Better Pork - October 2002
More light boosts weaner performance
Keep on the lights, and watch young pigs growby NORMAN DUNN
Keeping the lights on in the piglet rearing house for 23 hours of the day boosted daily liveweight gain (dlwg) of young pigs by almost 60 per cent compared with piglets reared under a more conventional lighting program of just eight hours light within 24 hours.This is the result of initial work by a research team from universities, research institutes and commercial concerns in the Netherlands looking at the effect light duration can have on young pigs. In fact, first results indicate that increasing light for weaners during at least the first few weeks post-weaning could be even more profitable than it appears at first glance. Not only were there substantial dlwg increases, but also less energy is required for maintenance of the animals under the longer light periods and more feed is therefore used directly for weight gain.
Altogether, 40 weaners were involved in the two-week trial with each half of the batch reared under the respective light programs. The first week of the trial had no effect on the energy metabolism and weight gain of the young pigs. But weighings after the second week showed that the piglets kept in the longer light regime had achieved a mean dlwg of 381 grams per day, while the control group averaged only 240 g/d.
While feed intake was naturally also increased for the 23-hour group, the scientists noted that much more of the energy thus supplied was directed away from maintenance and into the production of more protein and fat in the young bodies. The universities and institutes carrying out the work in the Netherlands are stressing that the aim is not to subject hogs to perhaps inhumane rearing systems with almost continuous light, but instead to find a way of using longer periods of lighting in the first weeks to boost piglet performance and increase the sometimes poor feed intake after weaning.
On commercial hog feeding farms in Germany, the principle of more light boosting feed intake with growing pigs has already been accepted, according to Prof. Karl-Heinrich Hoppenbrock of the education and research institute Haus Duesse in Westphalia. Although no scientific research has been done on the subject so far, farmers now tend to switch on, or increase the intensity of, lighting about a quarter of an hour before feeding in automatic systems. This seems, says Hoppenbrock, to increase feed intake compared with dim lighting during feeding.BP
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Splayleg - the syndrome that just won't go away
But European research is demonstrating that special attention to sow feeding, housing and stress reduction will alleviate the problemby NORMAN DUNN
Vets everywhere agree that there's a heap of reasons behind the often-sudden bouts of splayleg in the farrowing barn. But European investigations into this inability of very young piglets to control their rear legs, leading to losses of up to 50 per cent during bouts of the problem, are pointing more and more to the influences of feed and stress as major culprits. This marks a real change in the European stance, which until comparatively recently pigeonholed splayleg as mainly a genetic problem.In Holland, advisers reckon that poorly developed piglet muscles responsible for the problem are influenced as early as the third to eighth pregnancy weeks. When the sow is not fed enough during that phase, the foetus is adversely affected, in particular with reduced development of so-called secondary muscle fibres.
Meanwhile, German research has indicated that poor rations in the eleventh and twelfth weeks of pregnancy can also lead to splayleg. At this stage, it's reckoned that too little energy in the ration is behind the problem. According to experienced nutritionists, it is not so much lack of feed that brings this about on the average hog farm, but more often faulty analysis of homegrown feed value on the part of the farmer. The experts say that too many home feed mixers in pig production depend on old standardised tables for assessing energy and protein values of their rations.
Throughout Europe, advisory organisations are now urging their clients to establish a routine schedule of feed testing using approved laboratories, or at least regular testing of grain samples in a farm laboratory if this has been established.
Another aspect believed to be causing a much higher incidence of splayleg than previously suspected is mycotoxin contamination of grain in sow rations. No one seems to know the connection, but it has been established in German trials that where there is no mycotoxin problem with rations, splayleg piglets are much less prevalent in litters.
But many vets feel that there's a lot more to this little-researched problem than just the way the mother sows are fed. Where stress has been induced in pregnant sows through lack of space, poor ventilation or low temperature, more piglets have been born with poorly developed muscles -- producing young animals that stand little chance of surviving in the modern farrowing house without a high input of labour and attention.
In trials where artificial stress has been created with pregnant sows by continuous cortisone injection, splayleg piglets were produced by the animals. As for temperature, research in fully slatted accommodation for pregnant sows has shown that this should be kept at around 20 oC if the risk of an increase in splayleg incidence is to be avoided. Of course, in the normal north European winter, the temperature in insulated but unheated barns can easily drop below this. One way round this problem currently recommended in Germany is to feed the pregnant sows an extra 100 grams or so daily for every degree C below 20.
