Feeding and Social Behaviour of Finishing Pigs in Fully Slatted Large Groups
Smaller group sizes have been studied much more than larger ones which are now more common in North America. Pigs may adapt differently in large social groups which could alter their behaviours and feeding activity. Changes in behaviour could lead to lower productivity and welfare...
Effects of Housing Finishing Pigs in Varying Group Sizes and Space Allocations
Crowding has been shown to have a negative impact on welfare and productivity of pigs in small groups. Large groups of pigs may be better at using space more efficiently. Space requirements were assessed in large and small groups to see how the pigs were...
Response of Growing Pigs to Graded Levels of Flaxseed
As a way to diversify rations and reduce cost or to alter the final pork product, alternative ingredients for pig diets are often investigated. Flaxseed is of interest as the amount of acreage for flax is increasing so the quantity available will rise. A nutrient...
Developing Weaning Pig Programs Based on Age and Weight
Needs for less antibiotic usage, lower costs, improved performance and reduced variability make feeding the newly weaned pig challenging. Diets were monitored on pigs of different weight and age to see what they respond to better in order to reduce body weight variability after the...
Interaction of Net Energy Concentration and Feeding Level in Weaned Pigs
Growth is restricted in weaned pigs due to energy intake possibly because of restrictions in gut capacity. Energy intake and growth should increase when dietary energy concentrations increase, but recent findings do not support this. Weanling pig performance was not improved because feed intake declined...
Increasing Diet Tallow and Dietary Energy on Performance
The most expensive nutrient in pig diets is energy. Previous research has shown that diets with differing energy concentration led to equivalent performance in pigs. Dietary energy was investigated regarding its impact on carcass quality, uniformity of growth and its relationship to pig performance. Grower-finisher...
Effect of Wheat Quality and Xylanase Supplementation on Weaned Pigs
Variation in nutritional quality of feed is common and impacts the pigs performance. Protein and fibre content influence nutritional quality between wheat samples. A fibre degrading enzyme supplement may reduce quality variation of wheat on pig performance. The variation was partially reduced by xylanase supplementation...
Nutritional Value of Corn and Wheat Distillers Grain and Growth Performance
Increasing quantities of distiller's dried grains with solubles (DDGS) are becoming available for livestock rations as the ethanol industry grows. The nutritional value of DDGS is not fully understood for swine. Generally, a higher concentration of nutrients such as protein, vitamins, fat, fibre and minerals...
Xylanase and Phytase Supplementation on Growth Performance of Grower Pigs
If nutrients bound by the arabinoxylan and phytate of wheat millrun could be released through enzyme supplementation, feed costs may decrease or nutrient intake may be enhanced. Larger inclusion rates of wheat millrun into swine diets could also be allowed while maintaining growth performance. Decreasing...
Nutritional Value of Zero-Tannin Faba Beans for Grower-Finisher Hogs
Zero-tannin faba beans are available in Alberta and so nutrient content and a performance study need to be completed in order to see if they may be a potential replacement to soybean meal in swine diets. Amino acid and energy digestibility, chemical characteristics, DE and...
Crowding Reduces Performance of Weanling Pigs
Floor space in a swine operation needs to be used efficiently in the aspects of space and pig performance. Many floor space experiments examine different group sizes on the same floor space which leads to confounding results due to groups size being a large variable....
Interaction Among Lactose, Plasma Proteins and Crowding in Weanlings
Current starter programs use lactose and porcine plasma as key ingredients. If antibiotic use in diet is restricted, these may become more important. Depending on age or weight of the pigs, these feed additives may have differential effects. This is compared to groups with different...