Better Pork - February 2006
by NORMAN DUNN
Prolific Chinese breed returns to the Far East in a new form
by NORMAN DUNN
The prolific Chinese Meishan pig breed was imported into Europe 20 years ago to help improve performance of European breeds. Now, an enterprising British businessman is exporting the Meishan influence back to the Far East as top breeding stock.
Stephen Curtis, managing director of the breeding company ACMC, has created a new breed based on the Chinese genes and called it the Meidam. The Meidam is built around a sow line with 16 functioning teats and which produces 15 per cent more milk than conventional hybrids. The sows give birth to as many as 30 pigs annually. In fact, one farmer in Yorkshire finished 2004 with a record 40 pigs born alive to a batch of 23 sows in his 205-sow Meidam herd.
The comparatively new breed has also been chosen by the world’s top integrator, Smithfield Foods, as foundation stock for new herds in Poland. On top of this, some 6,000 foundation breeding animals are scheduled for Romania to form great grandparent and grandparent stock for an expected 200,000-sow production program by the Black Sea.
Meanwhile, the Far Eastern deal features a shipment of 230 pedigreed boars and gilts to the island of Bantayan in the southern Philippines. The animals are to form foundation stock for a 600-sow commercial unit there and come with the breeding company’s pig management and recording software as part of a deal worth $185,000 Cdn.
Meishan genes have been applied over the last two decades by a number of breeding companies, but ACMC claims to be the only one to retain the breed’s famed prolificacy and placid temperament whilst producing a top quality slaughter carcass from the end cross female.An ACMC Large White boar is crossed with the Meidam grandparent to give the AC1, a sow for production of slaughter pigs that retains the Meidam’s two extra teats. The litters have at least one or two extra live pigs per farrowing compared with conventional hybrids. BP
Over the years, Curtis crossed the original Meishans with his own NPD (National Pig Development Company) Large White and Landrace lines and included years of selection for carcass quality. The resultant Meidam breed is 100 per cent stress negative and produces more even-sized litters than European dam lines, says Curtis. Experts say that this is through an inherently more even spacing of the fertilized eggs along the uterus.
© copyright 2006 AgMedia Inc..
back Three feeds per day results in more milk
by Norman Dunn
Twice daily feeding is a nice, comfortable routine with nursing sows, but some Dutch farmers are now finding that the effort of an extra feed or two each day easily pays in more milk, better piglet performance and less condition loss for the sow.
Dutch feed manufacturer De Heus Brokking Koudijs ran a trial with 300 nursing sows, which showed that those getting the most feed per day in three helpings produced more piglets and heavier weaners, and lost less weight themselves.
This Dutch research confirmed that modern sows are quite capable of producing 10 to12 litres, and sometimes more, of milk daily. But for that sort of production the average-size sow needs eight kilograms and more of standard nursing ration per day. Average daily ration on most farms is thought to peak at around six kilograms.
But, of course, where you’re feeding high amounts of rations, two feeding times per day are just not enough. After all, a normal sow can only manage around three kilograms of dry feed at a time (although the intake can be increased through feeding wet feed or pellets).
The De Heus Brokking trial emphasized the possible advantages of higher feeding rates at nursing by feeding one group of 100 sows only 4.25 kilograms per day, another between 4.25 and five kilos and the last from five to 8.5 kilos daily. The group on most rations was fed between 7 and 8 a.m., between 2 and 3 p.m. and again between nine and 10 at night. Feeding was built up from 1.5 to two kilograms per day to the peak amount of over eight kilos on the 10th day. In the first four days after farrowing, feeding was kept to twice daily, mainly to reduce possible disturbance of the sows.
On average, the sows on the highest rations returned a performance with 1.3 per cent less litter mortality and an extra 0.4 weaners per litter. Average piglet weight at weaning for the high ration sows was 8.54 kilograms, 520 grams more than the average for piglets from the sows on the lowest rations. On top of this, the sows in the high ration group lost 20 per cent less weight during nursing, thought to be one of the main reasons why only 6.2 per cent of this group returned to first service compared with over 11 per cent for the sows on the lowest ration.
But the feeding company experience -- and that of the few commercial hog breeders on multi-feeding systems -- emphasizes that there are some golden rules to follow when moving into feeding regimes of eight kilograms or more per day for nursing sows.
One, there should be no overfeeding at any one time. “Little and often” is the best way or the females can react with digestion upsets, constipation and udder inflammation. Two, rations should be increased slowly over seven to10 days to the targeted maximum amount.
Three, feed offered should always be fresh to encourage a good appetite and any ration remaining from the last feed should be cleaned away. Four, the more feed consumed, the more drinking water a nursing sow needs: up to 40 litres per day, say the feeding experts.BP
Nursing sows repay more feed with heavier, healthier weaners
Daily feed intake: 4.25 kg
Daily feed intake:
4.25 – 5.0 kgDaily feed intake:
5.0 kg and overSows in group
104
100
95
Average piglet losses per litter to weaning (%)
11.1
9.4
8.6
Average weaned per litter
11.1
11.3
11.5
Average piglet weight at weaning (kg)
8.02
8.15
8.54
Average weight loss per sow during nursing (kg)
35.7
29.4
28.9
Average return to first service (%)
11.5
7.8
6.2
Source: Dutch feed company De Heus Brokking Koudijs
© copyright 2006 AgMedia Inc..
