Better Pork - June 2003
DENMARK: Cutting costs with multi-size penning
by NORMAN DUNN
Large hog production units in Denmark, as elsewhere, aim for as uniform a batch of pigs as possible per feeding pen. But costs per hog feeding place spiral for smaller enterprises trying to follow this system. With limited numbers of young feeders coming into the finishing barn each month, trying to maintain uniform batches means forming smaller pens with much higher costs per kilogram of pork produced.In Denmark, the small units most affected by this problem tend to be organic enterprises. To help this sector out, the Danish Applied Pig Research Program has looked at the possibilities of adopting large communal pens holding a range of feeding pig sizes from around 20 kg liveweight right through to slaughter.
Two big surprises were in store for the researchers when they ran a pilot trial last year.
First, fighting and injuries resulting from the addition to the communal pen of new young pigs every six weeks were extremely low compared with mixing of same-weight pigs on conventional systems. Second, weight gain and feed conversion performances were just as good as those achieved in a static control group of uniform-size pigs in the same barn.
And in terms of space saving, the mixed-size pens proved to be way ahead of the static group with 160 kg liveweight produced per sq.m over the 20-80 kg liveweight feeding period compared with just 100 kg per sq.m in the control group.
The trial featured three systems: a "control" pen of 20 pigs comprising two litters of the same age; a pen of 30 pigs comprising three litters with a six-week span in ages; and a pen of 60 feeding pigs comprising six litters. In the latter case, the batch consisted of pairs of same-age litters with a difference of six weeks between each of the three age groups. In practice within this group, one batch of two litters was added to the pen as the oldest batch was withdrawn for slaughter.
In both the 30-hog and 60-hog mixed pens, fighting was extremely low when new animals were added, according to the Danish researchers. For both, around 0.6 "aggressions" were recorded per pig in the first day after mixing. This also meant a very low level of additional stress for the newcomers.
Feed conversion ranged between 2.3 to 2.9 feed units (SFU): 1 kg liveweight gain with the performance distributed equally between control and mixed-size pens. (The SFU represents an energy value equal to approximately one kg of barley.) BP
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GERMANY: reducing fighting amongst loose-housed sows
Research is demonstrating that penning groups earlier, after a short stay in the servicing unit can cut down on the brawlingby Norman Dunn
All European Union countries have pledged to follow the lead of Britain and Sweden in introducing mandatory loose-housing for pregnant sows for at least most of the period between service and farrowing.
All piglet production units built in Germany since January this year, for example, must incorporate loose-housing facilities with sow stalls only in the service area. But newcomers to running sows in groups are finding the changeover far from easy.
The main problem is fighting amongst sows as ranking order is established. The non-dominant females end up scared away from the feeders and subsequent farrowing performance is often reduced through lack of proper nutrition and from serious biting injuries.
Research at the University of Giessen in Germany now indicates that fighting can be dramatically reduced by penning sow groups earlier, after a shorter stay in the servicing unit.
Conventional husbandry with loose-housing systems on the continent sees batches of sows individually stalled in the service unit for four weeks after their litters are weaned and then herded into a communal pen. The result is a massive brawl where it is not unusual for each sow to have 30 or more fights during the first day or so. And this occurs at a time in early gestation when the less dominant younger sows can easily lose condition, and even their litters, through getting knocked about.
The Giessen experiment, so far carried out with 14 groups of eight sows, tried first mixing the animals when they were less at risk, with 48 hours at 2.5 sq.m space per head in a communal pen between weaning and entry into the servicing unit. This still proved a pretty violent encounter on average, with infrared video cameras recording between 25 and 31 fights per sow over the two days. Where sows were then separated and housed in the servicing unit for four weeks before being reunited in a communal pen, the number of initial fights in the first 48 hours were reduced to about half.
But the Giessen animal behaviourists decided to go one step further and reintroduce the group members only seven days after the first meeting. This program was even more successful in reducing violence and led to an average of only eight fights per sow in the first two days.
