Relationship Between Backfat Depth and its Individual Layers and Intramuscular Fat Percentage in Swine

Results show the correlations between IMF and different measures of total fat thickness are of similar magnitude, regardless of the measure being a single measure of total subcutaneous fat or a sum of the individual layers. Results also show that the correlation between the inner and outer backfat layers is less than the correlation between the middle layer and the inner and outer layers

Effect of Weaning Age on Nursery Pig Performance

Weaning age is an extremely important management decision in commercial pork production. The decision is based upon many factors which include sow performance, herd health, pig performance and costs and revenues associated with these factors such as lactation space utilization, and weaned pig value. The industry shifted to weaning litters at earlier ages in order to improve piglet health throughout the nursery and grow finish phases of production. In order to avoid transmission of pathogens from sow to piglet, the Segregated Early Weaning (SEW) concept was developed. This process consists of farrowing sows on the same site as the rest of the breeding herd, weaning piglets from 10 to 21 days and decreasing the amount of medication that is administered (Harris, 2000). Applying these management practices impacts subsequent piglet growth performance. Limited research has been conducted to determine the weaning age that results in optimum performance of the pig in its early stages of development and still provides protection to a variety of pathogens. The objective of this study was to quantify the effects of two weaning ages on nursery pig performance in a commercial production system

The Effect of Inorganic, Organic and No Trace Mineral Supplementation on Growth Performance, Fecal Excretion and Digestibility of Grow-Finish Swine

Fecal analysis, off-test weights, and ultrasonic measurements were used to determine the response of inorganic, organic (BioplexTM), and no trace mineral supplementation on the fecal mineral excretion (Cu, Fe, and Zn) and growth performance traits measured on live pigs (n=560) throughout the grow-finish period. Based on data from the current study, the use of BioplexTM mineral supplementation for phase-fed, grow-finish pigs could potentially decrease the concentration of fecal Cu, Fe and Zn without impacting the overall performance of the animal. Diets containing no trace mineral supplementation fed to pigs throughout the entire growfinish period had an adverse effect on performance and culling rate in the experiment. Organic mineral supplements can ultimately be fed to finishing swine without having a significant effect on percent lean (live or carcass), loin muscle area (LMA), backfat (BF10), average daily gain (ADG), or feed efficiency (FE). The use of BioplexTM (Alltech Inc., Nicholasville, KY) trace minerals has the potential to reduce the environmental impact of swine production without any loss of production efficiency to the producer. Lower excretions of these metals by swine could help prevent bioaccumulation where swine waste is applied. Further investigation into the trace mineral requirements of pigs during times of health and other biological and environmental stresses is warranted

Effect of Technician, Machine, and Animal Body Composition on Accuracy of Ultrasonic Measures of Backfat and Loin Muscle Area in Swine

Records (n = 11,305) from the 1998 to 2003 National Swine Improvement Federation (NSIF) ultrasound certification programs were used to determine the effect of technician, machine (A-mode and B-mode: Aloka 500, Classic Scanner 200), and level of animal fat depth and loin muscle area on the accuracy of tenth rib off-midline backfat (BF10) and loin muscle area (LMA) measured on live pigs

Factors Associated with Sow Stayability

The purpose of this study was to determine the association of production factors with stayability to parity 4 (STAY 4), defined as the ability of a sow to reach 4th parity. Data was from the National Pork Producers Council Maternal Line National Genetic Evaluation Program, which included 6 genetic lines and consisted of 3,283 female pigs. Factors significant for STAY 4 included: farm, entry date, age at first farrowing, average daily gain, gilt backfat, and lactation prior to removal, feed intake, number born alive, and lactation length. Age at first farrowing and lactation feed intake in the lactation prior to removal had the greatest phenotypic relationships with sow longevity across genetic lines. A younger age at first farrowing under a uniform environment was positively related to length of productive life. Genetically, selection for a reduced age at first farrowing should increase sow longevity. However, a sow that is older at first farrowing may also be favorable for sow longevity. Commercial producers should strive to increase lactation feed intake through good management to ensure sow longevity

Effect of Removing Market Ready Pigs on Performance of Their Pen Mates

Results of this study suggest removing 25% or 50% of market ready pigs two weeks prior to the final marketing date does not affect test performance of pen mates. This study does not support the commonly held producer belief that removal of a percentage of market weight pigs will improve overall pen performance. If pigs are provided the space per animal utilized in this study, producers could reduce the labor associated with marketing by selling all of the pigs as a single group

