T.P. Keegan

Comparison of heart girth or flank-to-flank measurements for predicting sow weight

In previous Swine Day Reports we have demonstrated that feeding sows in gestation on the basis of body weight and backfat thickness is more precise and economical than methods of feeding based on visual observation of body-condition score. To simplify the weight and backfat procedure, we have estimated sow weight based on the correlation between heart girth (circumference of the sow measured behind the front legs) and weight. The objective of this study was to determine if a different sow measurement, flank to flank, would be as accurate as the heart-girth measurement. Sows were weighed and measured behind the front legs for heart girth or in front of the back legs for flank-to-flank measurement, and regression equations to estimate sow weight were developed. A total of 605 sows from three farms were used for the girth measurement. A total of 306 sows from two farms were used for the flank-to-flank measurement. The heart-girth equation was: weight, lb = 21.54 × heart girth, in – 684.76. The flank-to-flank measurement was: weight, lb = 26.85 × flank-to-flank, in – 627.93. The average residual was 30.8 lb for the heart girth measurement and 31.4 lb for the flank-to-flank measurement. Both of these measurements provide a reasonable weight estimate that can be used to determine weight categories for more accurately feeding gestating sows. (Key Words, Heart Girth, Pigs, Prediction Equations, Sows, Weight.)

Evaluation of Hemicell® on growth performance of late nursery pigs.

Summary A total of 276 pigs (initially 21.9 lb) was used to determine the effects of added Hemicell® on growth performance. Hemicell ® is a patented fermentation product of Bacillus lentus. The active ingredient in the fermentation product is β-mannanase. However, other enzymes such as amylase, xylanase, cellulases, and α-galactosidase also are present. It is claimed that Hemicell ® degrades β-mannan in feed, thus, removing its effects as an antinutritive factor in swine diets. Dietary treatments were arranged as a 2 x 3 factorial, with or without 0.05% Hemicell ® , in diets with 3 levels of energy density (1,388, 1,488, 1,588 ME, kcal/lb). The 100 kcal increments were achieved by the addition of wheat bran or soy oil to a corn-soybean meal based diet. The addition of Hemicell ® to the diets, regardless of energy level, did not lead to an improvement in growth performance in these late nursery pigs. Increasing energy density of the diet, however, resulted in an improved ADG and F/G.

Comparision of antimicrobial alternatives in irradiated diets for nursery pigs

Previous research at Kansas State University indicated that irradiation can effectively reduce the bacteria concentration in nursery diets. Therefore, we hypothesized that eliminating bacteria in the feed via irradiation would provide a model to determine the effectiveness of antimicrobial alternatives. In a 27d growth assay, 330 weanling pigs (13.2 lb and 18 ± 2 d of age, PIC) were fed one of 9 experimental diets: 1) control diet with no antimicrobials, 2) irradiated control diet with no antimicrobials, and the irradiated control diet with added: 3) carbadox (50 g/ton), 4) Probios (1.6% from d 0 to 14 and 0.8% from d 14 to 21), 5) BioSaf (0.3%), 6) Biomate Yeast Plus (0.1%), 7) Bio-MosTM (0.3%), 8) Bio-Plus 2B (0.05%), or 9) LactoSacc (0.2%). BioSaf, Biomate Yeast Plus, and Lacto Sacc are all concentrated forms of selected live yeast cells while Bio-MosTM is a mannanoligosaccharide derived from yeast. Probios is a form of lactic acid bacteria and Bio Plus 2B contains two bacillus strains. All antimicrobials were added after diets were irradiated.

Use of dried distiller’s grains with soluble for swine diets

Two experiments were conducted to determine the energy value of DDGS. In Experiment 1, 360 pigs (each initially 38.5 lb) were used in a 22 d growth assay. Treatments consisted of five corn-soybean meal-based diets with added wheat bran or soy oil to provide five different energy densities ranging from 1,390 to 1,604 Kcal/lb ME. The objective was to use responses to the wide range of energy densities to calculate an energy value for two sources of DDGS.

The optimal true ileal digestible lysine and threonine requirement for nursery pigs between 25 and 55 lb

A total of 360 pigs (initially 22.2 lb and 31 d of age) was used in a 21-d growth assay. This trial was conducted as a combination of two separate trials in order to simultaneously examine both the true ileal digestible lysine and true ileal digestible threonine requirement and determine the appropriate threonine:lysine ratio. The first part of the trial consisted of five treatments with increasing dietary lysine (1.0. 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4% true digestible lysine). The second part consisted of five treatments with increasing dietary threonine (0.66, 0.72, 0.78, 0.84 and 0.91% true ileal digestible threonine). The highest level of both lysine and threonine (1.4% and 0.91% respectively) served as a positive control, and this diet was combined as one treatment to give a total of nine treatments. Average daily gain increased to 1.3% true ileal digestible lysine, and then plateaued, while ADG increased to 0.78% true ileal digestible threonine, suggesting a threonine:lysine ratio of 60% for ADG. Increasing dietary lysine improved F/G linearly through 1.4% true ileal digestible lysine, while F/G improved up to a level of 0.84% true ileal digestible threonine. Using a level of 1.4% true ileal digestible lysine, a threonine:lysine ratio of approximately 60% is implicated for F/G.

