Modern Pig Production Technology: A Practical Guide to Profit

Cover......Page 1
Copyright......Page 3
Contents......Page 4
About the book......Page 6
The Origins of this Book......Page 8
Motivating People......Page 9
About the author......Page 11
Apologia......Page 12
Acknowledgements......Page 14
Dedication......Page 17
1 Creep Feeding science – The Latest......Page 18
Creep feeding is now essential......Page 19
Modern Piglet Feed Design......Page 20
Creep Feed Intakes......Page 26
Managing The Creep Feeding Process......Page 28
The ‘Three-Threes’ Approach......Page 31
Creep Feeders......Page 32
Placing The Creep Feed Dispenser
......Page 35
Creep areas – how much space?......Page 37
Imprinting......Page 40
Summary
......Page 42
The problem and its cost......Page 44
General Factors......Page 46
Weaner or ‘Junior’ Gilts......Page 48
Flushing......Page 49
Stimulation, not Stress......Page 51
Sows
......Page 52
Practical Advice......Page 53
Litter scatter, an under-used littersize check on many farms......Page 56
Herd Age Profile – don’t get caught out......Page 57
Repeats (Returns to Service)......Page 58
Genetics......Page 59
References......Page 62
So Birthweights are important......Page 64
The Problem of ‘Average Birthweight’......Page 67
Two suggestions worth exploring......Page 68
A bonus works wonders !......Page 70
References......Page 71
The Extent of the Problem......Page 72
Why it pays to spend, spend, spend on the Link Feed......Page 76
A poorly understood equation......Page 78
Do the sums......Page 79
What Happens in the Gut at Weaning?......Page 80
What often happens when we remove the sow at weaning ?......Page 82
What happens then ?......Page 83
Insufficient water......Page 84
Helping the weaner through this digestive impasse......Page 85
Feeding Method Must Be Correct......Page 87
Reducing Stress after Weaning......Page 95
Morning or Evening Weaning ?......Page 97
In Conclusion......Page 98
References......Page 101
5 Immunity - Everyone’s blind spot......Page 102
Improve Your Knowledge About Immunity......Page 103
A Confusing Paradox - Understanding High And Low Immune Shields......Page 104
But for sows it is different......Page 105
Action Plan to Improve your Pig Herd Immunity......Page 107
Colostrum
......Page 110
Colostrum Quality......Page 111
Speeding Up Farrowing......Page 114
Disease Profiling......Page 116
What does inadequate immunity cost?......Page 117
The situation in breeding sows......Page 118
Immunity in the Young Sow......Page 119
Immunity and heard age profile......Page 120
How To Keep The Lion`s Back High, Level And Long......Page 122
Immunity is compromised by too-rapid sow turnover......Page 123
But what is the cost?......Page 124
What happens when a Virus Strikes......Page 125
Don’t confuse Antigen with Antibody......Page 126
Three Options......Page 127
Matching diets to immune response – a nutritionist’s headache......Page 129
Can feed additives help with immunity ?......Page 130
References......Page 133
Stimulation......Page 134
So what does stress cost in performance terms?......Page 137
Stress and overstocking......Page 138
Stress and mixing pigs......Page 140
Two theories......Page 141
Farrowing and stress......Page 143
The stress audit......Page 144
A few experiences from 40 years of stress auditing......Page 145
Measuring and Monitoring Vital signs......Page 146
Can Stress Be Measured?......Page 147
So - Do Pigs Talk To You?......Page 148
Key Points......Page 150
Manipulable Materials......Page 152
7 Managing Today's Hyperprolific Gilts......Page 154
Choosing a gilt......Page 155
Some observations......Page 158
Suggestions For Ordering Gilts......Page 160
Questioning Salespeople......Page 162
Weaner gilts – a new trend......Page 163
Induction: Acclimatisation: Integration......Page 166
But why service at 240 days?......Page 173
Stimulating Gilts......Page 176
How do we reach these targets?......Page 177
Should you breed your own replacements?......Page 179
“ With your international experience, what breed do you think is best?”......Page 181
The Gilt Pool......Page 182
An interesting gilt pool exercise......Page 183
Managing The Gilt Pool......Page 184
Feeding the Modern Gilt......Page 185
