Summer 2004
Published by: SPESFEED (Pty) Ltd, P O Box 48, Rivonia, 2128. Tel: (011) 803-2050, Fax: (011) 803-8201
|
Inside This Issue |
|
The Effect of Stocking Rate on the performance of growing pigs |
|
A re-evaluation of the phosphorus requirements of the broiler |
As unlikely as it may seem to us at SPESFEED we are about to enter our 15th year in business. You would have thought that by now things would be running smoothly in our industry, but as everyone knows business is full of unexpected surprises. One only has to look at what has happened to the Sunflower oilcake price and supply during the last few months to appreciate this.
In SPESFEED’s particular case, change has also occurred. Walter has become more and more involved in the day to day running of our new venture Avi-Products. For this reason he will be less involved in the consultancy side of the business as time goes on, almost entirely because of the travel that it involves. He is however still a vital part of SPESFEED and will always be available for consultation when needed.
GM Crops
In 2003, the global area of transgenic crops continued to grow for the seventh consecutive year at a sustained double-digit growth rate of 15% compared with 12% in 2002. The estimated global
area of GM crops for 2003 was 67.7 million hectares; this includes a provisional conservative estimate of 3 million hectares of GM soybean in Brazil (the final hectarage could be significantly higher), officially approved for planting for the first time in 2003. It is noteworthy that a double-digit rate of 10% growth in GM crops was sustained in 2003, even excluding the Brazilian hectarage. The 67.7 million hectares of GM crops in 2003, equivalent to 167 million acres was grown by 7 million farmers in 18 countries, an increase from 6 million farmers in 16 countries in 2002. The increase in area between 2002 and 2003 of 15% is equivalent to 9 million hectares or 22 million acres (CropBiotech, 14 Jan 2004)
Courses
We plan to hold our Poultry Nutrition Course from Monday 10th May through to Wednesday 12th May. In addition, we will hold a one-day pig nutrition course on Thursday 13th May. We believe that this is well justified in that the basics of nutrition are covered in the poultry course, and the pig course will deal only those aspects specific to pigs.
The idea is that people could attend both courses, but this need not necessarily be so. People who have previously attended the poultry course, for example, would be welcome to attend the pig course as well. Please let Bianca know if you are interested in attending either or both courses.
Our business, along with nearly all other businesses has come to rely on e-mail for all of our activities. A fair percentage of inward communication now takes the form of a brief e-mail instruction, and I would think that about 90% of our outgoing business communication goes out in the form of e-mail. Unfortunately, we are plagued by junk mail and along with it the increasing risk of viruses. This is a problem that the major players in the industry are really grappling with at the moment, and in truth, they have not yet come up with an effective solution. It has been proposed that you give your service provider a "white list" of people from whom you are prepared to accept e-mails, but this means you may well run the danger of missing mail from important new contacts or old friends.
The only suggestion that I can make is that if you receive an e-mail from someone you do not know, look at the e-mail address and see if you recognise the company. If the address is a. yahoo or. hotbox be suspicious. If subject line makes no sense, then delete the mail immediately. If you use [SHIFT] and [Delete] at the same time it will be permanently removed from your system.
Another idea is to view mail on your server (ask your service provider for help) before downloading to your private system – I have cut out at least 80% of my spam mail that way.
The US Feed Industry
The discovery of BSE in the US will have a major impact on the feed industry in that country. The FDA has just announced a set of additional rules on livestock production. These new regulations are designed to strengthen the multiple existing firewalls that protect Americans from exposure to the agent thought to cause BSE. Specifically the third-generation firewalls:
 |
ban material from downer or dead cattle from human food,including dietary supplements, and cosmetics; |
|
eliminate the present exemption in the feed rule that allows mammalian blood and blood products to be fed to other ruminants as a protein source; |
|
prohibit the feeding of ‘poultry litter’ to ruminant animals; |
|
ban the use of ‘plate waste’ from restaurants as a feed ingredient for ruminants; and |
|
require feed milling equipment, facilities, or production lines to be dedicated to non-ruminant animal feeds if they use protein that is prohibited in ruminant feed. FDA will also increase its inspections of feed mills and rendering facilities and partner with state inspections, including annual inspections of 100% of all known renderers and feed mills that process products containing materials prohibited in ruminant feed. (Wattnet Meatnews) |
The SPESFEED Program
The SPESFEED Feed formulation program, which I started developing in the mid 80’s looks as if it may have reached the end of the road. Newer versions of Windows XP will simply not allow old DOS based programs to run. It is possible to create a small DOS partition on your hard drive, under which SPESFEED will still run, and many people have resorted to doing this.
An alternative to using the SPESFEED program would be to use SPESMIX, which has been produced by Format International especially for use by people with small amounts of data. This is a reasonably priced option for the industry’s leader in feed formulation software.
