| October 2008
,
Vol. 11, No. 10 PEAK OF PERFORMANCE NEWS |
The upward blip of in pricing August 15th and 22nd to $1.60/kg dressed may reflect the lower numbers coming to slaughter.
The reason for Maple Leaf Foods meat product recall will need an early resolution in conjunction with CFIA supervision of the processing plant. Packaging of processed products constitutes a different consideration for food safety than does the meat quality itself. Although it is highly regrettable that some foodstuffs were infected with the Listerium sp. bacteria, and 17 people have subsequently died, we can be confident that the majority of our food products for sales are wholesome, safe and nutritious for our consumption and enjoyment.
There’s been some slight relief in fuel and feed prices over the past few months; hopefully you might have locked in feed ingredient supply and hog pricing in September or October.
GROWTH in Performance Improvement:
Boars and gilts probed at Jakubec Farms in September showed excellent performance averages at 100 kg. Biggest loin for Landrace gilts was 70.2 mm and Yorkshire gilts 72.2 mm. Landrace gilts are growing in 149 days, Yorkshire gilts in 151 days and Landrace boars in 132 days to 100 kg.
| Breed |
No. |
Average Backfat |
Loin Depth |
Loin Area |
Est. Lean Yield |
| Landrace gilts | 20 |
10.2 mm |
66.0mm |
45.4 mm |
63.9 mm |
| Landrace boars | 3 | 8.8mm |
63.0 mm |
41.9mm |
64.5% |
| Yorkshire gilts | 26 |
8.8 mm |
67.0 mm |
46.5mm |
64.5% |
We have sold breeding pigs to two new customers in British Columbia. Welcome to Chad Buchanan for his purchase of Duroc, Landrace and Yorkshire gilts along with Duroc boars and to Tom Huwer who has purchased Lacombe gilts, Yorkshire, Duroc and Landrace boars.
Visiting with the managers at River Road Colony, they showed me excellent Summit gilt retentions for their breeding herd. Feet and legs are great, despite being reared on waffle slats; a commendation to the purebred Landrace sows selected from our nucleus.
It is unlikely that more than 1% of gilts raised under commercial conditions will have reached puberty by market weight of 110 to 115 kg. But as shown in Table 1, onset of puberty can occur over a wide range of ages; backfat levels; body protein mass and growth rates. Therefore, these factors are individually not reliable predictors of age at puberty. These data clearly show that some gilts are capable of reaching puberty at a young age and low liveweight. A brief summary of what we know about puberty onset may be helpful:
There is a huge range in the age, weight, backfat, protein mass, and lean tissue growth rates of gilts at puberty.
Table 1. Performance and Body Composition of Gilts at Puberty Average Range
158.2 201 >111.0 79.6 - 155.2 16.6 9.1 - 34.8 16.7 12.3 - 21.7 0.90 0.66 - 1.13 8.7 7.9 - 9.4
What do these data, and lots of other data like it, tell us?
1) Gilts are capable of reaching puberty at young ages, with low levels of backfat and at light weights.
2) Any of the criteria listed are not good predictors of puberty onset. Growth rate will have little influence on age at puberty. But, if you take as an example of pigs reaching puberty at 160 days of age, with growth rates in grow-finish of 0.70 or 1.00 kg/day, the weight of these gilts at puberty will differ by about 30 kg (assume gilts entering G-F at 60 days of age and at 30 kg, with 100 days in G-F). If these gilts are bred at second estrus, the slow growers could be about 115 kg but the fastest-growing gilts would be about 150 kg live weight. These heavier animals may be more robust and better able to handle stress. Also, there is some evidence that a larger protein mass (body size) at farrowing may be protective against the stress and demands of lactation. So we look to compromise and go for commercially acceptable growth rates in the 800 grams per day range.
Slowing growth rate by restricting feed or energy intake has always been a difficult concept for me. Gilts are group-penned before onset of puberty and are usually fed from ad lib feeders so that it becomes difficult to devise a system of restricted feeding. Any system of restricting feed intake for group fed animals usually results in creating a large variation in growth rate and therefore in the weight of the animals. Also if we restrict-feed modern lean-type gilts in the finishing period, we may end up with gilts at time of selection with (low) 9-10 mm P2 backfat.
So I favour ad lib feeding diets similar to those suggested in our last article.
Site Design: Summit
Solutions Ltd.
Thanks to all of our clients for your ongoing purchases!
PEAK BookOf World Records
Pine Haven Colony has farrowed its first four litters from F1 sows sired by a Lacombe boar. They were litters of 12, 14, 14 and 17 live piglets. The first two litters weaned 12 piglets.
Super weather conditions this year allowed Spring Valley Colony to harvest one field of barley with a 130 bushel yield and bushel weight of 56 pounds!
Breeding Herd Efficiency,
Part 8 The Big Event – Onset of Puberty
(Reprinted from V6,No2 PEAK of Performance News! by the late Dr. Frank Aherne. This series will continue for nine episodes)
University of Alberta 2000
Number = 219 gilts
Age(days)
Weight (kg)
Backfat (mm)
Protein mass (kg)
Growth rate (kg/day)
Protein mass: surface area (kg/sq metre)
Territory
Managers
For more
information, contact:
Manager
Territory
Cell
Telephone
Les Robinson
Southern &
Central Alberta
(250) 833-6196
Paul Klingeman
Pacific Northwest
(509) 989-1347
Art Goelema
Northern Alberta & Saskatchewan
(403) 963-0171
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