Piglets alive at day five: Denmark's key to acceptable performance
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Denmark aims for an annual sow production of over 30 weaners but sets lower piglet mortality as an equally important target.
by NORMAN DUNN
Denmark's swine sector policy makers, the national Pig Research Institute and the Ministry of Agriculture, backed by university research departments, have decreed that selection for still-larger litters from the national Danbred hybrid should continue. In 2012, average production per sow is expected to be between 29 and 30 weaned. The born-alive-per-litter figure in 2011 was 14.8, with 12.7 weaned.
And the top 25 per cent of Danish herds in 2011 managed 13.6 weaned per sow with 14 a realistic figure for 2012, according to Niels-Peder Nielsen from the Pig Research Centre. He says that genetic progress is adding a third of a piglet per year to the weaned total. "We aim to keep increasing this factor because the supporting skills: mothering abilities of sows, farrowing and fostering management, are all developing at the same time."
But Nielsen adds that this progress should not be accompanied by a parallel increase in piglet mortality.
"Currently the average figure in Danish herds for mortality before weaning – including stillborn piglets – is between 23 and 24 per cent. Our target here is to reduce this to 20 per cent and we are steering towards this with a new selection formula: piglets alive at day five, code named LP5."
The top 25 per cent of commercial herds in Denmark are already well past the (once) magical 30 weaners per sow and year. These managed 31.5 in 2011.
And the herds themselves have been growing rapidly, reports Niels-Peder Nielsen. "We have around 4,000 hog producers in Denmark now. Twenty-five years ago we had close to 15,000. The surviving businesses run breeding herds averaging around 160 sows. In fact, 65 per cent of sow herds in Denmark now comprise 500 or more breeding females. Those deciding to stay in business are mainly planning to double sow numbers in the next years to 1,000 – 1,200 sows. And the farms already at this stage are aiming for herds of 3,000 sows."
The reason for this leapfrogging expansion? Jan. 1, 2013 was the deadline for implementation of the EU complete ban on stalls for gestating sows. Changing over to loose group housing for the females between servicing and farrowing means more space is required and the easiest solution for most farms seems to be to utilize the present buildings for farrowing department and service centre and build a completely new barn for the gestating sows. This policy allows room for doubling the herd.
In 2011, 29.1 million slaughter pigs were produced in Denmark. An increase of 21 per cent in just eight years. On top of this, some 800,000 Danbred hybrid breeding gilts were produced in 2011 with a little over 50 per cent of these exported all over the world. Over 90 per cent of all pork produced in Denmark is also exported. Niels-Peder Nielsen reckons that, 10 years ahead, only 2,000 hog farms will be operating in his home country. But he also expects production of slaughter pigs to be even higher than today, a prognosis that means Denmark's swine sector future lies with mega-herds of very productive sows.
Only 10 per cent of hog barn exhaust air needs to be filtered
A new design for forced ventilation swine barns developed by the Danish Pig Research Centre not only effectively reduces barn ammonia and odour levels, it also saves energy costs through reducing air flow requirements by 10 to 15 per cent. The strategy of the Danish "point suction ventilation," as described by research scientist Malene Jorgensen, revolves around some 10 per cent of ventilation air being drawn through the manure passages under floor by strategically positioned suction points. This air stream picks up most of the odour and pollutants while the rest of the air circulating above remains relatively clean in this respect. Danish research shows that the 10 per cent of air collected under floor usually takes with it 50 per cent of odours, 70 per cent of the in-house ammonia gases and as much as 90 per cent of hydrogen sulphide emissions.
"The remaining 90 per cent of ventilation air circulating amongst the swine can then be directly emitted through conventional roof vents," explains Jorgensen. "The under floor air with its heavy burden of pollutants is then channeled through biofilters before release."
Jorgensen points out that the new system reduces air purification costs by up to 40 per cent in commercial farm trials. "Improved ventilation efficiency keeps in-house temperatures down by 1-2 C degrees on average compared with conventional systems where all exhaust air has to be filtered. So far, this is saving 10 to 15 per cent of energy costs."
Apart from the under floor suction points, the barn ventilation follows conventional Danish design with air intake at the eaves into the above ceiling air space. The fresh air then filters down through the ceiling into the swine living quarters.
Free farrowing: the pressure mounts in Europe
"Europe has legislated for overall loose housing with gestating sows as from January 2013. We're pretty certain that the next step will be a ban on farrowing crates." Speaking is John Kongsgaard, export manager for leading swine equipment manufacturer Jyden Bur from Denmark. Free farrowing, as it is often called nowadays, is really nothing new in some parts of Europe: Sweden legislated for the concept over a decade ago. Norway is also a leader in this respect, with no confinement of the nursing sow normally allowed. "We've been working on free farrowing designs for over 10 years now and send equipment to both these markets," says Kongsgaard.