Further German work also points to more susceptible piglets surviving where farrowing pen temperature -- particularly the floor temperature -- is at levels which do not lead to massive losses of piglet body heat at birth. This can be serious enough for normally developed piglets, but where hind leg muscles are poorly developed anyway, it can mean the muscles cease working altogether.
While other diseases can be contained fairly rapidly with modern therapy and drugs nowadays, it seems splayleg syndrome just won't go away. European farmers are hoping that the new advice of all-round attention to sow feeding, housing and stress reduction will at last ease the problem. BP
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European producers find an extra week at the teat makes for healthier pigs
With a four-week weaning period instead of three, sows are proving more productive and there is weight bonus for the pigletsby NORMAN DUNN
Until recently, three-week weaning was regarded as the sign of the efficient hog producer in Europe, and those staying with the old four week or longer suckling patterns were usually called plain old-fashioned.Early weaning was originally introduced to break the disease chain by getting the young piglet away from the mother as quickly as possible. Of course, it also meant the sow could in theory be brought back into heat and therefore start reproducing again that much faster.
Now, especially with in-feed antibiotics banned in most European countries, producers are finding that piglets are, after all, healthier following an extra week at the teat. Perhaps the biggest surprise for farmers who have decided to go back to the old pattern is that there's often no drop in sow performance: heats are more intensive, fertility higher and general health better.
What's more, an on-farm trial in Germany has indicated that, even long after weaning, the piglets that stay with their mothers longer perform much better right through to slaughter weight, with the end result a bonus of around $4.30 Can per 110-kg hog.
Danish farmer Jan Christiansen took a lot of persuading when advisers reckoned his big health problems with piglets might be helped if he switched from three to four week weaning in his 1500-sow unit. His problems, as reported in the specialist German swine journal Schweinezucht und Schweinemast, included chronic piglet diarrhea, an unacceptably high proportion of poor doers or runts in the litters and poor health records for sows.
But a changeover last year had an immediate and positive effect on Christiansen's farm. The usual dip in weight gain performance at three weeks weaning was not seen at four weeks. This farmer felt the extra week with mother meant the piglets had more appetite and they took to their new feed right away. Litter members were also more even in size and weight. The extra week meant weaning weight increased on this farm by one to 1.5 kg per piglet, to between eight and 8.5 kg.
This advantage is now being carried forward into the growing period and when the pigs leave for the fattening farms at 11 weeks, their average liveweight is now 34 kg. The three-week weaners also left at 11 weeks, but they weighed only around 30 kg. This weight bonus brings Jan Christiansen an extra $5 per piglet.
But what about the extra farrowing and nursing pens needed with the four-week system and the additional feed for a week's extra lactation ration for the sow? These expenses are reckoned at around the equivalent of $1.55 per piglet in Denmark. But there are other advantages that can balance out most of this extra expense. For a start, the system has brought healthier sows, females which are coming back into heat much more intensively than before. Returns to service on the Christiansen farm are now six per cent compared with 10 per cent before. While he now manages only 2.32 farrowings per sow in the year instead of his old figure of 2.42, more piglets are actually sold per sow: 27.3/year compared with 26.5.
And there's even more money to be made if the effect of four weeks weaning instead of three is followed through into the feeding barn, according to recent research by the Brandenburg pig testing station in Germany. Pietrain-sired offspring from German Yorkshire x Landrace sows were tested and those piglets weaned a week later consistently returned a 1.4 per cent higher daily liveweight gain. Feed conversion was also better -- at 2.47:1 compared with 4.55:1. And when 90 kg slaughterweight was reached, the later weaning pigs returned an average carcass lean meat percentage of 59.6 per cent compared with 58.4 per cent for the three-week weaners.
This advantage alone was reckoned to be worth an extra €2.76 or $4.28 Can per pig by the testers. On top of this, the better feed conversion saved $2.46 per pig in feed costs for the later weaners. BP
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Biogas - a profitable new venture for livestock farmers
Five years ago, there were 450 biogas plants supplying electricity to power companies in Germany, and nearly all of these were situated on farms, fed with manure from pigs, cattle or poultry. Now the German Biogas Association reckons there are more than 1,650 in action throughout the country, with almost as rapid growth in Austria, France and Denmark.There's no question that the concept of fermenting manure and other residues to provide methane for fuelling a gas-driven generator, and then selling the produced power to the local network, is a potentially profitable one in Europe, even for small on-farm plants.
