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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:
Early Detection and Interventions for Reducing Lameness in Gestating Sows
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on July 31, 2013 | No Comments
Lameness in sows is a painful condition that can affect fertility,
mobility, feed intake and culling rate. Methods for the early
detection and prevention of lameness have not been studied
extensively, but if effective, such measures could improve overall
herd health, welfare and the productivity of sows. Poor hoof
condition is increasingly believed to be a contributing factor to
lameness development.
The objective of this study was to, i) conduct a survey to assess the
prevalence of lameness and hoof condition in a large commercial
sow herd, ii) assess the effectiveness of preventative hoof trimming
on reducing the occurrence and severity of lameness, and iii) assess
the effectiveness of an early intervention treatment, including
analgesics, provision of rubber stall matting to aid recovery and
a corrective hoof trim, at reducing the prevalence and severity of
lameness.
Results to date show that from a survey of 3,286 sows (55% of
the herd), almost 60% of sows showed signs of lameness in at
least one leg, and a large percentage of sows had multiple hoof
lesions. Although the completion of objectives ii and iii is ongoing,
preliminary data suggest that preventative hoof trimming reduces
the occurrence and severity of lameness in gestation. The results so
far indicate that true prevalence of lameness on farms is likely to be
underestimated.
Investigation of Translactational Analgesia for Reducing Piglet Pain at Castration
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Public concern regarding painful livestock procedures such as
castration is increasing. Piglet castration has been criticized, largely
because pain medication is not commonly used. The cost and time
required to administer analgesics to individual piglets are the main
deterrents to the swine industry adopting this practice. Having
an affordable and practical method of delivering pain medication
would likely increase the use of pain medication by producers, and
increase the acceptance of this procedure.
The objective of this study was to determine if pain medication can
be transferred to the piglet through the sow’s milk, and if so, to
determine how effective this technique is for reducing acute pain
at the time of castration, and for reducing pain and inflammation
after surgery. A novel technique for measuring pain in piglets using
a handling chute was also developed.
Results showed that the transfer of the analgesic, Metacam®,
to piglets via the sow’s milk was not eff ective, as the maximum
concentration of analgesic in piglet blood (up to 5 hours after
injection of the sow) was less than 1/200th of that found in sow’s
blood, and 1/80th of that found in milk. Thus, the concentration
of analgesic transferred to piglets via milk was too low to provide
effective pain relief. Modification of the drug could result in
increased transfer to piglets. Work is ongoing to validate the use of
the handling chute for measurement of castration pain in piglets.
Temperament Traits Related to Stress and Meat Quality: Are they Reliable and Heritable?
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This project evaluated different behavioural tests for their ability
to accurately determine temperament traits related to the stress
response of pigs, and determine: whether these traits are consistent
within individual pigs over time, and if they are heritable. Results
found evidence that supports the use of simple behavioural tests to
distinguish between temperament traits in pigs.
Correlations between the behavioural responses of gilts measured
at two different time points (12 and 18 weeks of age) were evident
in both the 1st generation and in 2nd generation offspring,
indicating consistency of these traits within individual pigs
over time. Temperament classifications of individual pigs were
also correlated to the concentration of saliva cortisol following
handling and following mixing in 1st generation gilts. The analysis
of temperament heritability is ongoing, with the initial results
suggesting that pigs could be selected for reduced stress response.
Further studies with larger numbers of animals would be needed to
determine the full merit of these tests as a selection tool.
Development of an Air Filtration System for Swine Transport Vehicles to Protect Against Airborne Diseases During Transport
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The overall goal of this project is to protect high-value pigs
during transport using a trailer with an air filtration system. A
comprehensive literature search and a survey of various information
sources on trailer filtration were conducted to identify components
of a trailer air filtration system and the various options available
for each component. Using a set of relevant design criteria, the
different options were evaluated to select the components included
in the prototype design. Presently, the proper components are
being assembled for retrofit into the prototype trailer. Remaining
steps to complete the project include prototype testing, design
optimization, and feasibility analysis.
Evaluation of a Commercial-Scale Air Treatment System
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An air cleaning technology based on biotrickling filtration
developed in previous phases of the project was scaled up and
tested at the PSC swine grower-finisher facility. Results showed
that the air treatment units were effective in reducing the levels
of ammonia, dust, and odour from the airstream at the exhaust of
the grow-finish rooms by about 77%, 92%, and 75%, respectively.
Further work is needed to optimize the operation of these units in
terms of water usage and to assess its year-round performance.
Benchmarking and Standardization of Swine Production Systems
Posted in: Production by admin on July 1, 2013 | No Comments
Previous work have shown that even though the ultimate goal of
a swine production operation is to raise hogs in the best possible
manner, there is a wide variation in the different operational
systems in place in swine facilities across the industry, leading
to variability in performance, efficiencies, production costs,
and overall productivity. The overall goal of the project was to
evaluate the current performance of various operational systems
in swine production to determine whether standardization and
optimization can improve efficiencies and overall productivity.
