Eye on Europe: Three-week weaning or longer - which is best?
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
While most German producers favour the 21-day method, others find that 23.3 days offer the best results. Meanwhile, in Sweden the norm is nearer to five weeks
by NORMAN DUNN
Most swine breeders in Germany accept that weaning at three weeks brings an average of one or even two extra hogs per sow each year. But nowadays bigger litters – and therefore lighter piglets – mean increasing production costs for supporting 21-day weaning.
The result is that there are also many followers of 28-day weaning. That extra week adds at least another kilogram to piglet liveweight because this period is when creep feed consumption really kicks-off. Based on German average performances, this can mean the difference between weaning at around five to six kilograms liveweight and seven kilograms or more.
Still, production results from the North Rhine Westphalia Chamber of Agriculture (2007) showed the best performances from sows were found on farms where the suckling period had been screwed down to an average 23. 3 days. This is achieved by the top 25 per cent of farms in the state (118 herds) with an average 11.92 born alive per litter and 24.93 weaned per sow per year.
Further north, swine producers don't have the choice of three weeks weaning. In Denmark and Sweden, for example, four weeks suckling is the legal minimum. Danish Pig Production (DPP), the national research and advisory organization, has even looked at possible advantages in five-week weaning. In a multi-farm trial in 2006, it found that sows tended not to lose weight or condition during the extra fifth week, and weaners were naturally heavier. There was no difference in average litter size at weaning. Later weaners also proved healthier in this instance.
But the disadvantages of fewer farrowings per year and higher creep feed requirements meant the five-week weaner system left a slightly lower gross margin. DPP researchers also noted that the later-weaned litters tended to be less uniform in liveweight by the time they had to leave the sow.
Sweden has a pig production sector that is a European leader for daily liveweight gain, averaging around 880 grams per day from 30 kilogram liveweight to slaughter. Piglets weaned per litter averaged 10.5 with 22.8 hogs finished per sow on average in 2008 and the best 25 per cent managing 25.
Barbro Mattsson, advisor with Sweden's national production organization Svenska Pig, reports that weaning is nearer to five weeks in her country. "Because of the production system prevalent on our farms we, in fact, wean at 33-34 days and have done so for the past two decades," says Mattsson.
"We like to see piglets with a much higher weaning weight than in the south. We look for an average of around10 kilograms liveweight and even 10.5 to 11 kilograms on very good farms."
Where every swine herd is checked by 'cruelty' inspectors
Full access to hog farms by independent animal welfare inspectors checking for space per animal, daylight provision and good management practice is behind a new label for quality pork in Scotland. Leading British supermarket chain ASDA is the first to list the resulting assured quality pork under the label "Specially Selected Pork Approved by Scottish SPCA."
The SPCA, or Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, is an independent charity with its own force of inspectors which, up until the new scheme, was generally not permitted to go onto farms without permission. The scheme is voluntary for farmers and it is reported that all 230 hog farmers registered as quality meat (QMS) producers in the country are participating.
QMS chief executive Uel Morton points out that the development is an important one for hog producers because it represents one of the only ways of giving the public reassurance about the welfare situation on farms.
Often, he adds, consumers can see for themselves through the fence what is going on in cattle or sheep farms. But the strict biosecurity in place for hog production units means this cannot happen with swine. The independent Scottish SPCA inspectors can act as the "eyes and ears" of the wider public and provide complete independent assurance on welfare standards.
Composting: A cheaper alternative for hog manure?
In intensive hog production areas, strict limits on manure application per acre have farmers continually searching for cost-effective solutions.
In Austria and Germany, many hog producers wanting to expand have turned to producing biogas from the manure. Cost for a biogas plant with generators running on manure from a 200-sow, farrow-to-finish enterprise can run to C$580,000.
In France, however, a growing number of farmers in the intensive swine production region of Brittany have opted for a full sewage plant per hog farm. Just like the human sewage system, dried solids are sold and eventually the liquid proportion is pure enough to be run into waterways. Capital costs here are as much as C$380,000 for the same size of unit.
But there is a cheaper way being developed for larger-scale hog production units. This involves simple composting and subsequent sale of the compost as crop manure. In Brittany, one system is being tried out with a 190-sow rearing and feeding unit. The cost is around C$230,000 for a simple set-up comprising specially built barn and mixing machinery.