"We expect such plants, even the very modern fully automatic ones now on offer, to pay back capital investment easily within 10 years," explains Michael Hannes from WELtec. This is one of Europe's biggest specialised companies in the biogas plant sector and it now sells turnkey packages ready for full production on the farm a matter of days after their arrival on-site.
European Union laws supporting regenerative power production stipulate a minimum price that must be paid to farmers -- or others -- supplying power companies with electricity from such plants. This year, the price stands at the equivalent of around $0.15 Can per kilowatt-hour. Further encouragement is left to the different member-countries. Germany leads in on-farm power production from manure, in part because some of the federal states supply up to 35 per cent of capital cost as subsidy. Others offer reduced-interest credit for establishment of such plants.
In Britain, however, there is no subsidy for on-farm biogas power production plants, even although electricity-generating windmills are grant-aided by 40 to 50 per cent of capital costs. But the U.K. government helps on-farm biogas plants by allowing all investment to be used as tax breaks, and also injects cash by subsidizing the power company price paid to farmers. So far, though, power companies have been slow to sign on the dotted line with farmers with the result that Britain lags in biogas electricity development.
There's another reason why manure fermentation for biogas has got a headstart on the European continent. There, livestock farms are quite often close to villages, or even right in the middle of them. Public pressure for reduction of accompanying smells has encouraged farmers to look at fermenting, which not only cuts down the sometimes powerful pong from stored manure, but also creates a nutrient-rich compost with 15 per cent more available nitrogen compared with untreated manure. This residue is relatively odour-free compost which can be easily transported and spread without offence on surrounding fields. Farmers are also finding out that this easily handled by-product of biogas fermenters is very saleable, fetching good prices from market gardens and garden centres.
In Germany, the Biogas Association has been founded to help farmers establish biogas plants and also to lobby at the national and even EU level. Secretary-general Dr.Claudius da Costa Gomez has two major worries at the moment: government subsidies look like being cut back because of the current business recession in Europe, causing the current upward trend in farmers wanting to become biogas energy producers to falter. Secondly, the association has found that electricity companies, while legally bound to accept and pay for regenerative power, seem to be using the relatively weak negotiating positions of individual farmers to hammer out deals which leave the farmer paying high costs for initial connection to the electricity grid.
What kind of livestock enterprise supplies the most gas? Much depends on the dry matter content, but liquid manure from hog units can provide around 130 litres of methane gas for every 100 kg of dry matter in the manure. Respective average figures for 100-kg dry matter from poultry and cattle manure are 90 litres and 86 litres of methane gas.
An example of the returns from biogas electricity sold is offered by Malcolm Taylor, WELtec's manager in Britain. A farm producing 4.5 million kg of pig slurry, which would represent output from a 200-sow operation with all offspring fed to slaughter, could produce around 366,500 kW of power in a year, earning the equivalent of $60,000 Can.
"Capital cost for a plant of this capacity would be around $477,000 which means, even allowing for all maintenance costs, the investment could be recouped within eight years or so," says Mr Taylor.
"But there's much more potential than this for on-farm biogas plants," he adds. "To operate at highest efficiency, livestock manure should be augmented with other waste products that add to energy supply for gas-producing bacteria in the fermenter. Farmers in Germany are already adding silage waste, grass clippings and reject material from local bakeries to their mix to give enhanced fermentation and thus more gas production for the generating engine."
In Denmark, biogas plants have been taking deliveries of waste from slaughterhouses and cheese plants to ferment with farm manure. In north Germany, fodder beet is actually being specially grown as an energy-giving additive in the plants.
Taylor sees on-farm biogas plants providing a service for local industries with waste products. "Some countries have banned the feeding to livestock of kitchen waste from schools, restaurants and hospitals because of the risk of disease spread," he points out. "By providing a dumping place for such material -- and being paid for it-- the on-farm plants add to their profitability." BP
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Due diligence - your best way to prevent the "finger of blame" pointing at you
The key is to say what you are going to do, do it and then prove you have done it. And using Best Management Practices is the best route to that goalby SAM BRADSHAW
Farming is becoming more business-like and with that comes a new language, one that includes the term due diligence.The best way to describe due diligence is to picture yourself as a witness, on the stand, being grilled about what you did prior to a tragedy. Did you take all steps possible to prevent this from happening? If not, then you are, in part, at fault. The key is what actions you took before the tragedy occurred.
