Swine Flashcards
Lectures 16 & 17
What is the name for a young female pig until slaughter or first farrowing
Glit
What is the name for a reproducing female
Sow
What is the name for a castrated male
Barrow
What is the name for a reproducing male
Boar
What is the name for a pig who is 1 kg at birth and weaning age is 2-5 weeks
nursing pig
What is the name for a newly weaned pih (~3 weeks old & about 6kg)
Weaner pig
What is the name for a pig at the period from weaning to approximately 25 kg
Starter/nursery pig
What is the name for a pig who is 25-60kg?
Grower pig
What is the name for 60+ kg to market at 105 - 110 kg (about 6 months old)
Finisher pig
What is the name for a growing/finishing pig?
Hog
What is the supply chain structure
veiw screenshot on laptop
Explain the Canadian pork industry “free market”
- Large price volatility
- Heavily export dependent
- No supply management
How is pork priced of the 7 market cutouts
priced on the “value” of the cutouts
Where is pork marketed through most of the time?
Marketed through the “Provincial Pork Marketing boards”
What are the 7 market cutouts of pork?
- Rib
- Belly
- Butt
- Loin
- Picnic
- Ham
- Carcass
What is the most expensive part of the pork to buy
Ham
How many farm cash recipits in Canada?
$5.9 billion (5.8% of total in 2023)
How many live exports in Canada breakdown
- Live exports $6.75 million hogs
- 60% are weanling… to be finished
How many pork exports in Canada?
- 21.76 million hogs processed domestically
- 2.29 million tonnes of pork
What province produces the most pigs and what is the percentage (2023)
Quebec (31%)
How many pig farms in Canada in 2023 and how many pigs?
7,160 farms, 13.9 million pigs
What Country produces the most pork?
China
How high is Canada in the world exporter scale and how much of Canadas pigs are exported
Canada is the 3rd largest exporter of pork, and Canada exports about 2/3 of production
How many tonnes does Canada export and how much money do they make in trade?
~ 1.30 million tonnes exported
~$4.82 billion in trade
How long is a pigs gestation cycle?
114 days
How old are pigs when weaned
21 days
How old pigs in the nursey
42 d
How old is a grow-finish pig
84-100 d
How old are pigs that are ready for the market?
150 - 160 d (5- 6 months of age)
Name the different breeds of pigs and their characteristics
- Yorkshire (Erect ears)
- Landrace (floppy ears)
- Duroc
- Hampshire
- Lacombe
What is the typical breeding program in pigs
Grandparent: Male Landrace x Female Yorkshire
What is a genetic improvement in pigs
of piglets per litter
When is the first estrus in sows
- about 120kg body weight, target breeding at 2nd estrus ~150kg
How long is the estrus cycle
~21 days
How many days are sows re-bred after weaning?
- 4-7 d
how many litters per year/lifetime, and how many pigs born alive per litter?
- approx. 2.3 litters per year
- 5 litters per lifetime
- Approximately 9-12+ pigs born alive per litter
- A litter can range between 6-24 piglets
How long is a sow lacatating for?
17 - 28 days
What are the signs of Estrus in sows
- Swollen red vulva–> Mucous discharge
- Stands to be mounted –> By boar, pen mates, or back pressure test
- Seeking boar –> Increased vocalizations
What is used when breeding pigs by AI
Cervical
post-cervical
what percentage of breeding is AI?
85% + much higher ratio
How many sows can a boar breed using natural breeding
1 boar per 20 sows
What are teaser boars helpful for?
- Help with estrus detection
- Help stimulate sows to ovulate
What are the goals of reproduction
- Maximize # of pigs born
- Minimize pre-weaning mortality
- Increase longevity
What are some challenges with Gestation stalls?
- Strong social hierarchy
- Insatiable gestation
- Must limit feed intake = limited resources leading to aggression
What are the different types of housing for pigs?
- Open housing
- Gestation Stalls
- Free access stalls (electronic feeding system)
What are some mangement rules of gestating sows
- Keep and feed sows in individual stalls
- Mange sows in groups:
–> Large pens w indiviual feeding stalls that can be closes
–> Computerized feeding stalls + sow identification
–> Sort sows ; various small, uniform groups
–> Slow (bio-fix) feeding system
–> Skip a day feeding
Characteristics of Sow Housing Canada
- Slatted floots –> reduces labour for manure management
- Lots of walls/partitions –> aggression to hide –> pigs like to lay with their backs againist a wall
- Closed structure –> ventilation + fans (biosecurity)
- Enrichment
Types of Enrichment
- ball
- Allbite
- Sisal rope
- Burlap bag
What are european sow housing like?
- lower density group housing
- Enriched w straw bedding packs –> pigs are tuber eaters, strong instant to straw
What is the problem with using straw as enrichment?
- Pigs can eat alot of it –> lower growth
- Hard to clean compared to slatted floors
What are some types of sow housing during lactation?
- Farrowing crate
- Ellipsoid crate
- European nest box (more deaths)
How long do pigs stay in crate at lactation?
~21 - 28 d
What do farrowing Crates help do?
