Choosing The Best Feeding Program

Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on January 1, 2002 | No Comments

Feed accounts for 45 to 75% of the cost of hog production. Therefore good quality feed and a good feeding program are essential. There is often one or several feeding programs for each stage of the pig’s life because producers seek to obtain the best balance between feed cost, animal performance and carcass quality. Nutrients should not be overfed just to “be safe” because this is a waste of money. In order to develop a good feeding program, the producer must define their farm specific goals (e.g. – genetic potential as opposed to maximum profit), take current economics into consideration, genetic performance into account, average feed intake for their farm, customized for the farm’s specific level of animal productivity, and grouping pigs based on similar nutritional needs. Overall, feed composition should be monitored along with feed wastage, nutrient requirements, local economics/availability, and alternative factors to pig performance (e.g. – room environment).

Dietary manipulation to reduce nutrient excretion

Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments

Nutrient management is becoming increasingly important for sustainability of the swine industry. Nitrogen excretion in the form of ammonia is a concern for workers both within the barn and outside. Phosphorous is excreted in urine and faeces and could have a major environmental impact if not managed properly. The two projects discussed in this article focussed on specific dietary manipulations to alter nutrient excretions. The first project investigated two nutritional strategies, dietary particle size reduction and enzyme supplementation as means to increase nutrient digestibility and thereby reduce nitrogen and phosphorous excretion. The second project investigated reducing dietary protein and fermentable fibre as means to alter nitrogen excretion.
Reducing particle size below 700 mm proved effective in altering nitrogen excretion patterns, while phytase proved very effective in improving digestibility of dietary phosphorus. The addition of carbohydrase showed little evidence of reducing total nitrogen or phosphorus excretion. A reduction of dietary protein content while balancing for digestible amino acids will especially reduce nitrogen excretion in urine. With dietary fermentable fibre, part of urinary nitrogen excretion can be shifted toward nitrogen excretion in faeces, and thus reduces volatile nitrogen that contributes to bad air quality. The reduction in excess nutrients and odour emissions while sustaining high levels of pork production is critical for long-term survival of a globally competitive pork industry. Together, results indicate that nitrogen and phosphorus excretion patterns can indeed be altered by diet manipulation

New Technologies for Pork Production In the 21st Century

Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments

There are certain factors that can be looked at in order to determine what may be impacting the industry in the future. Global competitiveness must be maintained for Canada’s industry. Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of pathogens (such as E. coli), which leads to more concern (even though food is most likely safer today than ever before!). This will probably lead to technologies that allow for safer or better guarantees. Expectations of environmental soundness are also increasing, so technologies will emerge to address these issues. Animal welfare will be addressed to ease the minds of worried consumers. New technologies that help to achieve enhanced market access are likely to be desired. For any technology to be adopted, the farmer must first accept it. However, access to technology may be limited because farmers see it as providing a competitive edge, so therefore technology will likely be kept secretive.

Airborne Dust, Endotoxin and DNA Downwind from Swine Barns: An Update

Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments

There is reason to believe that endotoxins and microbial DNA are present in dust exhausted from swine barns. Endotoxins are a pulmonary irritant. When inhaled, endotoxins can cause cough, phlegm, wheezing, fever and in sever cases lead to chronic airway inflammation. To determine the impact of barn aerosols, endotoxin and DNA concentrations must be tested. This study attempted to quantify the amount of airborne endotoxin and DNA downwind from a swine facility. As was hypothesized, results proved that endotoxin and DNA concentrations were high close to the fan outlets, lower concentrations 100m downwind, and no different then the air upwind from the barn.
Total dust and endotoxin concentrations declined significantly at a distance from the barn. It was also found that there was no significant difference between the dust and endotoxin concentrations 600m downwind compared to 2400m upwind of the swine barns. Location did not have a significant effect on DNA concentrations.
It appears that swine facilities have a modest environmental impact downwind from the barns, which may be managed with such controls as landscaping.

