Art Goelema will help us with the start-up of the barn for several months while still maintaining his territory customers on a monthly basis. Art has experience with this barn and should be able to have it highly productive after the first litters are born and weaned. Our nucleus operations continue at Bloomsbury Farms, Five Lakes Farms, Gwynne Vista Farms and Jakubec Farms while Spring Valley and Hutterville Colonies are multiplier herds.

Peace View Colony’s 249 hogs sent to OLYMEL at 93 kg carcass weight averaged 18.5 mm backfat with 110.0 average index. Peaceview is quite pleased with the improvement since its feeding program has been stabilized.

As we discussed previously, feed intake drives growth rate. Therefore, we have to know how to control and manage the factors that affect feed intake. Among such factors are genotype, sex and health status and these we have discussed in previous articles. It has been shown that there is up to 20% difference in average daily feed intake of grow-finish pigs of different genotypes. It has also been shown that average herds only achieve about 70% of the potential of their pigs’ appetite. Much of this loss in potential is due to disease, poor management and poor sanitary conditions. We have discussed in previous articles how poor sanitation can reduce pig performance.

Table 1. Recommended set-point temperatures for growing-finishing pigs in continuous flow barns.

	Slatted Floors	Solid Floors
25 - 60 kg pigs	18º C	10º C
60 – 100 kg pigs	14º C	16º C

Table 2. Recommended set-point temperatures for growing-finishing pigs in all-in/all-out barns

25 kg pigs	21º C	23º C
30 kg pigs	20º C	22º C
35 kg pigs	19º C	20º C
40 kg pigs	17º C	19º C
45 kg pigs	16º C	17º C
50 kg pigs	15º C	16º C
55 – 100 kg pigs	14º C	15º C

Prairie Swine Centre, Pork Production Reference Guide 2000, p. 43

Table 3. Effect of Ambient Temperature on Feed Intake

Temperature, º C	18	22	26	30
Mcal DE/day intake	4.98	4.61	3.88	3.80
ADG, g/day	755	744	721	652
Protein, g/day	118	119	117	116
Lipid, g/day	110	103	86	65
Lysine requirement, g/day	13.2	13.2	13.2	13.2
% of diet	1.03	1.21	1.21	1.23

Ferguson & Gous 1997, Pigs 13 – 30 kg

Note that the fat gain is reduced more than protein gain and therefore lysine level in the diet must be increased to meet the pig’s daily requirement.

Genotype

The message here is that you should know what your genotype is capable of and then provide the environment and feeding program that will allow the pigs to reach that potential. But as we said before, if you don’t measure feed intake you can’t manage it. In our previous articles we have shown how to calculate number of days the grow-finish pigs remain in the barn. From that figure, plus feed delivery data, an estimate of feed intake for each batch of pigs in an all-in/all-out system can be calculated. A more accurate estimate of feed intake can be determined using above-feeder weigh-hoppers and any one of the computer models currently available.
So, set some realistic target for feed intake of your grow-finish pigs and then see how close you are to reaching that target by actually measuring feed intake of some or all of the pigs.

Environment

Another important factor affecting feed intake is the pigs’ environment. Pigs must adapt to their environment in order to maintain a constant body temperature of 38.8?C.

A suggested set-point temperature guide is shown in Tables 1 and 2. If the barn temperature is too high (>25? Celsius for growers or >22?C for finishers) they will reduce feed intake by almost one gram/kg bodyweight/ ?C above these upper temperature levels (Table 3).

Consequently growth rate is reduced at high barn temperatures. Because fat gain is reduced more than protein gain, the lysine level of the diet should be increased to meet the pigs daily lysine requirement. Usually the energy content of the diet is also increased during periods of hot weather.
Under cold conditions, feed intake increases but some of the feed is used to maintain body temperature and so feed efficiency is reduced. It is never economical to use feed to keep a pig warm.