Characterization of U.S. Cull Sows

Physical and reproductive conditions of cull sows (3,158) from two U.S. Midwestern harvest plants were assessed. Body condition, feet, shoulders, teeth, lungs, and reproductive tracts were visually evaluated for gross lesions on harvested sows. From the observations of this study, body condition score (BCS) was associated with several abnormal conditions of sows. Whether the lesions caused BCS to change, BCS caused the lesions, or the lesions and BCS changed simultaneously is unknown. Most of these abnormal conditions are difficult to reliably observe by production personnel in the farm setting. Observation and attention to BCS may serve as an indicator of other lesions that have the potential to lessen the productivity of the sow. Causative relationships were not established by this study. However, the strong associations observed suggest that sows that do not respond to increased feeding with improved BCS on farm could reasonably be expected to have additional lesions that may have poor prognosis for high performance. The prevalence of reproductive lesions detected in the current study was substantially lower than the reported percentage of sows culled for reproductive failure in previous farm based studies. Additional characterizations may be able to relate on-farm management practices to one or more lesions that had a high occurrence in the present study

Metabolizable Energy Value of Crude Glycerol for Laying Hens

An experiment was conducted with laying hens to determine the nitrogen-corrected apparent metabolizable energy AMEn value of crude glycerol, a co-product of biodiesel production. Crude glycerol (87% glycerol, 9% water) was obtained from a commercial biodiesel production facility. A total of 48 40-week-old laying hens (Hy-Line W-36) was placed in metabolic cages (2 hens/cage) and given free access to the experimental diets. A corn and soybean meal–based basal diet was formulated with 15% glucose•H2O. Four dietary treatments were created by substituting 0, 5, 10, or 15% crude glycerol for glucose•H2O (3,640 kcal/kg AMEn). After 7 days of dietary adaptation, excreta were collected twice daily for 3 days, freeze-dried, and analyzed for contents of dry matter, nitrogen, acid-insoluble ash, and gross energy. Egg production was recorded daily, and eggs were collected on days 7 and 8 of the experiment for calculation of egg mass (egg production × egg weight). No significant treatment effects (P \u3e 0.1) were apparent for egg-production rate (93.0%), egg weight (56.1 g), egg mass (52.2 g/d), or feed consumption (104 g/d). Linear regression analysis (P \u3c 0.001, r 2 = 0.92, n = 24) revealed that the AMEn value of the crude glycerol used in this study was 3,805 kcal/kg (asis basis) for laying hens, slightly higher than that reported for corn grain and less than half of that reported for vegetable oil

Physical Conditions of Cull Sows Associated with On-Farm Production Records

Cull sow physical conditions were associated with on-farm production records. Sows (923) within one integrated U.S. production system were evaluated at two harvest facilities. Physical conditions evaluated at harvest were analyzed by parity, culling code and production measures. Farm culling codes were categorized into poor body condition (BC), old age (G), lameness (L), other (O), poor litter performance (P) and reproductive failure (R). Production measures included lifetime pigs born alive (LPBA), pigs born alive in the last litter (PBALL), pigs per sow per year (PSY) and weaning to culling interval. The L culling code had a greater (P \u3c 0.05) prevalence of cracked hooves when compared to the other five culling codes (30.9% vs. 18.7%). Sows without front cracked hooves tended (P = 0.07) to have greater PSY (0.80) when compared to sows having front cracked hooves. Females without rear digital overgrowth had more (P \u3c 0.05) PBALL (0.54) and tended (P = 0.06) to have increased PSY (0.80) when compared to sows with rear digital overgrowth. Sows without shoulder lesions had greater (P \u3c 0.05) LPBA (2.01) when compared to sows with shoulder lesions. Regression coefficient estimates for percent lung lesion involvement were positive and tended (P \u3c 0.10) to be different from zero for LPBA (0.06) and PSY (0.03). Females with severe teeth wear tended (P ≤ 0.10) to have fewer LPBA (1.36), PBALL (0.45) and had fewer (P \u3c 0.01) PSY (1.10) when compared to sows without severe teeth wear. Sows culled for BC and L had lower (P \u3c 0.01) backfat when compared to sows from the other four culling codes (1.83 and 2.04 cm vs. 2.47 to 2.85 cm, respectively). Multiple cull sow physical conditions evaluated at harvest had associations with on-farm reproductive measures