The results are now being looked at by hog production advisers nationwide, who see early regrouping after an initial pre-service "introductory" penning as a potential answer to losses through bullying and fighting in loose housed sows. BP
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DENMARK: Weaning to slaughter penning reaps benefits
by Norman DunnDaily liveweight gain up by five per cent and feed consumption per kg liveweight gain down by the same amount are just two of the advantages offered by weaning to slaughter (WTS) penning systems, according to first commercial results in Denmark.
Results from 200 conventional hog farms with separate grower and feeder pens were compared with those from 12 pioneer WTS farms, where piglets were put into feeding pens at seven to eight kg liveweight and stayed there until they went off to slaughter. There will soon be many more farms with the adopted North American system, because advisers say that 80 per cent of new hog buildings in Denmark are now designed for the WRS system. The performance improvements and better use of barn space mean gross margin per square metre increases from an average $136 for conventional feeding (30 kg to 100 kg liveweight) to $172 for WTS.
The most popular Danish WTS system involves specially built pens being stocked at 0.32 sq. m /piglet for the first seven weeks -- usually at around 30-34 piglets per pen -- and then half the pigs are moved to another pen. Pens include a raised lying area with solid floor, underfloor heating and removable false roof to create a comfortable microclimate for the piglets at the rear of the pen. About half the remaining floor area is usually fully slatted and the remainder with just 10 per cent of the flooring perforated for more solid footing.
Much care has gone into designing feeding troughs for the WTS pens, which suit the requirements of both seven-kg piglets and 100-kg slaughter pigs. An important point is that the trough wall must not be more than 16 cm high.
One drawback so far is that there is a higher death rate for the WTS pen systems in Denmark. Figures collected last year show that average losses in 200 conventional farms in this respect equal six per cent, while the units with WTS penning were one percent higher.
This result was turned around when the 25 per cent best farms, based on financial success, were compared. Then, losses in conventional systems were 4.5 per cent, with WTS scoring just 3.1 per cent mortality. BP
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AUSTRIA: Hog-barn building co-op cuts costs and delivery time
by Norman DunnA group of hog farmers in the Austrian state of Steiermark have sliced more than 50 per cent from hog barn building costs by forming a group to handle all aspects of design, equipment and building parts purchase. In Austria, a new sow barn with farrowing unit can cost as much as $3500 Cdn per sow place and a feeding hog barn can reach $750 per place. This means there's plenty of incentive for cost cutting, which prompted 28 farmers to form the Steiermark swine-building group and work in close co-operation with the region's pork production advisory centre (SBS).
First step was to agree on a standard design for both sow and feeding hog barns. Plans were then drawn up in a way that allows individual farmers to make small changes to suit their own farm business without altering the standard blueprints too much.
The standard design features a 13 to 21 metre-wide building. Length is up to individual farmers. Standards have also been established for the underfloor liquid manure collection system. Interior walling is with prefabricated one metre-wide concrete panels and the 35 cm insulated outside shell and featuring roof sections with built-in ventilation canals, also bought as prefabricated units.
The farmer group puts all building parts and equipment supply out to tender just like any large industrial company.
The new arrangement has also provided much faster delivery of building parts compared with when individual farmers were ordering on their own. And for the feeding barns alone, costs per hog place have been cut by as much as $490. BP
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Researchers make progress in loosening phytate's grip on phosphorus
Plant geneticists and breeders in Canada and the United States are developing low-phytate barley varieties that should enable producers to cut back on the addition of costly dicalcium phosphate to their feedby JANICE MURPHY
What do corn, soybeans and barley have in common? Besides being the ingredients for a nice meal for a pig, they have also been the focus of significant research over the past number of years to improve phosphorus (P) availability.
Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for plants and animals. In Canada, federal regulations require commercial feed manufacturers to include dicalcium phosphate in every ration to meet minimum specifications for available P. Dicalcium phosphate is one of the three most expensive ingredients in a swine ration, following closely behind energy and protein. If we can decrease the amount of added P required, producers should realize an economic benefit, all other things being equal.
One of the most important anti-nutritional factors in swine nutrition is phytate. It binds to minerals such as iron, calcium, magnesium and zinc in the slightly acidic conditions of the intestinal tract. Because phytate is poorly digested and used by monogastrics,(single stomached animals) these bound minerals are less available in the body.