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East German trial shows straw bedding still wins
by NORMAN DUNN
Straw bedding is best for the well-being of loose-housed dry sows. This is the main message from an extensive trial in eastern Germany. But the trial results also show that sows can be comfortable with bare concrete lying areas in group pens -- especially where these were intersected with solid dividing walls for the sows to lie against.
Some European countries already insist on loose housing for groups of pregnant sows, while others are phasing in a complete ban on stall systems over the next eight years. The result is that European swine producers everywhere are interested in the most efficient designs for loose housing -- systems that reduce aggression between animals, help avoid foot and leg problems and promote acceptance of designated lying areas, and therefore cleaner pens and cleaner sows.
To help identify the best system, the state agricultural centre in Saxony, one of Germany’s most active research institutes in this respect, has been monitoring sow performance over three breeding cycles with some 5,000 sows on 10 commercial farms in eastern Germany. The Saxon scientists monitored sow behaviour in a wide variety of pen types, including fully slatted, part slatted with up to 50 per cent solid flooring and those bedded in deep straw.
Available pen space per animal in the pens in the trial ranged from 1.80 to 2.44 square metres and the systems with the least pig density came out best as far as pig activity is concerned. The animals moved around more and seemed more relaxed. But the comparison showed that size of sow groups, and not square metres per pig, was the major cause of longer bouts of aggression in pens. Less time was spent in fighting in groups of 20 sows and under than in groups from 20 to 40 sows. Also, the more space per sow, the dirtier the floor area tended to become.
Sows in pens with deep straw litter had the least foot and leg problems throughout the recordings. The sows on straw were also the most active of all groups. More time was spent in playing around with the straw.
Without straw, the acceptance of solid floored areas for lying on was increased where the area was backed by a wall and also divided up into bays by solid partition walling (the sows preferred to lie against such walls). In fact, in heated buildings it was found that solid-floored lying areas in otherwise slatted pens were often completely ignored by the sows where there were no bays formed by partition walls, resulting in sometimes very dirty pens.BP
© copyright 2006 AgMedia Inc..
back Buy a luxury home and get a pig
By NORMAN DUNN
One of the world’s oldest spotted pig breeds features in a sales campaign for luxury homes in southern England. A live Gloucester Old Spot is being offered to every house buyer on new residential estate being built by developer Jeremy Paxton.
The breed was chosen, says a company spokesman, because “Old Spots” (one of the blood lines used in the establishment of the old North American Spotted Poland China) are the friendliest and most laid-back hogs available and have the potential of making good house pets in houses with large back yards.
Local animal welfare groups are not so impressed and are pressurizing the company to arrange for farm accommodation for any presented swine. They claim the hogs just wouldn’t feel at home out of the farm, even in luxury housing.BP
© copyright 2006 AgMedia Inc..
back Sows: do litter-killers run in the family?
By NORMAN DUNN
Two years of research among hybrid swine in Germany indicate that the tendency for sows to squash piglets through lying on them, or kill them through biting, can be inherited.
But this doesn’t happen often, say scientists at the University of Kiel, and breeding out such traits and producing sow lines with more mothering ability could be very difficult. Making the task even more complicated is the fact that there are many other positive and economically important traits, such as fertility and weight gain, that have to be taken into consideration when selecting for any increase in mothering ability.
The good news from the university scientists -- and staff of breeding company PIC Deutschland who have been co-operating in this research -- is that improved mothering performance can in many cases be achieved much more directly because outside factors have a more important effect on sows’ behaviour.
PIC is currently investigating the effects of housing, interior climate, feed and management. For example it’s fairly obvious that noisy, hectic, impatient behaviour by staff in the swine buildings can directly lead to much more nervous nursing sows and a reduction in mothering ability.
Results also emphasize that there are other sow-based influences on cases of litter savaging and laying -- for instance, the age of the breeding animals. The Kiel University/PIC work, which involved monitoring 18,000 farrowings in 30 nucleus and multiplying herds with seven different breeding lines, recorded that the proportion of litters with laying deaths increased with the age of the sow from 24 per cent during the first and second litters to 30 per cent and over with the sixth litter.
Also, the age influence is reversed with biting in litters. Gilts, it was shown, are far more likely to snap at their young, with often fatal results. An average 4.5 per cent of all gilt litters suffered from this aggressive behaviour, while the proportion for second litters was only three per cent and this percentage dropped even more with age.
This research has been followed up with checks on whether a female guilty of either or both of the above faults tends to become a repeat offender with subsequent litters. Here, the results show that both serious mothering faults can become a habit for some.
