Underperformance

Question 1

What accounts for 70% of costs on pig farms?

Answer 1

Feed

Question 2

What is the estimate for food wasted on farm?

Answer 2

5-20% of feed is wasted on farm

Question 3

How is food wasted on farm?

Answer 3

Physically: spillage, down the slats, trodden on, pests

Nutritionally: wrong feed, wrong feed scale, contamination, water, not enough, wrong flows poor access

Environmentally: severe climate, too hot or cold, aggressions,crowding, dusty, bad layout

Question 4

What is phase feeding in pigs?

Answer 4

Matching requirements to stage of growth. Lean growth at lease cost.

Question 5

What is the importance of efficient feeding?

Answer 5

If potential lean growth is to be fully supported, then the amoun of protein relative to energy in the diet should be reduced with increasing live weight.

Too little protein will fail to exploit lean growth potential, too much protein with reduce growth and increase nitrogen excretion.

Question 6

What factor affects pork tenderness?

Answer 6

Growth rate

Question 7

What are the 3 types mortality evaluated at pig farms?

Answer 7

Pre weaning mortality, post weaning mortality, and adult mortality

Question 8

What is the normal time to first suckling by a piglet after birth?

Answer 8

25-35 min

Question 9

True or false: piglets establish teat order by 4 to 6 hours

Answer 9

True

Question 10

What is the percentage of reliability that. Piglet with go to the same teat?

Answer 10

About 90%

Question 11

True or false: milk ejection is induced by the rear teats on a sow?

Answer 11

False: the front teats cause milk ejection

Question 12

What are the characteristics of normal piglets?

Answer 12

On their feet with in 1-2 min after being born
Suckling with in 2-5 min
Sleep between meals,
Don’t need much care
First burns get the most colostrum

Question 13

What are the characteristics of weak piglets?

Answer 13

Last in the litter/ get less colostrum
Low birth weight
Trouble competing
Oxygen deprived
IUGR head shape

Question 14

How can you help weak piglets?

Answer 14

Help them suckle
Stomach feed colostrum, or milk replacer
Inject glucose intraperitoneal.

Make sure feed and injections are warm 35C

Question 15

Why is it important to keep piglets warm after birth( 35 degrees C for 1 week then 25 C)

Answer 15

Born with no subcutaneous fat, no brown fat, and no hair, hey have limited capacity for gluconeogenesis, and can suffer from hypoglycemia with in 15-20 hours with out adequate suckling. Takes then 1-2 hours to raise their temp, after eating

Question 16

What are ways to measure pig underperformance?

Answer 16

Feed/ weight

Weight and days to slaughter

Abbott our payments

Use a program: BPHS

Question 17

What is the difference between production and productivity?

Answer 17

Productivity =the total value of output per unit time/ total value of inputs per unit of time

Question 18

Why is it important to identify the resources used when evaluating performance?

Answer 18

The estimate of output per unit of the scarce resource should be used to measure performance

Question 19

What is a technical optimum?

Answer 19

The maximum amount of production

Question 20

What is required for an economic optimum?

Answer 20

Maximized profits from the difference between the value of the inputs and the value of the out puts

Question 21

What is profit?

Answer 21

Profit is the difference between the total revenue and the total costs.

Question 22

What is a break even point?

Answer 22

Total revenue is equal to total costs

Question 23

Where on a graph of total revenue and total cost is max profit ?

Answer 23

Profit is maximized where the slope of the total revenue line is equal to the slope of the total cost line

Question 24

What is an economic optimum?

Answer 24

The maximum profit

Question 25

At what age, height and weight should the first service be for a dairy heifer?

Answer 25

First service at 15 months, weight 375kg, height 132cm

Hopefully first calve at 24 months

Question 26

Describe the calving score

Answer 26

0-no hand touches the calf
1- hand touches but no rope
2-rope is used and gentle pull
3- rope is used and a hard pull
4- c section

Question 27

What is a live birth rate?

Answer 27

The % of calves that are born alive and survive for 24 hours

Question 28

When analyzing calving records what should be evaluated?

Answer 28

Separate heifers and cows
Analyze but bull/sire
Analyze by sex of calf
Analyze by Operator

Question 29

When should you intervene in a calving?

Answer 29

Cow - 1 hr
Heifer- 1.5hr
Don’t be afraid to wait

Question 30

What should be done at the birth of a calf?

Answer 30

Immediately dip the navel then again after 24 hours

6 liters of colostrum in the first 12 hours after birth, 6 pint at 6 hours, absorption is better from dam or in dams presence

Question 31

How should colostrum be collected?

Answer 31

From the 1st and 2nd milking into a stainless steel bucket, check quality with a colostrometer, cattle into 2L containers
Store at 4 c for 24 hours or freeze immediatley

Question 32

What are objective ways to monitor colostrum intakes?

Answer 32

Serum samples from calves and look at total protein or zinc sulphate turbidity test

Question 33

What should the total protein in calve be?

Answer 33

55 g/l or 5.5 g/dL

Question 34

What is objective when weaning calves?

Answer 34

Maximize concentration intake by the time of weaning, if they are starved into eating concentrate do not wean

Question 35

What is the 120 day in calf rate?

Answer 35

The % of cows pregnant at 120 days post calving

Question 36

What is the 210 not in calf rate?

Answer 36

The % of cows not preganant between 210 days post calving

Question 37

What is the biggest lost in dairy herd?

Answer 37

A heifer which leaves the herd before the end of its first lactation