SEARCH
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:
Evaluation of a Biotrickling Filtration System for Treatment of Exhaust Air from a Swine Barn
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on August 1, 2012 | No Comments
Biotrickling filters are considered to be the
next development for animal housing
since they are easier to manage and are
smaller in size compared to other exhaust air
filtration technologies. Various configurations of
biotrickling filters and bioscrubbers have been
studied and showed a very good potential for
controlling emissions from pig buildings. A number
of operating conditions have been specified
for biotrickling filters (Deshusses and Gabriel,
2005). Design values have been suggested for
bed height, bed cross-sectional area, packing
nominal size, empty bed residence time (EBRT),
pressure drop, air temperature, liquid recycle
rate, pH of the recycled liquid, and some typical
control parameters. However, further work is
needed in order to realize the best design that will
perform effectively when installed in actual swine
production facilities.
Contract Research Services at Prairie Swine Centre We Do Research – It’s Our Job!
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on | No Comments
You may already know about the Prairie Swine
Centre but are you familiar with all that we
do? What unique characteristics and abilities
have we lurking in the shadows that you know little
about? Let’s get reacquainted.
Of course we do research. It is our main
objective and raison d’etre but I would like to take
the time to remind you about the breadth and
scope of our abilities. For starters unlike many
research facilities ours is large and follows standard
commercial practices. We are a 330 sow farrow
to finish operation located just outside of the city of
Saskatoon. Our barn functions as a typical North
American swine barn with typical production, for
example we produce 27 pigs weaned per sow per
year. So along with the usual daily challenges of
running a hog operation we add on the intricacies of
running scientific experiments.
Personal Profile – Garrett Rozeboom
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on | No Comments
Personal profile of Garrett Rozeboom, M.Sc. candidate featured in the Prairie Swine Centre’s Centred on Swine newsletter.
Top 10 developments in swine nutrition, 1991 to 2012
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on | No Comments
In 1975, one sow in the USA produced 720 kg
of pork per year, but by 2009 it was 1816 kg
per sow, points out Dr. John Patience, from
the Department of Animal Science at Iowa State
University. In 2009, the US produced 10.4 billion
kilos of pork from about 5.8 million sows. “Using
1975 productivity , it would require 14.5 million
sows, an increase of 8.7 million, to produce 2009
quantities of pork,” he says. “At an average sow
feed cost of $336/sow/year, the added cost of
these sows, just for feed would be $2.95 billion
per year, adding $26 to the cost of each pig
sold.” The industry has been very focussed on
doing its job well. Technology has changed our
world. Improvements in nutrition have made a
major contribution to higher output per sow and
improved efficiency in the nursery and grow-finish
phase. Dr. Patience lists the 10 top developments
that have had the biggest impact over the last 20
years.
The overall response of piglets to phase one diets during the first two weeks in the nursery is not affected by creep feeding or weaning weight.
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on | No Comments
Average litter size on swine farms in Canada has increased from approximately 12.3 to 13.7 piglets in the past 5 years. Further improvement is expected and is an important determinant of the competitiveness of the industry in Western Canada. However, research conducted at PSCI showed that as litter size increased from 8.4 to 15.4 pigs born alive, average birth weight decreased by approximately 250 grams, or almost 40 grams per additional pig. The number of pigs less than 850 grams increased from 0.2 per litter in the small (5 to 12 piglets) litters to almost 1 per litter in the largest (16 or more born alive) litters. It is apparent that as litter size continues to increase it is crucial that these small pigs survive and go to market or the benefits of larger litters will not be not realized. This experiment was designed to determine if the requirement for a complex dense feed immediately post-weaning is dependent on the weaning weight of the pig. We hypothesized that the light-weight pigs at weaning would show a greater response to the higher quality feed. We also studied the whether the provision of creep feed was beneficial.
Early detection and interventions for reducing lameness in gestating sows
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on | No Comments
Sow lameness is the second most common cause of culling after reproductive failure. While good conformation and genetics contribute substantially to reducing lameness in sow herds, hoof problems commonly arise in fully slatted concrete systems. Pressure exerted from the concrete flooring generates a response in the hoof to increase horn growth. Combined with unbalanced weight distribution this can lead to malformations of the foot such as claw overgrowth and heel erosion. Little research has been conducted on the impact of early intervention and prevention of sow lameness during gestation. Historically, there was little option to treat sows with hoof problems due to the unwillingness of sows to have their feet held. The Zinpro Corporation, Minnesota, USA
have now developed the first chute to restrain sows allowing hoof trimming to take place, and a range of corrective trimming protocols to prevent and restore correct hoof conformation in sows. The use of corrective claw trimming can be used as a preventative or early treatment option for lame sows, and could significantly increase sow productivity and longevity.