A Birds Eye View of Gilt Feeding......Page 187
Re-Learning a new skill - nurse sows......Page 188
References......Page 192
8 Proper Biosecurity - What it really entails......Page 194
Does the ordinary farmer achieve these levels?......Page 195
Pre-cleaning paramount......Page 197
The Value of Proper Cleaning Down / Detergent Use......Page 199
Disinfection......Page 200
Sanitising the water lines......Page 202
Sanitising those water lines......Page 203
Air Fogging......Page 204
Limewash......Page 206
Why are modern peracetic acid/peroxygen disinfectants so effective against viruses in particular?......Page 207
Do you have to use peracetic acid/peroxygen disinfectants for everything?......Page 208
The costs of doing it properly......Page 209
Conclusions from this econometric exercise......Page 211
Vehicles and transport......Page 212
Finally - Have I Alarmed You? Good!......Page 215
References......Page 218
The problem (Mycotoxicosis)......Page 220
Why Does It Seem To Be Getting Worse?......Page 221
So What are Mycotoxins?......Page 222
How Do You Know if You Have a Mycotoxin Problem?......Page 224
The Immuno-Supressive Effect of Some Mycotoxins......Page 225
Does Bin Cleaning Work?......Page 228
So What Can The Farmer Do To Stop Mycotoxins from Getting on to his Farm, and to Lessen their Impact when they do?......Page 229
Masking......Page 230
Dealing with mycotoxins which ‘slip through the net......Page 232
That incredible absorbtive area of a leading mycotoxin absorbent!......Page 235
The Economic Damage Mycotoxins Cause......Page 236
…. And The Paybacks?......Page 237
References......Page 239
BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT SECTION......Page 242
New terms for business farmers......Page 244
Scope of this Section......Page 245
Why the Need for New Measurements ?......Page 246
How The New Terminology helps the Farmer......Page 248
So What’s Wrong With The Existing Terminology ?......Page 249
The New Terminology......Page 253
Summary – Points About The New Terminology......Page 273
References and Further Reading......Page 274
Errors Common to Most Pig Producers......Page 276
What makes a good pig manager?......Page 279
Efficient Use of Labour – Yourself......Page 282
Some home truths for pig managers......Page 284
The Team Spirit / ‘Esprit de Corps’......Page 286
Manhours per sow, not sows per man!......Page 287
Who decides what on the pig farm?......Page 288
Motivating Pig farm Workers......Page 290
The difficult question of pay......Page 295
Training......Page 300
Reference......Page 302
The Family Farm Has A Future......Page 304
Experience......Page 305
A Partnership Checklist......Page 306
Problems with record keeping......Page 308
Can do better......Page 309
What records are needed......Page 310
Achieving Targets – Stockpeople......Page 315
 ‘Traffic-light’ records......Page 317
Tattooing......Page 319
Ear Tags......Page 321
Slap Marking......Page 324
Microchip Implants or Tags (Buttons)......Page 325
Reference......Page 326
14 Contracts - How to Minimise Business Risk......Page 328
Compiling a Risk Inventory......Page 330
A More Detailed Action Checklist......Page 331
A Risk Management Toolbox......Page 336
Negotiating skills......Page 339
Contracts......Page 340
“Just sign the contract!”......Page 341
About a contract......Page 343
Contracts – A Summary......Page 344
Lifting the Load - Contracting Out......Page 346
Suggested Action......Page 348
Your Business Better......Page 349
Diversification......Page 351
References......Page 352
Some thoughts about ADG......Page 354
What causes poor growth rate?......Page 356
Keeping a check on daily gain......Page 359
Simple formulae for estimating growth rate......Page 361
Representational Weighing......Page 363
Difficult!......Page 365
The Real Cost of Weight Variation at Slaughter......Page 366
Too Much Variation in Slaughter Weights - Does ‘Topping’ Help?......Page 368
Primary Areas to Look For in Poor Growth Rate......Page 371
Some observations on checking up on these primary disturbances to 
growth rate......Page 372
Farm-Specific Diets Improve Growth Rate......Page 373
By-products of biofuel manufacture (ethanol)......Page 374
The On-Farm Mixer......Page 377
