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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:
Pre-planned segregation: The effect of grouping by weight at weaning on variability in body weight at nursery exit
Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on January 1, 2003 | No Comments
Variability in pig growth costs producers due to sort losses at marketing and reduced barn utilization. This experiment was designed to determine if pre-planned segregation (PPS), the separation of the total population of pigs into sub-groups expected to differ in performance, could improve barn utilization. A total of 2080 pigs, weaned over 8 weeks, were divided into groups based on weight at weaning. Segregation had no effect on variability of the entire group, or percentiles of the lightest or heaviest subsets of that group at d 50. Since it is expected that the rooms housing the heavier pigs would turn over more quickly, PPS could therefore be used to improve overall barn utilization.
Are low crude protein diets practical?
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Nutrition has become increasingly complex. Normally, feeding programs are adopted to maximize the farm’s return over feed costs. However, certain circumstances lead to other issues such as minimizing nutrient excretion into the slurry, which is also important. Past research done at the Prairie Swine Centre and elsewhere has shown that feeding low crude protein (CP) diets can decrease the nitrogen output in manure. The use of synthetic amino acids in a low CP diet is becoming more economical, but producers still fear that growth and carcass quality may be adversely affected with the application of such a diet. Results from this study of three diets prove that low CP diets are practical for commercial productions. Growth rates were unchanged in pigs fed the low protein diet compared to those fed the control diet. Carcass quality was unchanged or improved slightly. Overall performance, and uniformity of performance was excellent. The economics of low protein and high synthetic amino acid diets is currently very favourable, saving $2 per barrow and up to $4 per gilt in this trial (based on November, 2003 prices).
Greenhouse gas odour emissions from pig production buildings, manure storage and manure treatment facilities
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Agriculture as a whole accounts for 9.5% of the total Canadian greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It is also estimated that 42% of this is from the livestock sector, and that 1/3 of the 42% is associated with manure management. Odour is also a large issue associated with livestock operations. It is important to better assess the effects of the different components of operation emissions. To do so, an experiment was conducted to evaluate methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions and odour emissions from swine operations. The study was to determine GHG and odour emissions from different types of swine production buildings and building floor design, from manure storage facilities and from two manure treatment systems. Carbon dioxide was found to be the most important contributor to GHG emissions from swine buildings. Methane emissions were much less than CO2 and N2O was almost negligible on an animal mass basis. The lowest CO2 levels were found to be in the gestation rooms, and the highest levels in the grow-finish rooms. Average total GHG emissions from uncovered earthen manure basin (EMB), covered EMB and uncovered tank storage facilities measured in this study were 4.23, 2.52 and 6.65 respectively. Carbon dioxide remained the most important component of the GHG emissions throughout the different facilities. Odour emissions were positively impacted when blown chopped straw covered the EMB. Odour concentrations and intensities were measured on three swine operations equipped with a conventional pig manure storage tank, an aerobic-anoxic manure treatment system and a biofilter manure treatment system in Quebec. The aerobic-anoxic manure treatment system emitted fewer odours than the biofilter treatment system.
Large Groups for Grower-Finisher Pigs: Impacts on Pig Productivity
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The “large group” concept for pigs is gradually being adopted in North America. Housing grower-finisher pigs in large groups of 50-500 pigs/pen compared to conventional group sizes of 10-40 pigs/pen has the possibility to reduce housing costs and may also simplify some aspects of management. Large group pens prove to be economically attractive to pork producers. However, there is the concern that the social instability of pigs in large groups may lead to poorer growth rates, increased mortality and morbidity, and higher variation in body weights at the end of the production cycle. The goal of this study was to compare production performance of grow-finish pigs housed in large groups (108 pigs/pen) to those housed in conventional groups (18 pigs/pen). It has been suggested that there may be higher levels of undesirable vices such as tail biting, or higher incidence of diseases and mortalities with the formation of pigs into larger groups. However, results from this study do not support this suggestion as similar numbers of pigs were removed from both pen sizes throughout the course of the trial. Pigs housed in the large groups had a lower ADG (2%) than the smaller groups, but there were no significant differences in ADFI and feed efficiency among the two group sizes. Carcass measurements indicated no detrimental effects of either group size. Overall, results indicate that performance in the large groups were not inferior to the smaller groups evaluated in this study.
Electronic sow feeder: A preliminary report
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The housing of gestating sows as proven to be one of the more controversial topics of pig production. Four major group-housing systems are available to replace the conventional gestation stalls, all of which have different management options. The PSC Elstow Research Farm has chosen to use the electronic sow feeder (ESF) system as a group system, and is examining a number of management options within this system. Half of the 600-sow herd is housed in the group housing system with ESF on partially slatted floors while the other half are housed in gestation stalls. The four aspects being compared are productivity and behaviour of gilts and sows of different parities, relative benefits of grouping animals shortly after breeding or after implantation and its interaction with parity, the management of animals in static and large dynamic groups and all electronic sow feeder groups are compared with animals managed in conventional stalls. Preliminary results have shown that younger animals tend to perform better in stalls, while older sows do better in the ESF system. “Add ins” or post implantation animals performed better than those grouped shortly after breeding. Older animals performed better in static programs, while gilts did better in dynamic programs. Overall, the stall system outperformed the ESF; however, this was not the case for the ESF management programs. As this study continues, behavioural and physiological observations will be included.