While heritability for lying on litters was established as only 2.5 per cent, 9.1 per cent of the sows repeated the fault with following litters. The result was even more dramatic with aggressive behaviour and biting. Here, sow heritability was also found to be a very low 2.9 per cent, but repeatability was 44.8 per cent.Despite the above-mentioned difficulties of breeding for improved mothering ability in hybrids, PIC has stressed that it aims to consider such traits in future breeding for economic reasons as well as animal welfare ones. BP
The message to hog breeders couldn’t be clearer, say the researchers. Where litter losses through laying or savaging take place, the breeding females responsible should be taken out of the herd as soon as possible.
© copyright 2006 AgMedia Inc..
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Doing what is right to ensure the health and well-being of our pigs
New technology and improved management practices have enabled producers to make big improvements in the health, comfort and welfare of the animals in their care
by JIM DALRYMPLE
Animal welfare and animal rights are again receiving significant attention in the popular press, often from individuals and organizations that have little appreciation of the attention, care and expense that pork producers take with the animals in their care.A farm animal welfare conference was held at the University of Guelph in 1994. This conference, organized by the Canadian Agri-Food Research Council and its committees, brought together more than 200 scientists, farm leaders, agribusiness, government and humane interest individuals. Since then, two additional national conferences have been held in Quebec and Ontario to assess developments in animal care.
Dr. John Dean, director of the University of Minnesota Swine Centre and a scientist known to many in the pork industry in Canada, suggests that the animal welfare debate needs to focus more on the needs of animals, as opposed to their rights and freedoms. Speaking recently in Saskatoon at the Prairie Swine Centre, Dr. Dean suggested that the animal welfare debate often revolves around superimposed human social values, while failing to consider basic needs like health and protection from aggression.
More than 20 years ago, the Brambell report, on which many of the concerns for animals and pigs, in particular, were based, said that animals should have five freedoms:
- Freedom from hunger and thirst;
- Freedom from physical discomfort and pain;
- Freedom from injury and disease;
- Freedom from fear and stress;
- Freedom to conform to essential behaviour patterns.
The five freedoms can be questioned. Are there any Ontario residents that at some point have not experienced injury or disease? How many humans are free from fear and stress? Indeed, because of economic constraints, many people are unable to conform to what once were considered standard and essential behaviour patterns.
Through technology, today's swine farms certainly have developed the means to free their animals from hunger and thirst. Feed and water delivery systems in the high technology farming units provide clean, fresh water (sometimes with additional vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients), 24 hours per day. No frozen water bowls in winter and no need for pigs to drink from streams and puddles in summer.
The feed supplied through current nutrition research and as set down in National Research Council nutrient specifications provides a better balanced diet than many humans receive. Rations are based today for separate gilt and barrow feeding, feeding of different ages of pigs, specific diets for nursing and non-pregnant sows and gilts, and specific amino acid requirements to reduce nutrient waste in the environment. Even up to a few years ago, "garbage-fed" pigs were still being marketed in Ontario. These pigs did not receive their recommended dietary needs, were slow to grow and experienced poor health and housing conditions.
Gestation sow housing is still under review with many animal rights activists pushing governments to ban individual gestation stalls. Many producers who have switched to group housing see greater evidence of aggression among group-housed sows, more foot and leg problems, greater variation in sow body condition, and they have returned to gestation stalls to provide improved sow comfort.
Neonatal mortality of young pigs has been cut through improved design of farrowing units. In the past, sows gradually weaned their pigs from two to five months of age. Management strategies have been designed to optimize the health and growth of young pigs. Fewer newborn pigs are crushed by sows and earlier weaning has meant less stress on sows nursing large litters of pigs.
Modern technology has even enabled producers to select more humanely for lean, fast-growing pigs with desirable meat quality. Thirty years ago, selection of gilts and boars involved considerable restraint, the use of a scalpel and ruler probe to determine back-fat thickness. Today, technology enables a producer to use ultrasound measurements and specific gene markers to identify pork quality and provide superior products to the consumer. Modern housing systems can provide more comfortable conditions than allowing pigs to face weather extremes.
Transportation has received considerable attention over the past decade as pigs have had to travel greater distances to processing facilities and more young pigs have been moving to finishing units both in Ontario and to the United States. The Ontario Farm Animal Council and Ontario Pork have developed a protocol: "Livestock Transport Emergency Resources" to assist if emergencies occur.
The Canadian pork industry was one of the first to develop a "Recommended Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Farm Animals". The Code has been revised and an "Addendum -- Early Weaned Pigs" developed through the efforts of 16 organizations, among them the Canadian Council on Animal Care, the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies, the Canadian Pork Council, the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, along with research scientists, producer organizations and provincial and federal governments.
The Canadian Pork Council also recently unveiled its new animal care tool for pork producers. The Animal Care Assessment (ACA) was developed to show customers that Canadian hog producers are following good animal care practices on their farms. The program looks at all components of production critical to the well-being of pigs, including stockmanship, feeding and watering, equipment, health and housing.
Farmers often say that "if I take care of the pigs in my care, they will take care of me." Farmers do care for their animals and their decision-making is based on scientific research being, not on emotion. The facilities provided by pork producers, the feed programs and the health care provided all continue to insure pigs are well cared for.BP
J.R. (Jim) Dalrymple, P. Ag., CAC, is a former Ontario government swine specialist and owner of Livestock Technology Services in Brighton.
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