Approximately 60 to 80 per cent of the P in feedstuffs is present in the form of phytate. Bioavailability estimates of P in typical feed ingredients for pigs range from 10 to 30 per cent (see Table 1). This low availability of phytate P poses two problems for producers -- the need to add inorganic P supplements to diets and the excretion of large amounts of P in the manure.
Table 1: Bioavailability of phosphorus in feed ingredients for pigs.
Feedstuff
P* (%)Bioavailability
P* (%)Feedstuff
High protein meals -- plantBioavailability Cereal grains Canola meal 21 Corn 14 Soybean meal, dehulled 23 Oats 22 Soybean meal, 44% protein 31 Barley 30 High protein meals -animal Triticale 46 Feather meal 31 Wheat 50 Meat and bone meal 90 Grain by-products Dried skim milk 91 Oat groats 13 Blood meal 92 Corn gluten meal 15 Fish meal 94 Rice bran 25 Dried whey 97 Wheat bran 29 Inorganic phosphates Brewers grains 34 Steamed bone meal 85 Wheat middlings 41 Defluorinated phosphate 90 Corn gluten feed 59 Monocalcium phosphate 100 Distillers' grains 77 Dicalcium phosphate 100 Miscellaneous Alfalfa meal 100 *bioavailability relative to the availability of P in monosodium/monocalcium phosphate which equals 100 Source: National Research Council, 1998.* USDA plant geneticist Victor Raboy, a researcher at the Small Grains and Potato Germplasm Research Unit in Aberdeen, Idaho, is world-renowned for a patented technique that has yielded lines of corn, soybeans and, most recently, barley with lower levels of phytate. To develop low-phytate (LP) barley varieties, Raboy is collaborating with Brian Rossnagel, a barley breeder at the Crop Development Centre (CDC), University of Saskatchewan. Raboy is developing the hulled LP lines in the United States, while Rossnagel concentrates on hulless lines in Western Canada.
While approximately 70 per cent of the P in conventional barley exists in the form of phytate, the new LP barleys should contain the same amount of P, but in a form that is more available for monogastrics. The researchers suggest that the line most likely to result in the first commercial variety should have 50 per cent less phytate than conventional barley.
The goal at the University of Saskatchewan is to develop a two-row LP hulless barley variety for use in swine feeds. They currently plan to yield-test two new lines this summer at sites in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Scientists at CDC have successfully back-crossed a 50 per cent phytate reduction into CDC McGuire and a 75 per cent reduction into CDC Freedom.
Rossnagel believes that, because the new LP barley lines are back-crosses to CDC McGuire and CDC Freedom, they should perform exactly as their parent varieties in the yield trials. This has been a challenge with LP corn and soybean varieties to date -- yields have not been able to match traditional varieties. With the LP barley trials, the goal is to select the best one or two lines for the 2004 crop tests, with ultimate release most likely in 2006.
In the battle over barley, a higher energy density gives hulless barley the advantage over hulled varieties, making the feed more valuable. The other advantage is that, if fusarium is a potential problem, most of the toxin will traditionally be on the hull. As a result, hulless barleys normally translate into less toxin in the bin, because most of it is left behind in the field during harvest.
Preliminary research with growing pigs has indicated that LP hulled barley provides adequate levels of digestible P, suggesting producers would not need to add as much dicalcium phosphate. In this particular trial, LP barley reduced P excretion in swine manure by 55 per cent in semi-purified diets and 16 per cent in practical diets. The availability of P for pigs was estimated at 52 per cent for LP barley compared to 32 per cent for normal barley.
Plant breeding is only one of the tools researchers are using to release phytate's grip on phosphorus. Some are evaluating synthetic phytase, the enzyme that monogastrics need to digest and absorb the P in phytate. Our own scientists at the University of Guelph have developed the EnviropigTM, which can produce its own salivary phytase. And just recently, researchers at the University of Wisconsin announced they have genetically engineered a strain of alfalfa that expresses high levels of phytase.
