Better Pork - October 2006

Eye On Europe

Chicory root proves a cure-all for pig problems

Danish researchers have found that feeding fresh chicory root not only makes the meat taste better but also reduces swine dysentery and suppresses worm development

by NORMAN DUNN

Mix some ground chicory root in pig rations and not only does the resultant meat taste better with an improved texture, but the pigs enjoy a healthier life with less incidence of swine dysentery and parasitic worms.

These are the major advantages reported by a team of researchers from the Danish Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University. The team is searching for a natural pig feed ingredient that could reduce the danger of boar taint in meat from uncastrated males and some female pigs. This is a particular concern of pig producers in some organic farming systems where castration of male pigs is not allowed, or only permitted under special conditions.

It’s already recognised that adding the polysaccharide inulin (which controls the intestinal flora that help produce skatole) to hog rations reduces the risk of boar taint. But inulin is usually expensive when processed out of suitable crops such as the chicory root.

The Danes found it was much cheaper to simply feed the chicory root fresh. Trials indicate that 25 per cent minced root significantly reduced skatole concentration in meat with only three to seven days of feeding requiring in the whole production period.

A tasting panel in Denmark also claimed that pork from the chicory-fed hogs tended to be tastier, with “highest eating quality.” In fact, the panel members commented that the taste was so good with chicory-supplemented female fattening hogs that they felt a niche market could be developed for this pork. Other advantages of chicory hog rations uncovered by the Danish trials included reduced nodular worm larvae and pig roundworm in the intestines with the inulin believed to suppress worm development.

The researchers conducted another trial where chicory-fed pigs were exposed to swine dysentery infection and then compared them with another exposed group fed a conventional organic diet. The chicory-fed pigs showed no symptoms of dysentery, while 17 out of the 18 pigs in the control group developed bloody diarrhea and dysentery bacteria were cultured from their faeces.

Disposable support helps splayleg swine

A big step forward in the treatment of splayleg in newborn piglets is claimed by a Spanish swine equipment company, Rotecna from Lleida.

This involves a lightweight harness of very flexible synthetic rubber, featuring a broad strip stuck along the piglet’s back with a loop for tail and neck. The rear legs of the splayleg piglet are effectively kept from moving too far outwards by tensioned bands running from the harness tail loop and firmly attached to each rear leg below the knee. According to the manufacturer, the very elastic leg supports allows the young patient easy forward movement without losing control of the legs for the first few important days. To keep disease spread risk at a minimum, the Spanish producers have designed the splayleg support harness as a once-only product to be thrown away after treatment. Price depends on the amount of harnesses ordered and starts at the equivalent of C$2.40 apiece.

Dutch research could portend end to hog castration

Specific marker genes that identify male hogs that do not produce the so-called “boar taint” have been found by a research team in the Netherlands. The members claim that this could mean an end worldwide to hog castration.
Currently, it’s reckoned that 5 to 10 per cent of all uncastrated hogs or boars produce the obnoxious taint, which makes their meat uneatable, the percentage varying often according to breed.

Team leader Dr. Dick van de Wier from Wageningen University Animal Sciences Group reckons that using the market genes to select taint-free animals could mean commercial breeding lines being started within four years.
Dr. van de Wier adds that, in theory at least, it will also be possible to use the increased knowledge of the hog gene map to make sure the non-taint selection does not have negative side effects, such as less fertility or low weight gains, and in fact allow selection for a row of positive traits.

No economic calculations have so far been done by the Dutch scientists, but it is already clear that leaving castration out of the hog herd routine will lower labour input and costs as well as please the welfare organisations.

The Dutch research has been carried out in co-operation with Chinese and Norwegian scientific teams, the Norwegians being especially anxious to find a way of breeding guaranteed taint-free hogs without castration because their country is set to ban all hog castration within three years. Even now, no piglet castration is allowed without local anaesthetic. Meanwhile, Switzerland will demand local anaesthetic for piglet castration as from 2009.

A single insemination per heat works as well as two

A single AI service when a sow comes in heat produces just as many litters as the usual two, and sometimes more, inseminations per heat. A long-term trial in Denmark, conducted in three commercial herds each with more than 200 sows, indicated no difference in farrowing rate between one service and two service sows and calculated time savings in serving from 25 to 50 per cent.

“We did find, however, that there was a risk of losing up to 0.5 piglets in total per litter where only one insemination was carried out per heat,” cautions the researcher involved, Anne Marie Hedeboe of the Danish Meat Association.

But Hedeboe, who plans a much larger-scale trial from September of this year, adds that skilled AI operators needn’t fear reduced piglets per litter. “Success, of course, depends on excellent heat control and good knowledge of the sows, with insemination within 24 hours of standing heat being observed so that semen has reached the uterus by the time of ovulation.”

Control sows in the trial were inseminated twice, with an interval of around 24 hours between servings and with the first insemination taking place a maximum 16 hours after standing heat observation.

“There are already herds here in Denmark following the single service per heat routine,” adds Anne Marie Hedeboe. “And since we’ve completed this latest trial, more farmers are now changing to single service.”

The average of AI services per heat in Denmark is actually 2.3, according to the national hog organisation Danish Pig Production.

Portable slurry bags catch on in Holland and Britain

A Dutch idea of using very large, coated polyester fabric bags for storing liquid manure on hog farms has become popular in some British farms. The so-called “Winbag” produced by Albers Alligator in the Netherlands comes in various sizes, but a typical manure-holding version has a capacity of 250,000 litres, costs the equivalent of around $17,500 Cdn and weighs in at 750 kilograms net.

The portable bags are gaining popularity because farmers reckon they are cheaper in the long run, and much more versatile, than permanent steel silos or concrete and plastic-lined “lagoon” slurry stores. At the same time, the bags are fully sealed at all times so there’s no danger of gas or smell escaping.

The idea has caught on as well in the Netherlands, where Albers Alligator says it has sold more than 2,000 rectangular and square bag designs to livestock farmers.

In Britain, livestock units must have storage capacity for at least four months’ production of manure to avoid spreading when the fields are frozen or too wet. This storage requirement can be six months or more in other European countries. It means that Winbags can be brought in for useful emergency storage space when conventional slurry storage threatens to overflow after a long winter.

But some units use them for more permanent storage. Nigel Penlington, an engineer with the British hog sector administration and promotional organisation BPEX, helped introduce the slurry bag system to the BPEX Stotfold research farm in England.
“There wasn’t enough room for another conventional slurry store and, anyway, we weren’t sure how long we would have pigs on that particular unit,” he recalls. “The bag system was ideal because, when they are emptied, they just need to be washed out with water, rolled up and transported to the next site.”

The hog slurry at Stotfold is filled into the bag by gravity after partial separation. For emptying, a conventional vacuum slurry tanker is used. Two 15-centimetre emptying valves are standard for each bag. Because there are two, this means that a pump can be attached to circulate and agitate contents if required.

Penlington says it’s important to grade a smooth area of ground for each bag, with preferably a thick layer of soft material such as wood chips with puncture-proof geo-textile matting on top for the bag to lie on. He adds that the bags themselves are very strong and there have been no problems with punctures or leaks.

The manufacturer also sells a trailer-mounted mechanical “bag roller” - the “Winsystem” - with which the bag can be more easily rolled up for transport. BP