Here, around 140 tonnes of wheat straw are bought in each year and spread in swaths, 23 tonnes at a time, in the barn. A special tractor-powered mixer with attached flexible slurry pipeline from the farm manure tank mixes slurry and straw in the same operation. In a year, 2,000 cubic metres of pig manure are composted in this way with a batch finished every 50 days.
First costings indicate that there's not much of a profit to be made with this system. But the manure is at least consumed and produces a compost (seven kilograms N, six of P and 10 of K per tonne) that sells currently for the equivalent of C$14 per tonne to local vegetable farmers.
Interest charges on the buildings and equipment, plus the fairly high labour and fuel input for mixing the compost, means that this business is still paying out around C$6 for every tonne of manure treated.
In the Netherlands, researchers at the University of Wageningen agree that composting hog manure has a future. They've adopted this approach as part of the University's "Hercules" hog production concept. The aim here is the establishment of cost-efficient pork production while reducing climate-changing emissions from the process.
Manure treatment starts with immediate separation of liquid and solids aimed at keeping ammonia emissions down. The solids are then composted in an enclosed chamber so that no emissions escape into the atmosphere, with all exhaust air passed through a chemical/biological air scrubber.
A million dollars for free farrowing
Welfare-based alternatives to conventional farrowing pens are to be developed in a government-funded, C$1.2 million three-year research program by scientists from the University of Newcastle and the Scottish Agricultural Colleges (SAC) in consultation with animal welfare and swine industry groups.
The impulse has come from the belief that public demand, already responsible for banning sow gestation stalls in Britain 14 years before the European Union ban for 2013, will soon put pressure for a stop to sow farrowing-crate use.
A prototype layout has already been established – the so-called "PigSAFE" (Piglet and Sow Alternative Farrowing Environment) pen. The development is aimed at optimizing welfare and economic performance with the design intended to meet the biological needs of sows and piglets as well as offering farmer safety and ease of management.
Layout involves a basic suckling area with sloping walls against which the sow can slide more slowly to ground level for suckling to reduce the risk of piglets being trapped and killed. An open feeding crate for the sow is included at one side of the pen. The sow can be locked into this for inspection or treatments. There's a separate slatted dunging area. A heated creep is also part of the basic design.
Around this prototype, a series of different design combinations is being tested with "new build" and "conversion" scenarios being put on trial. Also being reviewed are other important aspects of farrowing in the new designs, such as required space and nesting material. Approximately 400 litters are being born and raised to weaning in the various designs and are being closely observed and recorded for effects on sow welfare, piglet health, welfare and performance.
At Newcastle University, the welfare farrowing pen project team is led by Prof. Sandra Edwards. "Confinement of the sow is of continuing welfare concern to the general public," she says. "It is increasingly apparent that consumers want a less restrictive alternative and some major retailers are already specifying this in purchasing contracts."
Edwards says the aim of the project is to provide a commercially viable alternative to the conventional system, but one that would be acceptable in terms of capital cost, piglet survival and management ease.
Following extensive trials, the final PigSAFE designs will be tested during a commercial uptake phase where sow and piglet performance as well as economic implications will be compared with performances from conventional farrowing layouts on the same farms.
Hog feeding – where management and marketing make all the difference
Efficient feed conversion and well-honed marketing skills are what really count in squeezing the most profit from a hog feeding enterprise. These criteria are even more important than first class average daily weight gain figures. So say advisers helping the 278 recorded feeding units (average feeding places per farm: 997) in Germany's most northern state, Schleswig-Holstein.
In 2007/2008, the best 25 per cent of farms achieved a feed conversion ratio of 2.83 while the lowest-performing 25 per cent managed only 3.03. Average conversion ratio for all farms was 2.91:1.
Feed buying is naturally open to the vagaries of the market, but a long-term buying strategy can help, especially in the present situation, according to the Schleswig-Holstein advisers.
Marketing also means selling the slaughter animals the right way. Crucial here is keeping within the weight limits. The records for last year in this area of Germany showed that only the best 25 per cent of farms kept over- and under-weight hogs in shipments down below 10 per cent over the year.
As far as animal health was concerned, the best 25 per cent had over one per cent fewer losses than the worst and were more than 0.5 per cent better than the total average figure for the state (3.64 per cent).
Gross margins per slaughter hog for all Schleswig-Holstein feeders last year averaged C$30.93 with the best 25 per cent making $42.90 per hog. BP