A revolution in feed management is coming to your operations!
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production, Swine Innovation by admin on | No Comments
Candido Pomar, a researcher for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Sherbrooke, Quebec, together with his brother, Jesus Pomar at the University of Lleida, Spain (and several teams of researchers from other universities and five countries) are behind what promises to be the next opportunity in swine feeding; one that has the potential to transform how we feed pigs within the next five years. This team of researchers is striving to develop technology for feeding pigs individually, on a daily basis, rather than using a phase feeding program targeting the average pig in a pen.
Expression of Insulin-like Growth Factor (IGF) Family Members in Porcine Pregnancy
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on June 13, 2012 | No Comments
Conceptuse loss in early and mid gestation is thought to be at least partially due to decreased vascularization at the attachment site. Angiogenesis is influenced by VEGF, its two receptors, and PIGF, and IGF factors influence the expression of VEGF. IGFs are paracrine or autocrine and stimulate DNA, RNA, and protein synthesis. IGF-I is most important in the peri-implantation stage of gestation, and IGF-II in mid-gestation. Both IFNs decrease when feed is restricted, and result in small fetuses. IGF-I preferentially binds receptor IGF-IR, and it is found in higher amounts in small fetuses. IGF-II preferentially binds IGF-RII, and it is found in maternal and embryo cells, and varies regardless of size. This study tested uterine tissue for IGF-I, IGF-II, binding proteins (IGFBP), and receptors in non-preganant, gd20, and gd50 gilts. IGF-I was found in all tissues and corresponded with β actin, but declined in gd20 endometrium cells in healthy attachment sites. IGF-II was consistently higher than IGF-I, showed variaion, and declined in endometrium and trophoblasts beteen gd20 and gd50. IGF-RI declined between gd20 and gd50 in trophoblasts. IGFBP1 and IGFBP3 were higher in arresting conceptuses at gd50, levels of IGFBP4 varied, and IGFBP5 and IGFBP6 levels decreased as pregnancy progressed. IGF-I and IGF-II in endometrial and trophoblasts showed no difference in level of transcription between healthy and arresting conceptuses at gd20. IGFBPs were fairly stable throughout pregnancy. Overall, IGF-I, IGF-II and receptor transcription levels varied throughout pregnancy, but seem to show no clear pattern for expression in arresting or healthy conceptuse cells.
Update: Increasing the impact of elite boars
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on June 5, 2012 | No Comments
The update for a study evaluating boars by single-sire semen evaluations. Currently, 67 boars have been evaluated and sperm doses have been reduced from 3 to 2 billion sperm/dose, and phase 2 will involve another reduction of 0.5 billion and the use of post-cervical artificial insemination. As well, 13% of boars have been removed and phase 2 will continue to remove the lowest performing boars.
Producing 2 Tonnes of Pigs per Sow
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on June 4, 2012 | No Comments
The UK has recently set a new goal of producing two tonnes of market weight pork per sow per year, after determining the UK industry production was lower than the industry average in other countries. There are multiple areas to focus on that could all increase production, and reduce sow cost per kg market weight. The carcass weight sold can be broken into number of pigs multiplied by market weight, and 64% of variation across countries comes from the number of pigs sold (excluding Italy which has a specialized market). Increasing market weight will be restricted by packer and space requirements, but increasing growth rate could aid increased weight. The number of pigs sold depends on pigs weaned, and pigs surviving post-weaning. Decreasing mortality by measures including vaccines will increase pigs sold per sow. The number of pigs weaned/sow/year is the pigs per litter multiplied by the number of litters a sow has in a year, and the most variation comes from the litter sizes rather than the number of litters. As litter size increases, so does pre-weaning mortality, but the increased litter size has a greater impact than mortality. However, if mortality can be lowered, than the carcass kg/sow/year can be increased. Comparing the UK to other counties highlighted the variation, and identified areas in which to improve production.