Better Pork - August 2007

Eye On Europe

Weaning more piglets with four times feeding

A German trial indicates that nursing sows, fed four times a day instead of twice, ate more, lost less weight and produced slightly more piglets

Feeding nursing sows four times daily instead of twice increased feed consumption, reduced sow weight loss and led to slightly more piglets weaned in a year-long trial in Germany.

Altogether 168 sows were involved in the project at the Futterkamp Institute. Those fed four times over the 21-day suckling period lost an average two kilograms less weight during that time and produced just over 0.7 weaners more per year.

Although these results are not regarded as statistically significant by the researchers, it is felt that the tendency towards higher numbers of weaned pigs could be an encouragement for farmers to consider ad lib or electronic systems rather than hand feeding twice per day.

Younger sows fed four times daily consumed an average 5.4 kilograms per day compared with 5.1 kilograms for the twice-daily groups, but they had more milk for their litters with piglet weight gain better by one or two grams per day.

The Futterkamp Institute also used this trial to look into the effect of lowering crude protein content in lactating sow rations with the main aim of reducing nitrate in the resultant manure. The sows were either fed 15 per cent crude protein content in rations during suckling or the more conventional 17.5 per cent plus one per cent lysine proportion. The results showed that protein reduction did not really affect performance, while the manure from each sow on the low protein ration contained an average 1.44 kilograms less nitrogen per year.

Farm management to blame for national feed conversion failure

First trials comparing 100 commercial herds with good feed conversion (2.57 kilograms of feed to one kg of weight gain) and the same number with fairly poor performance (2.72:1) pinpointed that feeding management was the main culprit.

Farms with home-mixed dry feed systems were 2.5 times more likely to have feed conversion problems than a unit with bought-in pelleted feed. And the likelihood of poor performance in this field increased to 2.6 times where liquid feed was used.

The next move was to try the three main feeding systems – dry ad lib feeding, dry controlled feeding and restricted liquid feeding – on a single farm with proven management efficiency. This farm already had a conversion ratio with feeding hogs of around 2.47:1 with liquid feed.

“Our trials have so far proved that all systems are good when management is absolutely right,” reports feeding system expert Anni Pedersen, who works with the national organisation Danish Pig Production. “But I’ve recently visited some 25 other commercial units with liquid feeding and found mistakes in all of them – and some pretty bad ones, too.”

Despite this experience, Pedersen knows that liquid feeding can bring the best results. “Not only can the nutrient curve be more precisely controlled and adjusted through the feeding period, but the rations can also be substantially cheaper through mixing-in of food by-products such as bakery waste or whey.”

But, so far in Denmark, only around 40 per cent of feeding hogs are on liquid feeding systems. “This should be more, but we’ve seen that many farmers are not too happy with the computer-controlled systems,” she says.

Next step is a nationwide campaign to make farmers more aware of the advantages of liquid feeding and more at ease with computer-controlled systems. A special instruction booklet is being prepared and additional training for farm advisers has been launched.

Glass pyramids for hogs coming soon to Holland?

In the Netherlands, Innovatienetwerk is planning a series of such agricentres and some are already being considered by planning authorities.

A typical development – on industrial harbour land at the Port of Amsterdam – features stylish glass pyramids for 14,000 sows and feeding spaces for 100,000 hogs. The same complex will house poultry production, aquaculture areas and glasshouse vegetable crops. Feed components will be delivered by ship for pelleting on-site and there’s an integrated slaughterhouse for the livestock.

The concept involves processing of slaughter waste and manure into biogas on the spot, with the gas used to heat the building in winter and also the basement fish farming tanks. Hogs and broilers are reared on floors between the basement and top floor glasshouses.

The major Dutch ports of Amsterdam and Rotterdam are both considering plans for such agricentres. Meanwhile, several projects already up and running in the Netherlands involve the first stages of the synergetic concept with, for example, farmers co-operating in hog production with a single large complex at a central location away from the traditional farm buildings.

Irish trial shows probiotic bacteria can beat salmonella

The probiotic ration seemed to increase individual resistance against the salmonella pathogens with incidence, severity and duration of diarrhea significantly reduced. The treatment featured five lactobacillus strains given to weaners in skimmed milk as part of the feed. A control group of weaners got untreated skimmed milk. Six days after the trial started, all hogs were dosed with salmonella enterica (Typhimurium) with the effects checked over the following 23 days.

The results of this initial trial showed not only that the incidence of salmonella symptoms was significantly reduced in the group of hogs undergoing probiotic treatment, but that there was markedly less incidence of the pathogen in manure.

The control group had much higher incidence, and average weight gain over the 23 days of treatment was 134 grams below that of the probiotic group.

Next step is to look at a possible role of the probiotic treatment against salmonella infection risk in human medicine.

Ceiling fans help reduce heat stress in Danish barns

Researchers within Danish Pig Production, the national umbrella organisation, have been looking into low-energy techniques for keeping barn air fresh and backing-up conventional powered ventilation during hot periods. One promising development under test at the moment features large ceiling-mounted fans, the kind of rotors that used to be found in tropical dwelling houses.

First results show that the action of these rotors, used in conjunction with trickle ventilation from permeable ceilings, reduced dunging in laying and activity areas by an average 65 per cent compared with results with forced ventilation only.

Researcher Erik Damsted reports that weight gain performance is also better in the rotor ventilated pens too, but that it’s early yet for precise figures. He adds that the ceiling fan seems to do a better job in reducing heat stress than even specially-mounted fresh air nozzles at waist height in the lying area. “There is less danger of draughts with the ceiling rotors.”

The trial was carried out with three groups of hogs in pens with either conventional forced ventilation alone, forced ventilation backed up by waist-high fresh air nozzles or by simple ceiling rotors. The fans were installed 1.5 metres from the back wall over pens measuring five metres long by 2.4 wide with one fan to every two pens. In-barn temperatures during trials: 25°C and above. BP