Comparision of antibiotics on growth performance of weanling pigs in a commerical environment

A total of 320 weanling pigs (10.7 lb and 14 ± 3 d of age, PIC) was used to determine the effects of antibiotics and an antibiotic alternative on nursery pig performance. Pigs were fed one of 5 experimental diets: 1) control with no antimicrobials; 2) carbadox (50 g/ton); 3) Denagard/CTC (35 g/ton DenagardTM, 400 g/ton Chlortetracycline); 4) NeoTerramycin (140 g/ton Neomycin Sulfate, 140 g/ton Oxytetracycline HCl); 5) Bio Mos (0.3%, mannanoligosaccharide). Overall (d 0 to 31 post-weaning), pigs fed the diet containing Denagard/CTC had the greatest (P<0.05) ADG and ADFI compared to pigs fed all other treatment diets. Pigs fed the diet containing Neo-Terramycin had greater (P<0.05) ADG compared to pigs fed the control diet or diets containing Carbadox or Bio Mos. In addition, pigs fed the diet containing Neo-Terramycin had greater (P<0.05) ADFI compared to pigs fed the control diet or the diet containing Bio Mos. In conclusion, the addition of carbadox and Bio Mos did not result in improved growth performance compared to pigs fed the control diet. However, improvements were seen in average daily gain and daily feed intake with the addition of Denagard/CTC and Neo-Terramycin. Commercial operations need to determine which feed additives improve nursery pig performance in their individual production systems.

Interactive effects between pantothenic acid and ractopamine HCl (Paylean®) on growth performance and carcass characteristics of growing-finishing pigs.

Summary were randomly selected from the 156 initial pigs and were moved into individual stainless- steel metabolism creates. Pigs remained on their respective PA treatments, with or without RAC (10 ppm), for 8 d, were moved out of the collection chambers, and were fed the same diets from d 8 to 28. There were no PA × RAC interactions (P<0.05) observed. Added PA had no effect (P<0.05) on N excretion, N retention, or biological value (BV). Fecal N excretion was greater (P<0.01) for pigs fed RAC, compared with that of the pigs not fed RAC, but urinary N decreased (P<0.01) for the pigs fed RAC, resulting in no difference in total excreted N. Adding RAC increased (P<0.04) BV. No PA (P < 0.05) response was observed for ADG or F/G, and RAC increased (P<0.001) ADG and F/G from d 0 to 28.

Evaluation of different soy protein concentrate sources on growth performance of weanling pigs.

Three experiments were conducted using 486 weanling pigs (216 in Experiment 1; 210 in Experiment 2; 60 in Experiment 3) to determine the effects of different soy protein concentrate (SPC) sources on growth performance. Soy protein concentrate source 1 is dried with a torus disk following the concentration of soy proteins. This drying procedure will generate some degree of heat and possibly mechanical forces somewhat similar to extrusion processing (Soycomil P, ADM). Soy protein concentrate source 2 is dried by a different process, and then it is moist extruded (Profine E, Central Soya). Therefore, the objective of our study was to determine the relative feeding value of the different SPC sources compared with a complex diet containing milk and other specialty proteins (no soy protein), or a diet containing 40% soybean meal.

Comparision of antimicrobial alternatives in diets for nursery pigs

A total of 720 weanling pigs (12.8 lb and 18 ± 2 d of age, PIC) was used in two trials to determine the effectiveness of antimicrobial alternatives in diets for nursery pigs. Pigs were fed one of 8 experimental diets: 1) Control with no antibiotics or antimicrobial alternatives, 2) carbadox (50 g/ton), 3) Probios® (1.6% from d 0 to 14 and 0.8% from d 14 to 21), 4) BioSaf® (0.3%), 5) Biomate Yeast Plus (0.1%), 6) Bio-MosTM(0.3%), 7) BioPlus 2B (0.05%), or 8) LactoSacc (0.2%). BioSaf, Biomate® Yeast Plus, and Lacto Sacc are all concentrated forms of selected live yeast cells, while Bio-MosTM is a mannanoligosaccharide derived from yeast. Probios is a form of lactic acid bacteria and Bio Plus 2B contains two bacillus strains.

The effects of poultry meal source on growth performance of weanling pigs.

A total of 350 pigs (PIC, initially 19.7 lb and 22 ± 2 d of age) was used to evaluate the effects of select menhaden fishmeal and stabilized poultry meal source on growth performance of nursery pigs. Seven dietary treatments were fed from d 4 to 19 after weaning. Diets included a control with no specialty protein products and diets with 2.5% or 5% fishmeal, or two different sources of poultry meal (low or high ash content). All the diets were formulated on an equal lysine basis. The poultry meal replaced the lysine provided by fishmeal with inclusion rates of 2.9% and 5.8% for low ash and 3.1% and 6.2% for high ash poultry meal. The low ash and high ash poultry meal sources had ash concentrations of 9% and 13%, respectively.