerations to have if switching to ESF include parity segregation, group structure, timing, pen design, training both of sows and stockpeople, and how to provide individual animal care. ESF can be an effective feeding system in group housing, but retraining and proper management are essential for its success.