Feeding Growing and Finishing Pigs to Maximize Net Income

Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments

Feed accounts for 40 to 60% of total cost of production and is therefore important when attaining lowest possible cost. The goal is the best possible carcass in the shortest amount of time. Using a feed budget helps to estimate the quantity of each diet that will be fed to a pig. It helps prevent overfeeding a high quality diet and therefore decreases the cost per pig sold. The last 2 phases of the feeding program must be carefully formulated to avoid additional costs. Excessive energy, phosphorus, and lysine should be avoided. Sow productivity, cheaper grains, cheaper processing costs, and increasing feed intake by a lower number during the entire grow/finish period can affect feed cost. Individual farms can have different targets that could include economic targets or increasing productivity. Caution should be taken to not focus on productivity so much that expenses are increased rather than revenue. Feed intake is the driving force of growth and should therefore be maximized. If feed intake is compromised, the barn temperature should be checked that it isn’t too high, especially in summer. Genetics plays a role in feed intake because different genotypes will have different levels of feed intake. Extras that can be done/checked are: bigger pigs entering grow/finish, correct floor space allowance, adequate feeder and water access, reduce the amount of pig mixing, health status, proper diet composition (balanced amino acids, adequate energy, etc.), anti-nutritional factors (any natural feed part that has a negative influence), and keeping feeders full. There is research going on that is investigating the theory that increased energy in feed will improve feed efficiency but not growth rate. Any change in dietary composition should be followed by closely monitoring the effects. Production problems can be very much influenced by past stages of production (e.g. – a finisher problem could very well be a result of an error or mismanagement of those pigs in the nursery or even farrowing). Nursery barn feeders should have a 40% covered bottom to maximize intake and minimize feed wastage. Ergot can safely be fed to nursery pigs up to a level of 0.1%.

Feasibility study for concrete swine buildings and manure storage facilities in Western Canada

Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments

A feasibility study has been completed to evaluate the potential of concrete swine buildings and manure storage facilities in the Prairie region. Three building concepts combined with four manure storage options have been studied. A building with concrete walls and wood truss roof would increase concrete usage by 25% compared to a conventional wood frame building. The various combinations of building and manure storage concepts were evaluated for their effect on annualized building costs. The result of this evaluation either decreased annualized building cost by 16% or increased it by up to 34%. A swine facility design with concrete walls and concrete manure tanks is the most promising option for enhancing the life cycle and reducing the annualized cost of production facilities. Supplemental information should be gathered about the design and cost of swine buildings with concrete walls considering construction techniques and local availability and pricing of concrete in the Prairies.

Effect of extender, cooling method and incubation time on storage of extended boar semen at 5A?A?C

Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments

A study was carried out to determine if cooling method, incubation time and extender affected the success of storing boar semen at 5A?A?C. Extended boar semen can be stored at 5A?A?C with acceptable values of sperm progressive motility, total motility and viability over time. This success depends upon incubating the sperm at 17A?A?C for at least 24 hours prior to 5A?A?C storage.

Commodity Requirements fo PSC Elstow Feed Mill

Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on January 1, 2001 | No Comments

A factsheet describing ingredients requirements, volumes and specifications for grains the feed mill at PSC Elstow Research Farm will be purchasing.

Big Sky Farms Annouces Contribution to Interpretive Centre

Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments

Dealing with variability in the growout barn

Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments

Variation has become an increasingly important topic within the pork industry. The need of packing plants to have uniform carcasses is important, but is difficult for producers to meet this need when dealing with normal livestock variability. Variability can be a blessing and a curse in the pork industry. In order to genetically select for desirable traits, variation is required. Environment also has an impact on the expression of genetic make up and overall performance that may be undesirable. Producers must be able to implement strategies to most effectively and efficiently deal with variability.
Two approaches commonly taken when dealing with variability are to manage the environment in such a way so as to minimize variability, or to manage the pig to minimize the impact of variability on net income. In other words, seek ways to minimize variability or ways to best manage existing variability.
Many attempts have been made to minimize the amount of variability and failed. Studies have shown that several common practises for improving uniformity do not actually work. For example, sorting upon entry to the nursery and restriction of feed intake. It seems the most practical strategy is to attempt to minimize the impact of existing variability. For example, time spent sorting pigs at marketing may produce a greater increase in net income than any other activity. This strategy has increased the average index on some farms by 4 points, a net value of $5.00/pig sold.
Variation is good for genetic selection, but can be very difficult in production, especially during the growout phase. The best strategy seems to be to minimize the impact of variation rather than attempting to change the amount of variation. Marketing strategies, separate sex housing and increased overall performance are likely to pay larger dividends than any other strategy to reduce variability. These benefits can be measured in dollars, not cents, per pig.