As nutrient management issues continue to increase in profile, the toolbox can only get bigger. 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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A handy device to monitor hydrogen sulphide levels
For $345, you can provide personnel working around liquid manure systems with a relatively cheap and effective early warning systemBy RON MACDONALD
The hazards of hydrogen sulphide gases in liquid manure storages are well known. As well, the livestock and poultry industries continue to suffer financial losses from gas poisoning. These include death losses as well as reduced production.A new device has been developed to monitor this gas, a small device that simply clips onto a piece of clothing. When first turned on, it emits one quick beep to indicate power supply. Then, a green light emitting diode (LED) lamp lights up every few seconds to indicate it is operating. As long as no excessive levels of hydrogen sulphide gas are emitted, it continues to operate this way.
However, once it encounters the deadly gas, the gas monitor starts to do its job. As soon as gas levels reach at least 10 parts per million (PPM) of gas in the air, it starts to emit a slow regular beep. The LED lamp flashes yellow, indicating caution is required. Note that the Occupational Health and Safety Association has determined that concentrations of H2S at or below 10 PPM do not present human health and safety concerns. However, the potential for higher, more hazardous levels is obviously present.
Extreme care is thus recommended at this level. Depending on the situation, immediate action to remove people from the area and then eliminate the source of gas is a minimal response to this warning.
There is also a second warning level. At or above 20 PPM, the monitor emits a rapid beep with rapidly flashing red LED lamp. At this level, health and safety is at a high risk and immediate action to protect people is required. I recently had direct experience with the gas monitor. In the facility, liquid manure was being directly hit with high-pressure wash water in a pit, causing a 20 PPM-plus alarm. In this case, ventilation system changes were made that helped lower levels.
Shortly after, pit plugs were pulled in the same room. The gas badge beeped at the 10 and 20 PPM levels as soon as a plug was pulled. Corrective action was taken for safety by vacating the area until pits were drained and ensuring the ventilation system was set optimally.
Note that the setting of the ventilation system plays a key role in managing levels of hydrogen sulphide gas. However, due to the variances in pits, plugs, ventilation systems and the like, there is no "standard" method of management.
In the same facility at another location, a pull plug was partially dislodged in a shipping area. It again sounded the alarm and, once more, corrective action was taken to eliminate the source -- in this case by firmly placing the plug and cleaning the obstruction in the hole out.
The gas monitor costs about $345 and requires an annual factory calibration. This is a relatively cheap and effective system to provide early warning to personnel working around liquid manure systems.
However, it should still be noted that the best method of protection still involves training and adequate precautions. A gas this deadly deserves nothing less.BP
Ron MacDonald P. Eng., is an agricultural engineer with Agviro Inc. in Guelph.
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Guelph sets up North America's first liquid feed research barn
Though a number of larger Ontario producers have adopted liquid feeding systems, we're behind our European counterparts in this regard. Guelph researchers hope to close the gapby SUSAN MANN
There is the potential to save $10 per finisher pig with a liquid feeding system, but the savings vary from farm to farm and they depend on whether farmers are prepared to use co-products from the food industry, says University of Guelph Prof. Kees De Lange."There are some clear advantages in moving towards liquid feeding systems, because doing so gives you more flexibility in adjusting feeding programs," he explains.
In addition, there are some benefits to the pigs in improved gut health and behaviour. It also may enhance food safety. Research from Europe has shown that pigs on liquid feed tend to have lower incidences of salmonella contamination.
But it's not for every farmer. Using a liquid feeding system involves more technology. "It takes a certain personality, a certain attitude to work with the system effectively," De Lange says, adding that you need to understand computers and equipment such as valves. You also need to be the kind of person who stays calm when things go wrong.
Gilbert Vanden Heuvel can relate to De Lange's comments about needing to understand computers in order to work with a liquid feeding system. He had just finished school at Ridgetown College when his father decided they would switch to liquid feeding at From the Hill Farm Ltd., near Goderich on the shore of Lake Huron. "He figured I knew computers."
