Parakeratosis: A Nutritional Disease of Swine

A skin disease of swine called parakeratosis has become increasingly prevalent in South Dakota and throughout the United States during the past few years. Minnesota investigators first described parakeratosis in 1953 and suggested that it was of nutritional origin. Recent research at several experiment stations has shown that high levels of calcium and phosphorus in the ration were associated with the disease and that the addition of zinc had a curative effect. Swine affected by parakeratosis have reduced appetite, fail to grow normally, and often exhibit diarrhea during the early stages of the disease. The skin lesions appear almost simultaneously with these early symptoms. The condition is first noted by the reddening of the skin on the underline followed by poxlike lesions on the abdomen and between the front and rear flanks. Within a short time the crusty scablike lesions develop on the legs, ears, tail, and, in severe cases, cover the entire body. This often causes the skin to form large folds or wrinkles. There are great individual differences in the severity of the symptoms and duration of the disease. On the same rations, some animals may not show any symptoms of the disease while others show mild or severe symptoms. Death losses are quite low but there is often an economic loss due to poor growth and poor feed efficiency. Parakeratosis has occurred at the South Dakota Experiment Station at different times during the past few years. The condition has appeared most frequently in rations supplemented by plant proteins. It has been most prevalent from weaning age to 100 pounds during fall and winter feeding trials. When these trials were conducted it had not been observed at this station in pigs fed cereal grain and protein supplement free-choice. The following experiment was designed to study the occurrence of parakeratosis on different type rations and to study the effect of calcium and zinc on the development of this disease

Antibiotics in Growing and Fattening Pig Rations

A successful hog business is dependent upon good swine feeding, breeding, and management practices. This bulletin deals with only one of these practices-feeding and with only one phase of feeding, the inclusion of antibiotics in growing and fattening pig rations

High Quality Oats for Growing Pigs

These trials indicate that high quality oats is a good feed for growing-finishing swine. The results show that you can satisfactorily use it to replace up to 40% of the corn in rations when your pigs are on pasture. When they are in dry lot you can replace up to 50% of the corn in mixed rations. Oats with a test weight of less than 35 pounds a bushel may not be as satisfactory

Feeding Pigs Trace Mineralized Salt

The USE of trace-mineralized salt in animal feeding has increased during recent years. Experimental work at several experiment stations has shown that the addition of the trace minerals, manganese, cobalt, iron, copper and iodine, to a ration will often improve growth and feed efficiency in swine. In these experiments trace minerals have been added directly to the mixed ration and have not shown the value of a trace-mineralized salt when included in a mineral mixture fed free choice. Although trace minerals may not always be needed, the simplest manner of adding them to a ration is to self-feed a mineral supplement containing trace-mineralized salt, as was clone in the trials reported here. The mineral content of pastures and feed crops depends on the mineral content of the soil and may be influenced by the variety of the crop. The effects of continuous cropping, soil erosion, development of new crop varieties, increase in the use of fertilizers and newer knowledge of the interrelationships between nutrients will have an influence on the amount of mineral supplement need by farm animals. Therefore, it seemed wise to investigate the value of a trace-mineralized salt in a mineral supplement fed free choice to growing-fattening pigs

The Effect of Feeding Frequency and Feed Flavoring on Performance of Lactating Sows and Gilts

Inadequate feed consumption by sows (below 10 lb/day) in the farrowing house accompanied by large weight losses during lactation is a major problem in the swine industry. Excessive sow weight loss is often associated with poor milking performance and delayed return to estrus after weaning. High temperature in the farrowing house is often to blame for inadequate feed intake. However, even under the most ideal management the problem often exists. The trial reported herein is a part of a regional study (NCR-89, Confinement Management of Swine) to evaluate the effect of feeding frequency and the addition of sugar to the diet on sow feed intake and lactation performance

Effect of a Lactobacillus Culture in Diets Of Growing-finishing Swine

Lactobacillus cultures have been used in the preservation of human foods for centuries. More recently it has been shown that feeding lactobacillus to pigs can influence the bacterial flora of the intestinal tract. A reduction in enteritis and also an improvement in weight gain have been reported, although the results with lactobacillus cultures as feed supplements have been variable. The objective of this study was to evaluate a dried viable culture mixture of lactobacillus in diets of different protein content for growing-finishing swine

Effect of Pen Space and Vitamin Level on Performance of Growing-Finishing Swine

Previous research at South Dakota State University has shown that pigs housed in a completely enclosed confinement building consume less feed and gain slower during enclosed confinement building consume less feed and gain slower during the finishing period than pigs housed in an open-front facility. Boredom or building fatigue caused by prolonged confinement in a limited space have been suggested as possible causes of this reduced performance. The experiment reported herein was conducted to obtain information on the effect of increasing pen space and/or doubling the level of vitamins in the diet during the finishing from approximately 140 pounds to 220 pounds

Artificial Rearing of Young Pigs

The experiment reported herein was conducted to study the problems involved in rearing pigs in an automatic feeding pig brooder and to study the effect of age of the pig at the time of removal from the sow on survival and growth in the pig brooder

Effect of Sorting Pigs into Uniform Weight Groups at Birth

It has been demonstrated that larger pigs at birth have a greater survival rate than do small pigs, particularly in large litters. It is assumed that part of the death loss is because smaller pigs are weaker and do not compete well in establishing the peck order for position of nursing. It would seem logical that lessening the competition due to size differences at birth would lead to less death loss before weaning. The experiment reported herein was designed to evaluate the effect on pig performance and survivability of sorting pigs into groups of similar weight

Influence of Supplemental Dietary Potassium on Performance of Growing-Finishing Swine

Potassium is one of the mineral nutrients that has been considered to be present in adequate amounts in swine diets formulated with commonly used feed ingredients. However, nutrient contents of feed ingredients have been shown to change with intensive cropping practices and also with different feed processing procedures. Recent research has indicated that potassium may improve the utilization of lysine, particularly in diets containing lysine below recommended levels. This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of growing-finishing pigs fed different levels of supplemental dietary potassium and to evaluate the effect of previous dietary lysine treatment on subsequent performance