How can a farmer show due diligence? The Environmental Farm Plan is a risk assessment that you complete for your own farm. It shows that you have carefully examined your own situation and identified things that need to be done. That's the first step of due diligence.
Making changes is the next step. You can further protect yourself by preparing a Nutrient Management Plan for your farm. Also consider the impact your livestock and farming practices might have on surface and groundwater, and make any changes necessary.
Ontario Pork is active in providing due diligence for the hog industry at large. We continue to give input to governments as they develop legislation that attempts to balance societal concerns with the realities of agricultural production. The Nutrient Management Act will have a significant impact on day-to-day farming in Ontario.
Showing due diligence is part of any good business. Simply put, you must say what you are going to do, do it and then prove that you have done it.
There are a number of things you can do to avoid the "finger of blame" being pointed at you. The following looks at one aspect of due diligence -- how to avoid manure spills.
The Ministry of the Environment reports the number of manure and other types of spills in the province each year. Considering that there are about 40,000 farming operations in the province, the number of spills is not great, but each time a spill occurs, it can have a negative affect on the environment, and charges are sometimes laid.
Spills from agricultural sources (approximately 20 per year on average) pale in comparison to the reported spills and bypasses that occur at sewage treatment plants. In 1996, municipal sewage system operators in Ontario reported that they bypassed treatment on 849 separate occasions and had 267 "accidental" spills, according to one report in Better Farming magazine entitled "The Sewage Double Standard." In 1999, the ministry's statistics reported 487 bypasses as well as an additional 198 "accidental spills," according to the same report.
However, farmers are sometimes charged when a spill occurs at a farm, and the following article may help to reduce the number of these spills.
Southwestern Ontario, comprising the area of Southern Ontario that is west of Toronto, has had the largest number of manure spills in the last 15 years. This area accounted for about 78 per cent of all manure spills in the province between 1988 and 1998. In 1996, it accounted for about 70 per cent of the total number of Livestock Units in the province.
Irrigation systems were responsible for the greatest number of spills and, partly because of this, they are no longer as popular among farmers as they were 10 years ago. Equipment problems (e.g. valves, pumps), storage leaks or overflows, or manure spreader or transport problems have also caused manure spills.
More importantly, there are practices that could have prevented most of these spills. This is perhaps the most important because it shows where farmers could have exercised more "due diligence" in taking measures to prevent the spill from happening.
The six top management practices that could have prevented manure spills occurring in 2000/2001
Check tile outlet. Researchers have shown that one of the most effective ways to avoid manure entering field tiles is to work your soil before applying manure. If you no-till, make sure the soil is in a workable condition before you spread manure and maybe reduce the rate of application. Regardless of the method you use, check your field tiles shortly after you begin application and periodically during application.Follow a Nutrient Management Plan. A nutrient management plan matches the nutrients in your manure to the nutrients needed by your crops and will avoid overspreading.
Ensure your storage is built properly. All new agricultural structures should follow engineered plans. The engineer should be on site at critical stages of construction to ensure that the storage is built according to plan. Producers should develop a contingency plan as part of an individual NM plans that addresses how a spill would be managed.
Avoid winter spreading. We recommend that manure should not be applied on snow-covered, frozen or saturated ground except for unique situations as identified and addressed in an individual NM plan and based on Best Management Practices (BMPs). Snow covered, frozen or saturated grounds are defined as soil conditions that would not allow incorporation within 48 hours.
Maintain setback distances to surface water. Minimum separation distances from water features such as wells, watercourses and open drains must be noted in individual NM plans and be based on BMPs.
Store runoff from solid manure. Use BMPs to control run-off from all storage to protect ground and surface water. Methods to control run-off other than containment should be accepted as feasible ways to mitigate risk to ground and surface water. Best Management Practice booklets are available through your local OMAF office.
Comments are based on The Ontario Farm Environmental Coalition's Position Paper on Bill 81, The Nutrient Management Act.
I would like to thank Mike McMorris of the Ontario Cattleman's Association for help with this article. Thanks also to Ron Fleming, a researcher at the University of Guelph, Ridgetown, for compiling the graphs using the manure spill data issued by the Ministry of the Environment. BP
Sam Bradshaw is environmental specialist with Ontario Pork.