Top 10 cost cutters and revenue generators
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Many producers may already be implementing changes and new ideas to lower costs and increase revenues. In many cases, this is the key to success in maintaining an operational pork production system. This article looks at 13 ideas focused on changes that can be implemented and monitored easily and inexpensively. For example, ideal feed formulation is dependant on animal weight and performance, as well as the cost of ingredients. If diets have not been updated recently, ingredient prices will likely have changed and may be costing the producer more than is required. Effects of these changes have been calculated in terms of dollars/pig marketed.
Variation in pig performance: Can we do anything about it?
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Variation in the hog barn is becoming an increasing topic of interest in the pork industry. Variation within the barn is a cost to the producer as it reduces barn utilization and causes a loss of revenue market. Variation can be the result of many causes, but most often fits into the categories of genetics or environment. Birth weights, weaning weight, litter of origin, gender and the parity of the dam all genetically affect the individual pig. Ideally, negative environmental impacts would all be eliminated. However, this is not usually the case. The producers goal should be to minimize negative environmental impacts by ensuring access to resources such as feed and water and minimizing exposure to pathogens. Statistically, variation can be defined in many ways. Most commonly, variation is measured as the standard deviation or coefficient of variation. The more dispersed the weights of the pigs, the larger the standard deviation. Certain management practises can be employed to reduce variation; however, this depends on the existing coefficient of variation. One suggestion to manage variation is to house barrows and gilts separately since barrows tend to eat more feed than gilts and reach market weight 5-7 days sooner.
Enzyme supplementation and feed processing provides solutions for low quality grains
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Nutritional quality of wheat and barley can vary substantially. Ignoring this variation can economically impact swine producers by reducing growth performance of the animals. Two solutions have been derived to allow feeding of low quality wheat and barley while maintaining growth performance, correcting the diet formulation to achieve the formulated diet digestible energy (DE) content, or enzyme supplementation. For both solutions a correct prediction of DE is critical. An increase in fibre resulted in decreased energy digestibility and reduced DE as expected, enforcing the importance of ingredient evaluation. The range in DE of wheat reflects a range in economic value of more than $15.00/tonne of wheat used for swine feed.
Wheat supplemented with carbohydrase enzyme should help the pig to digest energy because negative effects of fibre fractions on energy digestibility will be alleviated. Digestibility was improved in two of the three samples, further stressing the importance of ingredient evaluations. Particle size also affects energy digestibility as digestive enzymes have greater access to nutrients in finer particle sizes. Low quality wheat has a greater fibre content and lower energy digestibility than high quality wheat. The above solutions can help minimize the effects of low quality wheat.
The dose response to phytase inclusion in diets from growing swine
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A study was conducted to define growth response of growing pigs to four levels of a unique, new, phytase enzyme and to determine how critical the Ca: available P ratio is to optimizing the utilization of the phytase enzyme in practical swine diets. Eighteen different diets were used (5 levels of phytase plus a positive control, at 3 different Ca:P ratios) for a 28-day growth and digestibility experiment. Neither performance (ADG, ADFI, feed conversion) nor P digestibility was affected by the Ca concentration in the diet. This result was unexpected and will require more research in the future. The improvement in ADG, ADFI and feed conversion with the inclusion of phytase reached a plateau at 250 U/kg inclusion rate. Phosphorus digestibility was improved in a linear manner with each incremental increase in phytase addition. The inclusion of 250 U/kg phytase in the diet reduced the amount of total phosphorus excreted in manure and increased phosphorus digestibility.
Practical Aspects of On-Farm AI
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Over the past decade the use of artificial insemination has become common as producers recognize the benefits it provides. Artificial insemination can provide the use of genetically superior boars, reduce transmission of disease as well as decrease the cost of boar housing. However, there are also several management aspects that must be monitored closely in order to ensure success. Some areas that should be monitored closely involve the handling and storage of extended semen, proper insemination technique as well as accurate heat detection. For example, temperature fluctuations of extended semen can be harmful to boar sperm. Cold or heat shock can occur by removing a tube of semen from storage temperature at 17¢ªC and placing it on a window ledge, counter or penning. It is best to place extended semen into a cooler for transport to the breeding barn and only to remove enough semen for one hour of breeding so as not to fatigue the technician. It is recommended that one technician only inseminate 7-8 sows/hour. Reversal of temperature should also be avoided so as not to harm the sperm, stressing again that only the one hours worth of semen tubes be taken to the breeding barn in the cooler. Heat checking and insemination timing is very critical. In the presence of a boar, sows will express a standing heat when stimulated. This response may be exhibited up to 10-15 minutes following stimulation and not longer. Therefore it is important that the boar is not too far ahead of the technician when heat checking or inseminating. If the sow is stimulated too early, the technician will not be able to accurately detect estrus. Finally, it is not a good idea to move the sow once she has been inseminated. If she must be moved it should not occur between day 4 and 30 of gestation, as this is the period of embryo migration and implantation. Moving during this time would cause abortion or reduced litter size. These are four important management areas of artificial insemination that require specific attention, as they are critical to success.