From the work conducted in this project, 14 key areas of swine
barn design and management were identified by pork producers
and other stakeholders as areas that could potentially benefit from
standardization and optimization efforts.
Identifying the cause of death and factors associated with hogs that perish in-transit: A pilot project at 2 Ontario packing plants.
Posted in: Ontario Pork, Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on June 26, 2013 | No Comments
The cause of death for pigs in transit is usually assumed to be heat exhaustion or stress, and a full autopsy is rarely performed. This study autopsied pigs that died, or would be euthanized after transport, from two packing plants. 84% of the autopsies showed abnormal hearts, and so from that point on a procedure for examining the hearts was put into practice, as well as the full autopsy. The hearts were stored in formalin for 24 hours, weighed, sectioned, and examined by the same project pathologist. The lesions observed on the affected hearts were classified as Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy like Lesions (HCML) due to the similarity to the lesions found in humans, dogs, and cats with HCM. To determine the prevalence of HCML in the general pork population, 51 additional hearts from pigs that did not die in transit were examined. It was found 50% of the control hearts also had lesions, but were not pronounced enough to cause heart failure when under the stress of transport. Since HCM is a genetic heart condition, an attempt was made to survey the genetic lines from farms that produced pigs with heart lesions, but there were not enough participants to provide information. Future work might look at the genetic lines contributing to HCML occurrence in pigs, and then in-transit deaths could be reduced by selectively breeding to improve heart condition. At this point, temperature control and reducing stress can help reduce in-transit deaths by avoiding triggering heart failure in susceptible animals.
Evaluation and Economic Impact of Boar Fertility
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on June 11, 2013 | No Comments
The swine industry typically uses pooled semen for breeding, which could result in fewer progeny from elite boars and other boars could waste resources, yet never sire any progeny. Single sire matings and reduced semen concentrations are being used to evaluate boars in a two phase trial. Phase 1 had each boar bred with 50 sows through AI, and then evaluated by pregnancy and farrowing rate, total born, and total alive. Phase 2 used post-cervical AI, with the same sperm concentration and evaluation. The lowest performing boars were culled before phase 2: a total of 43% of boars were culled, and 10% were culled for fertility reasons. The boars showed a lot of variability in fertility with pregnancy rates ranging from 37-100%, and total born having a difference of 8.2. Using fewer boars with a greater average index for breeding results in a value increase of $0.35/pig in the trial. However, lower fertility boars do not necessarily have the lowest quality genetics, so removing low fertility boars does not guarantee an increase in index. As well, the use of pooled semen is thought to create variability, and reflect the average boar. Single boar matings could be negative if low performing boars are not identified and removed. Single sire doses cost $0.10/dose more than pooled, but there would be some savings when considered by pigs born alive, and removing stud costs. Although removing subfertile boars could provide an initial index increase, companies with the top 15% index would likely not see an increase by using single boar doses. Single boar matings can be used to remove low performing boars, but the overall economic and genetic benefit is not certain by doing so on a large scale.
CDPQ Test Station: A Better Knowledge of Terminal Lines Available on the Market
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Terminal sire line evaluations were conducted at a test station by collecting piglets from different sire lines and evaluating their performance up to slaughter. A minimum number of boars per line is set to avoid evaluating specific boar performance, and the piglet feeding behaviour is traced as well using a continuous data collection system. Sire lines are kept anonymous in results, but lines and suppliers are listed for each trial. In trial 1, Line A was found to higher average daily gain, less feed intake, and lower feed conversion. Line B had higher dressing and lean yield percent, less backfat, more marbling, and less drip-loss than Line A. The purpose of the evaluations were to show how different lines could be chosen for different end goals, to collect benchmark data, and to allow development or refinement of measurements.
Optimal Sow Management for Optimal Sow Performance?!
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Sow performance can be evaluated by weaning-to-oestrus interval, litter size, and farrowing rate. The results vary between countries, but significantly between farms as well. The main cause of differences is management, including handling of the sows and nutrition. Second litter syndrome refers to an increased weaning-to-oestrus interval, but it is often seen as a decreased litter size or farrowing rate in modern sows. The main cause of second litter syndrome is a high amount of weight loss during lactation. As well as decreased performance, sows with the syndrome are often repeat breeders and end up being culled several parities earlier. Preventing weight loss can be done by increasing nutritional intake or reducing milk production, or allowing a recovery period before breeding or during early gestation can increase performance. Annual variations in temperature and light can affect sow performance, with high temperatures or reduced daylight reducing performance. Management strategies should be taken to encourage feed intake, and in the future genetics may be able to play a role. Future considerations for sow performance include the selection for certain heritable reproductive traits, and the effect of shifting to group housing.