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The health-giving facts on flax
Rich in lignans and omega-3 fatty acids, flax is helping to promote better animal health and nutritionally enhanced foods for humansby JANICE MURPHY
Flax is a blue-flowering crop grown in abundance in Canada's prairie provinces. (See Figure 1.) Its seed is flat, oval and pointed at one end and can range in colour from golden yellow to dark reddish brown. Over 40 per cent of the world's flax is produced in Canada. In 2001, Canadian production amounted to just over 700,000 tonnes, with the majority (70 per cent) grown in Saskatchewan.According to the Canadian Grain Commission, the 2001 crop tested at 24 per cent protein, 44 per cent polyunsaturated oil, with 56 per cent omega-3 alpha linolenic acid and 15 per cent omega-6 linolenic acid in the oil. (See Table 1.) As with many crops, the nutrient composition of flax can vary considerably with genetics, growing conditions, seed processing and analytical methods.
Quality parameter 2001 2000 1991-2000 mean Oil content 1 % 44.4 44.1 44.1 Protein content 2 % 24.1 22.4 22.5 Linolenic acid 56.3 58.9 58.4 1 Dry matter basis, 2 N x 6.25; Dry matter basis
Source: Canadian Grain CommissionFlax's claim to fame is that it is nature's richest source of omega-3 fatty acids. It is also one of the richest sources of lignans, providing 75-800 times more plant lignans than most other plant sources. Studies in humans have suggested that, as a result of these unique properties, flax can have a positive effect on cholesterol levels, the autoimmune system and heart disease, and may also play a role in preventing cancer. Other oil-bearing seeds like corn, sunflower and peanuts contain omega-6 fatty acids, but flax is specifically known for its high levels of omega-3 fatty acids.
The addition of flax to livestock rations has focused on two main objectives -- the production of nutritionally enhanced human food products and enhanced health, productivity and performance of the animals. Flax has been successfully incorporated into the rations of laying hens, resulting in the production of omega-3 enriched eggs. The Flax Council of Canada reports that these nutritionally-enhanced eggs now supply four per cent of the Canadian egg market.
Researchers have also included flax in dairy cattle rations in an attempt to influence milk-fat composition. Research is ongoing to make omega-3 milk a commercial reality. Flax is also attracting attention in the pet food industry as researchers suggest that feeding flax may improve pet health in a manner similar to their human companions.
Twelve years ago, research in young growing pigs showed that feeding five per cent flax was a means of increasing omega-3 fatty acids in pork. In 1995, researchers at South Dakota State University tested five per cent, 10 per cent and 15 per cent flax in a corn-soybean meal ration during the final 25 days of finishing. Results showed that the level of omega-3 fatty acids increased in the final product. A consumer taste panel did not notice any difference in the loin meat or pastry made from the lard. However, differences in the bacon were detected when the rations contained more than five per cent flax.
Research conducted at the University of Manitoba added five per cent flax to gestation and lactation diets, replacing some of the soybean meal and tallow in the rations. Sows that ate flax had higher progesterone levels, therefore improving survival of embryos in the uterus. On a commercial farm, sows that were fed the five per cent flax ration delivered one more piglet per litter compared to the control group (11.5 vs. 10.4) and produced heavier piglets at birth (1.27 vs. 1.18 kg).
The milk from the sows fed flax had a higher level of unsaturated fatty acids, resulting in heavier weaning weights (4.6 kg vs. 4.3 kg). In addition, sows fed flax lost less weight and maintained more backfat during lactation than sows fed standard rations. As a result, weaning-to-breeding interval decreased by three days for sows fed flax compared to the control group (4.8 vs. 7.5-8 days).
Good news stories like this have prompted international feed manufacturer Ridley Inc. to test flax in its U.S. hog production facility. The Flax Council of Canada is working co-operatively with Ridley to conduct feeding trials using five per cent flax in corn-soybean meal rations. The trials, which began in December 2001, are testing whether sows fed rations containing flax can match the barley-based Manitoba results and increase the U.S. industry average number of piglets per litter.
Historically, the U.S. has been one of Canada's biggest export markets for flax, but shipments of flax have declined over the past five years as U.S. domestic production of the crop has grown. The Flax Council of Canada sees this as a tremendous opportunity. With U.S. marketings at 100 million pigs per year, using even small amounts of flax in U.S. pig feed could significantly increase demand for Canadian flax.
For more information on flax, go to the Flax Council of Canada's website at http://www.flaxcouncil.ca. BP
Janice Murphy is Swine Nutritionist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food in Fergus. E-mail: janice.murphy@omaf.gov.on.ca
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