But keeping piglet deaths down when the mother sow is not confined in a crate is a continual challenge and it's only now that the Danish Pig Research Centre and Jyden have got the results that signal the way ahead for widespread commercial application in the rest of Europe. Their Jyden JLF10 model claims to produce the same average weaned per sow figures as conventionally crated nursing systems. Building costs are higher though. "We need more space for the sow: a 3 x 2 metre pen minimum," explains Kongsgaard. "The pen walls obviously have to be a good bit higher. Sow and litter management has to be sharper too."
And the developers have also had to make compromises with the original concept of complete freedom. Niels-Peder Nielsen from the Danish Pig Research Centre reckons that with most sows there'll have to be some sort of restraint for the first two or three days. "This is when 70 to 80 per cent of the crushed piglets total are actually killed. We've got to think a little bit further than welfare for the sows. We should also consider welfare for the piglets." And, of course, welfare for the stock person is another reason for at least some sow restraint in the farrowing pen. Handling piglets in a pen with an unrestrained – and understandably very angry – mother sow is not without risk for the humans involved. In fact, this danger to staff is used as a main argument against the acceptance of free farrowing pens in neighbouring Germany.
Sweden has also agreed that there should be some means of initial restraint. The design concept, currently being tested on three commercial farms with another 1,200-sow herd, joining the test group in January 2013, therefore has a detachable gate system for keeping sow and litter apart for the first days. The Jyden design also features a sloping board on one of the walls, designed to allow the sow to slide down comparatively slowly into the nursing position. This is a safety feature by now adopted in most free farrowing systems to allow piglets beneath the sow more time to escape.
The Jyden design includes a covered creep area for the piglets on the feed passage side for easy – and safer – stock person access to the piglets. The design won an innovation prize at northern Europe's leading livestock exhibition, Agromek, in November 2012.
And so did another free farrowing design, the WelCon system, marketed in Denmark by equipment manufacturer BoPil and developed in Austria by Schauer Agrotronic. The 6.5 m2 WelCon pen also offers sow restraint possibilities. But in this case, the approach is not to restrain the sow during suckling but instead only while the piglets are being handled. Protecting the human staff is the priority here. The WelCon design makes sow restraint an integral part of the pen by incorporating a solid-walled sow feeding box. Sow access and exit from this crate is normally via free-swinging doors. But these can be locked from outside the pen to restrain the sow when required. The WelCon pen also features a strongly-built covered piglet creep on the feeding passage side. A stout railing just 10 cm above floor level running along one wall and curving across a corner of the pen is designed to encourage the sow to lie in the ideal nursing position. This gives the piglets clear access to mother's milk, but also leaves a safety escape passage for piglets behind the sow.
Less aggression in hog pens? It's child's play!
European law stipulates some sort of attention-grabber for hogs to play with in their pens. The thinking is that this allows the animals to express their natural rooting and foraging instincts. And there's no shortage of at least anecdotal evidence that interesting objects with this aim – from loose straw through balls and timber posts to sisal ropes – keep the animals occupied and their tendencies away from biting and bullying. Many solutions along these lines claim better performance as a direct result.
But research at the University of Kassel in Germany indicates that most of the traditional swine "playthings" fail to keep the animals interested for long. "The interest of hogs for chains, balls or tires is nearly always short term," says a research report, noting that the law in the EU actually requires playthings or materials that continually stimulate the animals' interest.
Currently under test on commercial farms is a concept claimed to be more suitable than anything so far. This features the so-called "rooting cone." As the name suggests, it encourages the rooting movements as seen by hogs in nature. It's a simple design featuring a tough polyurethane ball on a stout spring – an idea actually borrowed from a Scandinavian furniture designer that produces larger versions of the idea for children to play with.
The hog version has a 10 cm long spring and this is bolted to the flooring, pen walls, or, in one current trial, onto the back surface of feeding troughs. University of Kassel researchers, developing the rooting cone in cooperation with the plastic technology firm Internorm, have videoed over 6,000 hogs in pens with the new concept to record its effect on the animals' behaviour. The influence could certainly be described as "calming," according to the Kassel scientists. In fact, even with a commercial trial as large as this one, not a single serious act of aggression with subsequent injuries was observed.
Versions with a series of plastic balls on the spring attachment are also being tested with substantial success reported. A leading hog equipment manufacturer has been granted a licence and commercial production is expected to start in spring of 2013. BP