Reduce piglet death by slowing down mothers when lying down
What are the components of the farrowing crate
- Sow barrier
- Warming area
- Piglet laying area
- Piglet creep feeder (starts feeding solid foods)
- Ehnrichment (burlap bag, chain, cotton rope)
- Feeders and waterers
What are some management things to do with piglets at farrowing?
- Identification - Ear notching/ tagging
–> some producers use, some dont - Teeth clipping/filling - 8 sharp needle teeth
–> piglets compete w litter mates - Iron injection- Need blood–> Pigs are iron deficenct
- Tail docking - hot iron tool
–> Reduce tail biting - Castration - done surgically
–> done early on, male pigs express foremonts (makes meat taste bad) - Watch for anemia, scours (dire), starvation
- Offer creep feed - to help reduce post- weaning growth lag
What is the immunization done w chemical castration? and what are the challenges
- GNRH immunization
–> stimulates hormone growth
–> limits size if testies - Challenges:
–> Expensive
–> Consumer perception
Things to do w starter pigs
- Ease weaning process
- move from complex weaning diets to dry, inexpexpenive feed - Minimize disease transfer
- wean early, move weaners to speparate, clean location - Use space and feed efficiently
when can newly weaned pigs start showing frowth lag?
- As much as 2 weeks
When are pigs weaned
21 d (4-9 kg)
When are pigs nursery pigs
6 - 8 weeks old (25kg)
When are pigs market weight?
16 - 17 weeks (115 kg)
Things to know about grower - finisher pigs
- fast lean growth (acceretion of muscle or lean meat in pigs body) results in:
- fast body weight gains
- Good feed efficiency
- High carcass lean yield - Feed cost (#1 factor)
- Reduce feed useage per unit of body weight gain
- Reduce feed price - Space
- optimjize amount of space per pig
- climate controlled
Things to look out for in transport to slaughter
- good handling
- includes: minizimizing stress, “fit” for transport, well bedded, temp- too cold frost bite, too hot = heat stress = pigs dont sweat
What is the grading scheme on pork
- grading schemes reward quantity not quality
What adds to the formula price of pork on thr market
- Direct to consumer
- Niche Markets
- Value added pork products (organic, naturally raised, etc)
What is Ractopamine
- Beta-agonist marketed as paylean in Canada
- promotes lean muscle gain
- Feed in diet, last few weeks before slaughter
- not a hormone
Are Canadian farms ractopamine free?
- all most all canadian pigs are
- certifiucation programs
- important for trade
- non-tariff trade barrier
What is Canadian Pork Excellence Programs?
- The national platform that covers three major components of on-farm programs: Tracability, food safety and animal care
What are quality assurance programs?
- demonstrate to consumers a stanadard of quality (food safety and animal care)
What does HACCP stand for
Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points
What is the goal of HACCP?
- Ensure food safety, eliminate food recalls
- preventive
- Science based polices
- Based on 7 principles
Challenge: Meat characteristics extremes of sensory meat quality
- DFD meat: Dark Firm Dry
- PSE meat: Pale Soft Exdative
- pH in muscle fat
- all due to stress, nutrition and genetics
Challenge Animal Health
- PEDv
- PRRS
- Foreign Animal Disease
What is PEDv
- Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus
- mortalitly cklose to 100% in young piglets
- Post weaning, illness but lower mortality
- Large economic losses, mental stress on producers
- First outbreak in 2014
What is PRRS
- Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory syndrome
- been in canada since mid 1990s
- highly contagious but herds can become less susceptible to severe illness
TWO MAIN SYMTOMS:
1. Reprodutive failure/anestrus and abortions,stillborn and mummified piglets
- Respiratory disease in pigs of any age
- High prevalence in Ontario
- Most costly disease in N. America
- over $600 million in USA
- > 120 million in Canada - Ontario finisher pigs million/year
- Herd mangement:
- Vaccine (limited success)
- Creating “PRRS-free” herd certifications
- Prevention- early identification, biosecurity
Foreign Animal Disease
- African swine fever
- Foot & mouth disease
- Usually highly infectious, and usally high mortality/morbidity
- Federally reportable
- Control usally involves euthanasia
- Canada and other countries have surveillance for these diseases
African Swine Fever (ASF)
- Highly contagious, fatal viral disease, found in wild boar
- Non zoonotic, not a food safety concern
- Known to survive cooking (imported meats and animal feeds can spread virus)
- First domestic cases reported in 2007 Europe
- Created a short fall in global supply
- No cases in Canada or USA
What does ASF stand for?
African Swine Fever
Biosecurity on farms
- Critical to health, safety, welfare of pigs
- Shower in, shower out, plastic boots and coveralls
- Truck wash
What is the Canadian Swine Health Network
National Farm-Level Biosecurty Protocols
What are the challenges with wild pigs
- Destory crops and ecologically sensitive areas
- Huge biosecurity risk
- Highly reproductively efficient
Name some sustainability within the pork industry
- Manure:
- Phosphorus
- Methane - Emissions Intensity:
- Emissions per KG of meat produced
What are the main challenges facing the Canadian pork industry
- Contagious diseases
- Competitiveness on world markets
- Animal welfare
- Proper Assessment of Quality & Value
- Tend toward miltiple site production & intergrated pork production
