Swine mortality not impacted by nocturnal temperatures

It is a common practice for pig producers to keep the temperatures in nursery barns at a warm temperatures, particularly during times when piglets are active and awake. But keeping the barn warm during the night hours while the animals are asleep may not be as important as some might think, said Sean Francy, Val-Co product manager.
Francy spoke on swine ventilation management topics January 29 at the VIV International Pork Production Summit, held in conjunction with the 2014 International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE) in Atlanta.
From 2009 to 2011, the University of Missouri, with cooperation from universities in Ohio, South Dakota and Canada, conducted a study to see what kind of impact lowering barn temperatures during the evening hours would have. "What happens if we follow the same theory the utility companies give us when they tell us to turn down the temperature at night when we're sleeping," Francy asked.
The temperatures were dropped from 33C to 22C in nursery barns with piglets five days old and older. This was done in operations with varying sizes of nurseries.
"Across the board what they found out was there was no difference in how those pigs grew. We had no increase in mortality, no increase in morbidity, but we had a fuel savings of close to 30 percent and an electrical savings of 19 percent," he said.
The piglets were apparently able to still get sufficient heat while not active, but huddled together and sleeping, Francy said.

Heavier born piglets may result in greater long-term productivity

When it comes to piglet litters, size matters. Larger numbers of piglets per litter have a direct correlation with an operation’s total pigs marketed; however, for these pigs to meet their full potential, adequate birth weights are necessary.
“No matter the genetics, the management or the facilities, birth weight plays a big factor in a pig’s lifetime productivity,” says Dr. Gawain Willis, director of nutrition services for Purina Animal Nutrition LLC.
Willis explains that measuring birth weights are especially important as current genetics are helping sows move towards larger litters. Unfortunately this trend is also resulting in a trend toward lower birth weights. In fact, research shows the average birth weight of each pig drops an average of 0.10 pound for each additional pig in the litter.[1]
“As the industry evolves and larger litters become more common, producers must pay close attention to birth weights in their farrowing units,” he says.
Purina Animal Nutrition has evaluated birth weights at the Purina Animal Nutrition Center in Gray Summit, Mo., for several years. Along with Brenda De Rodas, director of swine research with Purina Animal Nutrition, Willis measured birth weights on 2,456 litters over a 5-year timespan. The two found that a 1-pound difference in birth weight (3.1 pounds versus 2.1 pounds) resulted in twice the survival rate from birth to weaning.[2]
“Birth weights played a significant role in pre-weaning mortality rates,” Willis says. “Almost all of our pre-weaning mortality occurred in the smaller birth weights. Growth rates, feed efficiency and piglet vitality were also noticeably improved with higher birth weights.”
Heavier-born pigs were able to get off to a proper start and also reached weaning and market weights quicker; with 2.8 pounds higher weaning weights. When looking at the timeline to finishing, pigs born between 3.1 and 3.5 pounds reached the marketable weight of 270 pounds, 7 days sooner than pigs with birth weights of 1.6 to 2 pounds. [2]
Increased nutrients through gestation and lactation are one major factor required to allow sows to produce these heavier litters. Willis explains that higher-producing sows require increased nutrients to achieve long-term production or they may fall out of the herd too soon.
If the nutritional needs of the sow aren’t met, the potential remains for low birth weights.
“Failing to feed sows for increased productivity can also lead to rebreeding problems and high sow culling rates,” Willis says. “But feeding them properly can result in greater efficiency for both the piglets and the sows. Lifetime productivity of sows and the pigs they produce begins with feeding the sows the quality and quantity of nutrients they require.”



[1] Willis, Gawain. “Sow nutrition, health and management.” Purina Animal Nutrition LLC. Swine VIP Presentation, Sept. 4, 2013. Gray Summit, Mo.
[2] De Rodas, Brenda and Gawain Willis. “Litter size and birth weight and its impact on long-term production.” Purina Animal Nutrition LLC Research Study, Purina Animal Nutrition Center. 2006-2012.

Animine conducts research using HiZox in piglet diets

Animine recently presented results from three piglet diet experiments conducted in Asia at the 15th Conference of the Asian Association of Animal Production Bangkok.
HiZox, as a source of potentiated zinc oxide, was tested at low inclusion rate in comparison to the pharmacological dosage of the regular ZnO in piglet diets. Trials differed by piglet age at weaning, feeding program during the nursery phase, diet composition, levels and sources of zinc oxide, antibiotic supplementation, and level of growth performance. In the typical conditions found in the three countries, HiZox fed piglets had the highest growth, resulting in increased weights at the end of the experimental phase.
Trials were supervised by Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, Dankook University in Korea and the Institute of Agricultural Sciences in Vietnam. 

