We sincerely congratulate Dr. Peter Pawluk of the Swine Health Centre in Lethbridge on being awarded the 2004 Pork Industry Leadership Award at the Alberta Pork Congress. Dr. Pawluk was recognized for his leadership in people skills – farm problems often have underlying human factors. It is also a matter of making pig producers aware of herd health problems before they become serious issues. PEAK is proud to have Dr. Pawluk consult to a number of our client herds.

Congratulations as well go to Alan Toles, winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award and to Glen Flanders’ Pig Pen Hogs as Farm Team Award winner.

Simon Entz, MacMillan Colony; David Hofer, Enchant Colony; Sam Waldner, Hutterville Colony and Joe Wipf, Riverview Colony, MT were winners of our prize draws.

At least 13-14% of the cost of production in farrow-finish operations is cost of feeding the sow herd. Gilts that register a high feed intake on performance test (ad lib feeding instead of limit feeding) go on to eat well in their subsequent lactation. Females bred for low feed intakes seem to have a poor record for herd longevity.

PEAK has been selecting gilts on the basis of feed intake, using the CCSI selection programs for faster growth and lower backfat. Their high feed intake contributes to progress in breeding bigger litters.

Many of our client herds have high productivity levels as well as high litter size and weaner weights – especially in herds with recommended parity distributions.

There are also management aspects that enhance productivity: feeding management (not overfeeding in the first two months of gestation, twice daily feeding in lactation, clean feeders, constant supply of clean water); cool sows in the farrowing rooms (18-20ºC); cross-fostering to even litter size amongst gilts (<11/litter) and sows.

Thank you to all of our clients who purchase replacement stock regularly!

Enchant Colony’s load of 262 hogs included a whole page (60 hogs) that indexed 116 – first time I’ve seen that number of quality hogs on a settlement slip.

As a follow-up: of the 800 production units marketing hogs to OLYMEL, the highest average index by the winning producer of the "Reach for the Top" competition was 113.26. There were a number of producers in 2003 that averaged in the 112-113 index ranges.

Congratulations to Tim Ankerstein; Ted Vander Muelen; Mialta and Spring Ridge Colonies for their wins in this competition.

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

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

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

Table 3. Effect of Ambient Temperature on Feed Intake

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 (PEAK of Performance News! Vol 6, No 12). 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 about 1 gram/kg body weight/ ° 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.

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