| January 2009
,
Vol. 12, No. 1 PEAK OF PERFORMANCE NEWS |
Alberta Pork’s annual meeting in Calgary December 11 had Andrew Cookson, CEO of Gira Consultancy & Research note trends in world pigmeat markets. 8% of world trade is pork; import prices become the price regulator in any country. Forecast is for increased pork production to 120 million tonnes by 2015, from current 100 million tonnes. Now exports from the EU, US and Brazil feed demand from Japan, Korea and Russia.
Pig farmers need to manage uncertainty in future:
Canada, however, currently has favorable exchange rates; input prices are down; pig prices likely much higher in 2009; US pig imports will take care of our excess production.
GROWTH in Carcass Improvement:
November probing at Bloomsbury Farms showed excellent performance averages at 100 kg. Biggest loin for Landrace gilts was 67.2 mm and Yorkshire gilts 66.5 mm. Trailblazer boars averaged 64.5 mm loins, with the highest being 67.7 mm.
| Breed |
No. |
Average Backfat |
Loin Depth |
Loin Area |
Est. Lean Yield |
| Landrace gilts | 49 |
8.3 mm |
62.7 mm |
44.7 sq cm |
64.7% |
| Landrace boars | 11 |
8.0 mm |
63.1 mm |
42.3 sq cm |
64.8% |
| Yorkshire gilts | 50 |
9.7 mm |
63.2 mm |
44.3 sq cm |
64.1% |
| Yorkshire boars | 11 |
8.4 mm |
62.6 mm |
41.9 sq cm |
64.6% |
Welcome to Sunnybend Colony on its purchase of Summit gilts last year.
Long Sheng Feeds Group of Chongqing, China has purchased 630 purebred Yorkshire, Duroc and Landrace pigs from several Canadian breeders.
We are truly thankful for all of our ongoing pork industry customers.
Where the Money is: Grow-Finish
Whether we are producing farrow-to-finish, or finishing only, the source of our return on investment (ROI) is the market hog. Grow-finish is the most costly phase of pork production. It is that phase of the pig’s life where most of the costs are incurred. Feed costs are the single largest cost in pork production (65%-75%) and the majority (70%-75%) of these costs are associated with the grow-finish pig. Total feed costs per pig in Alberta averaged about $100 in the period July to December 2002. Total losses per pig averaged about $44 over that same period. We can expect lower feed prices in 2003 but market price predictions suggest that we will have to make every effort to insure efficient production and tight control on input costs.
Table 1: Potential lean growth rate actually expressed
Table 2: Effect of sanitary conditions on pig performance
Nursery to Finish (6-112 kg)
Without healthy livestock, genetic potential is just that: potential. So start with high health breeding stock. It has been shown that, under commercial conditions, the genetic potential for lean tissue growth rate is seldom achieved (Table 1).
In the next issue we’ll talk about sanitation and its relationship to pig performance.
PEAK BookOf World Records
Cluny Colony is now weaning 26.9 pigs/sow/year from excellent Summit gilt retained in its herd
Lacombe pigs probed at Bloomsbury Farms in November averaged 131 SLI and 123 DLI for gilts, while boars averaged 129 SLI and 123 DLI, in terms of making genetic progress.
Landrace, Duroc in China
Finishing Herd Efficiency, Part 1
(Reprinted from V6,No7 PEAK of Performance News! by the late Dr. Frank Aherne. This is the first of eleven articles in this series.)
Factors affecting production efficiency
1. Health status of the pigs
2. Genetic potential
3. Management/environment
4. Nutrition and feeding practices
5. Marketing practices.
Grower
Finisher
Top 10% of herds
75-80%
90-100%
Average herds
65-75%
80-85%
Bottom 10% of herds
50%
70%
Sanitary Conditions
Good
Poor
Growth rate, grams/day
854
688
Protein gain, grams/day
117%
88
Feed intake, kilograms/day
2.24
1.99
Major opportunities for improving production efficiency of growing-finishing pigs:
1. High Health
• All-in/all-out by room, building or site
• Single source of high health pigs
• Strict biosecurity, good cleanliness practices
• Two- or three-site production, wherever possible.
2. Breeding stock with good appetites, robust and with high lean growth potential
• Adequate space per pig
• Adequate feeder space for the number of pigs in the pen
• Warm, comfortable lying conditions
• Minimal temperature fluctuations
• Minimizing the mixing or moving of pigs.
3. Proper housing and management
4. Proper diets
• Rations properly formulated to your pigs performance potential for its appetite and lean growth potential. Avoid over-or-under formulation, ration meets pigs’ energy and nutrient requirements at low cost
• Diets well-mixed
• Feed free of mycotoxin
• Optimal particle size
• Feeders frequently and correctly adjusted
• Feed waste minimized.
5. Aggressive marketing
• Sell the majority of pigs in correct market weight range, particularly avoid selling hogs too light
• Reduce variation in market weights
• Meet market demands for fat and lean levels.
Health
As shown, average herds only reach 65% to 75 % of the pig’s potential for lean growth in the grower period and 80%-85 % in finisher period (65kg-115 kg). Much of this loss in potential is due to disease and poor sanitary conditions. Unfortunately, the loss is greatest in the grower period. Under poor sanitary conditions, feed intake and consequently growth rate, are reduced (Table 2).
Feed intake and growth rate were reduced with poor sanitation but the negative effects were greatest on protein deposition. Under these conditions, increasing the amino acid content of the diet will not increase lean tissue growth rate.
| 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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