In addition, "you can't get discouraged with breakdowns," he adds. "If you don't like computers and you don't like doing the more technical fixing, you should stay away."
It's much easier to handle high moisture corn in a liquid feeding system and that was the Vanden Heuvel's initial reason for moving toward this type of feeding in 1986. Along with high moisture corn, their mix includes the co-products whey, sugar syrup, bakery products and alcohol.
Vanden Heuvel, who now runs the farm, has 2,000 sows. He finishes about half of them and sells the rest as weaners. He grows mainly corn for feed on the 1,400 acres of owned and rented land that he works.
Most of his pigs are liquid fed, including the dry sows, the pigs in the nursery and the finishers. "The only thing that doesn't get liquid feed is our farrowing room," he says.
Where farmers can save money in reduced feed costs is in using co-products. Even just switching to high-moisture corn can reduce some feed costs.
As with anything in farming, equipment costs can vary and whether you think it's expensive depends on how you look at it, says De Lange, who is professor of swine nutrition and co-ordinator of the pork research program at Guelph. There are some estimates that the payback on liquid feeding systems is two to three years.
De Lange, Vanden Heuvel and Mitchell-area farmer John Kolkman talked to Better Pork about the benefits of liquid feeding after returning from a European trip to check out liquid feeding systems for the liquid feeding research barn being set up at the University of Guelph.
Vanden Heuvel and Kolkman are members of the Liquid Swine Feeders Association. Along with the researchers, the 90 members of this association will decide what equipment will be installed in the barn, which will be the first liquid swine feeding research barn at a university in North America. It's expected to be up and running by the end of this year.
The research unit will be relatively small. The idea is to take many measurements at the individual pig level. "It's going to be a means to better understand how liquid feeding benefits individual pigs," De Lange says.
In checking out liquid feeding systems for the facility, the plan is to pick the system that is best suited to a research setting, says Kolkman, who maintains that the association isn't favouring one company over another. "What we wanted to do is see what system would work best for the University of Guelph," says Kolkman. "We need a system that's for research, not a commercial system."
They saw one system from a German equipment company that uses air to push the liquid feed through the pipes. Another has a disk in the line to separate the water from the feed so there's no cross-contamination. "They try to get a very accurate dosing of feed that way," Kolkman says.
Along with picking a feeding system, the association's members are also in the process of finalizing funding for capital expenditures and operating costs for the research barn.
Kolkman runs a 300-sow farrow-to finish operation. Most of the crops he grows on his 250-acre farm are used to make his own feed. He starts feeding the liquid diet to the pigs when they come out of the weaner barn and go into the finishing barn at about 30 kilograms. The pigs get a mixture of water, high moisture corn, soybean meal, premix and four co-products -- buttermilk, brewer's yeast, cheese whey and condensed distiller's solubles.
He has been using a liquid feeding system since 1998. His main reasons for going to liquid feed were that it made it easier to handle high-moisture corn and that he can save money by not having to dry the corn. "The pigs' growth rates are as good as or better than dry feeding and there's reduced feed costs," he says.
At one stop in the Netherlands, the association representatives toured the lab of Nutreco, one of the country's largest feed companies. In feeding co-products, Dutch farmers are about 10 years ahead of their North American counterparts.
"They know how to feed a co-product," Kolkman explains, whereas North American farmers are still using trial and error to determine things such as nutritional value. "We can do a chemical analysis of the nutritional value, but the hog will tell you differently in that it won't grow as well."
More research is needed to test some of the co-products and establish their feed value. Feed companies have studied corn and soybean meal over the years and "we pretty well know what it does for a pig," he notes. But using some co-products, such as condensed distiller's solubles, has proven to be a real learning curve in figuring out how it fits into the rations.
In Germany, 40 per cent of finisher pigs are fed liquid feed, while 30 per of Dutch finisher pigs get a liquid diet. In Ontario, 20 per cent of the finisher pigs that go to market are liquid fed, but that only represents 115 farmers. "It's the larger producers who are doing liquid feeding," Kolkman says.
Despite the challenges of using a liquid feeding system, De Lange believes more farmers will become interested in this type of feeding. BP
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