Piglet nursery management vital to healthy, fast-growing animals

Nursery management is critical for healthy, fast-growing pigs, according to Steve Toft, Hubbard Feeds swine specialist, including later weaning and high feed intake.
Three factors in particular — high health, high feed intake and fast growth — go together to improve producers' profits by reducing the cost of feed per pound of grain. In addition, several things can be done to allow pigs to make a smooth transition to the growth-finish phase, according to Hubbard swine specialists:

• Get pigs on full feed as quickly as possible
• Provide fresh, clean water at all times
• Monitor and adjust ventilation to prevent drafts
• Monitor air quality
• Continually monitor pigs for any signs of stress or abnormalities
• Check feeders for proper adjustment
• Make sure the temperature guideline for the first week in the nursery is an 84-degree set point

Reducing piglet mortality free Webinar this Friday

Reducing piglet mortality in open-pen group farrowing systems will be the topic of a free webcast offered by the University of Minnesota on Friday, March 12, at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time. Yuzhi Li of the university’s West Central Research and Outreach Center will share her findings on the effects of sow parity, litter size and birth weight on survival.
Individuals interested in attending the live, hour-long session should go to the university’s PorkCast Web page shortly before 12:30 p.m. CST and click on the program link, which will be listed under the "Next PorkCast Program" section.

Keep pigs in their comfort zone

Temperature control is still poor on many pig units and production and health are affected.
Air temperature can affect growth performance mainly through its effect on feed intake if the pig is outside its thermal comfort zone. The critical time for temperature control is the post-weaning period when the pig’s feed intake is low as it adjusts to the new environment.
In colder conditions the older pig can adjust somewhat by increasing feed intake to increase energy input. But post-weaning, the pig cannot compensate with higher feed intakes and this results in reduced body insulation, and poorer pig performance.

Piglet health
Piglets were weaned at 28 days with a weaning weight of 6.64 kg and weaned into either a pen with a heat lamp or pen without a heat lamp. Room temperature was maintained at 21°C while those pigs with a heat lamp were maintained at 29°C. The outcome was that after 10 days the pigs at 21°C grew 33% less and consumed 53% more feed than those pigs maintained at 29°C.
This shows the importance of ensuring that the pig remains in the comfort zone thereby
optimizing pig performance. As producers, we often do not know what the temperature is at the pig level and not only is the average temperature important but the daily temperature variation. Studies (Kurihara et al, 1996; Le Dividich, 1981) have shown that large daily temperature variation (minimum and maximum) has a negative impact on performance. Kurihara et al (1996) compared pigs at an average of 58 days in a constant environment of 21°C with pigs that had a variation of 3°C around 21°C and pigs that a 6°C variation around 21°C.
The feed intake of the piglets was reduced by 14% under the high fluctuating conditions while there was a 3% reduction in the low fluctuating conditions resulting in poorer performance in both treatments.
It is therefore important to not only provide the correct temperature but with a minimum variation throughout the period and although limited data the minimum variation would be <3°c.

Piglet weaning study released

Piglet producers may be able to save some money on their early feeding regime without compromising growth performance after weaning, according to trial results reported to the 2009 Northern Ireland Pig Event.
Dr Elizabeth Magowan from the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute at Hillsborough, Northern Ireland, spoke at the meeting about a comparison of starting feed levels for pigs weaned at 28 days old and tracked to 10 weeks of age.
Benchmarking of creep feed usage by 60 producers locally, representing about one-third of sow numbers in the province, has been done by Greenmount College and suggests an average in practice of 6kg/pig of a starter-1 or first-stage creep diet followed by 10kg/pig of a starter-2 type.
But the institute’s studies found no significant improvement in growth or feed efficiency from giving each pig more than 2kg of a starter-1 formulation containing 16.5MJ/kg DE and 22.5% crude protein (1.7% lysine). Also, no performance advantage was seen for feeding over 6kg of a starter-2 diet in which the formula provided 16.25MJ DE and 21% crude protein with 1.55% total lysine.
Omitting the starter-1 feed did result in a poorer performance, however. Body weight at 10 weeks old was almost 2kg higher for pigs that had received 2kg of starter-1 before going onto the regime applied to all groups, which meant a 4kg allowance of starter-2 followed by a grower diet. Moreover, the feed efficiency of the piglets not allowed the starter-1 was 8% poorer between weaning and 7 weeks old.