The Cost of Getting It Wrong......Page 378
The Cost of Getting It Right......Page 379
How to check out skim milk......Page 381
How to Check Out Whey......Page 382
Nutrition and Growth Rate......Page 384
The Effect of Immune Demand on Growth Rate and Lysine Needs......Page 387
How can the farmer solve this seemingly insurmountable problem?......Page 389
How can the producer establish his immune status?......Page 390
Compensatory Growth......Page 394
16 A New Look at Food Conversion Ratio......Page 396
Food conversion efficiency......Page 397
Food Conversion Ratio (FCR)......Page 400
Are You Feeding What You Think You Are?......Page 401
Regular visits essential......Page 403
A plan of action......Page 404
The feed’s to blame!......Page 406
2. Bulk density of dry feed, especially pellets......Page 407
Feeder Settings......Page 408
Further reading......Page 418
References......Page 420
Mixing growing pigs......Page 422
What does mixing cost?......Page 423
Mixing Sows......Page 426
If you have to farm in dynamic groups . . .......Page 429
References......Page 431
A complex subject......Page 434
Space requirements for Growing Finishing pigs......Page 435
Welfare Minimum Standards......Page 436
How Much does Overstocking Cost?......Page 437
Stocking Density for Breeding Stock - Gilts......Page 447
Sows......Page 448
Boars & Service Accommodation Space Requirements......Page 449
References......Page 450
CWF (computerised wet feeding) past, present and future......Page 452
CWF today......Page 454
Some ideas which, with further research, CWF could unlock and go on to exploit......Page 458
The advantages of CWF as they exist today......Page 459
Ahead of its Time......Page 460
Present advantages of computerised wet feeding......Page 464
The Snags and Drawbacks to Pipeline Feeding: how to avoid the pitfalls......Page 469
What are the snags of wet feeding?......Page 471
Future Reasons for Using 
Pipeline Feeding......Page 474
References......Page 475
How the idea works......Page 476
Main advantages......Page 477
Overall view of the financial returns against continuous production:......Page 479
What about the extra cost of buildings?......Page 480
Some snags to batch farrowing.......Page 481
References......Page 482
21 Parity Segregation
......Page 484
Is parity segregation too expensive? 
A common objection......Page 489
Sources used…......Page 491
Incidence......Page 492
A Complex Subject – and a Dilemma......Page 496
Anticipating Seasonal Infertility......Page 497
Expanding the Checklist......Page 499
AI Outdoors?......Page 503
Wallows and Shade......Page 505
A nutritional aspect of Seasonal Infertility: both inside and outdoors......Page 506
Melatonin – the key to the day length problem?......Page 508
Do stressors have an effect?......Page 509
The Feral Factor......Page 510
Can we inject progesterone?......Page 511
References & Further Reading......Page 514
23 Dealing with Hot Weather......Page 516
Heat loss......Page 518
Ways of keeping pigs cooler......Page 519
Air positioning......Page 522
How to use evaporative cooling......Page 523
What spray cooling does......Page 524
Air speed across the pig......Page 525
Drip Cooling......Page 526
Evaporative Pad Coolers......Page 529
Snout cooling......Page 530
The use of curtains (blinds) in hot weather......Page 532
Solving the problem......Page 533
The bottom line - quartiling pays......Page 535
The boar in hot weather......Page 536
Workloads......Page 537
References and further reading......Page 538
The Baby Piglet......Page 540
Older Pigs......Page 542
Deep strawed pens......Page 545
The extent of the problem......Page 548
Environmental Enrichment......Page 551
How To Approach a Tail biting Outbreak......Page 553
The following causes have all been implicated in tail biting......Page 554
Bar-gnawing in Stalled Sows......Page 563
Urine Drinking -
UK and Australian experience......Page 564
Savaging......Page 565
References......Page 567
Magazines
......Page 568
Internet Sources......Page 569
My Top Ten Books On Pigs......Page 570
Miscellaneous......Page 571
From a personal point of view - some subjects I have had to leave out!......Page 573
A Glossary of 450 Technical Terms in pig production......Page 574
Index......Page 602