Rick Kleyn
Hen nutrition and it’s influence on progeny
In an article in the most recent edition of the World’s Poultry Science Journal (Vol. 59, Number 4), M.T. Kidd from the Mississippi State University has put together an excellent review article on the what can be done about breeder hen nutrition to improve hatchability and chick quality. The areas of protein, energy, fat minerals and vitamins are reviewed in addition to the impact of non-nutritional (toxins) that will impact on the progeny of the hen.
In keeping with the style of a newsletter, this article contains a précis of some of the more interesting point made in the article. For those who wish to know more, please refer to the original article.
Protein:
Although early workers believed that some feed ingredients, most notably fish meal, contained some unidentified growth and/or hatchability factor, Wilson and Harms (1984) were unable to demonstrate any effect of a range of parental treatments in terms of protein and amino acid level of the diet on mass at slaughter. Lopez and Leeson from the University of Guelph in Canada fed breeder diets ranging in protein content from 9 to 15%. These workers found that female chick weight (but not male) was greatest when a 15% protein diet was fed, but by day 7 this advantage had been lost. Despite the fact that egg weight was lower on the low protein diets, there were no differences in the progeny at 49 days of age. In a second series of experiments (diets ranging from 10 to 16% protein) it was found that the birds fed the 10% and 12% diets laid smaller eggs and produced slightly lighter chicks. However, they found no detrimental effect on the progeny up to 48 days of age. These findings support the conclusion that dietary protein levels may be lowered without compromising overall performance of the progeny.
Protein and Energy:
Numerous workers including Aitken et al. (1969), Pearson and Heron (1981), Proudfoot and Hulan, (1986) Spratt and Leeson (1987) and Brake et al. (2003) have fed breeders hen’s diets using a wide range of protein and energy levels. In most of these experiments, no effect was noted in the progeny, and Person and Heron (1981) were able to conclude that as long as the hen received adequate quantities of amino acids progeny would appear to be unaffected. It was shown that the male offspring of birds that were fed higher energy levels were slightly heavier. Spratt and Leeson were able to demonstrate that the birds consuming more energy laid eggs with bigger yolks, which would probably explain why the faster growing males were heavier in this instance.
Fats:
The hen’s dietary composition and type, impacts on the fatty acid composition and metabolism of the yolk. If the status of the yolk could be optimised by hen diet fat type, it could increase chick growth and improve fatty acid digestion and metabolism. Peebles et al (1998 –2002) at the University of Mississippi demonstrated that corn oil (as compared to poultry fat or lard) and vat level (1.5% vs. 3% added fat) improved the body weight of progeny throughout broiler growout. It was concluded that hens fed diets containing less saturated fat had progeny with improved live performance and carcass yield. In addition, it should be borne in mind that certain fatty acids are essential in the diet of the breeder hen. Leeson and Summers (2001) make the comment that although it is difficult to demonstrate exactly what the linoleic acid content of breeder hen diets should be, diets with low levels of linoleic acid produce eggs with high embryonic mortality.
Minerals:
It is well known that mineral deficiencies will impact on poultry in many ways, but this article focuses on those aspects where hen mineral nutrition impacts on the health of the progeny. It is not likely that any alteration of the macro mineral levels (calcium, phosphorus, sodium and potassium) will impact on growth and liveability of the progeny and work has been focused on the microminerals that are stored in the yolk of the bird.
Zinc has a direct impact on the humoral immune system of animals and birds, but it would appear that hen Zinc status does not impact on progeny growth. The levels of and type of Zinc that is required for good progeny immunity remain unclear. Manganese is also implicated in immune response and results indicate that the progeny of hens fed supplemental Zinc and Manganese in the form of amino acid complexes improved liveability over progeny from hens fed equal levels of inorganic material.
Surprisingly, little is said about the benefits of feeding Selenium to breeding hens other than that low levels will result in reduced progeny performance. Although Fluoride has been shown to improve the bone characteristics of chicks, supplementing Fluoride to hens to improve progeny performance does not appear to be warranted.
Vitamins:
Much work has been carried out on vitamins and their effect on chick progeny, but sadly a lot of it is old. In the case of Vitamin A little data exists on its effect on the viability of the chick. However, hen Vit A levels are unlikely to become limiting in commercial flocks, largely because Vit A is currently fed at levels that exceed the birds’ physiological needs. It has been shown that Vit A interacts with Vit E to reduce Vit E levels in the progeny. Carotenoids are sometimes though of as vitamins, but it has been shown that chicks do not respond to additional levels of carotenoids in the diet. There is some evidence that increased β-carotene in hens’ diets may hinder the ability of hen Vit E to increase progeny anti-body titres.
Newly hatched chick tissue lipids are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids. Peroxidation of these lipids can lead to free-radical tissue damage which is why the Vit E status of the chick is important. It was found that chick tissues, especially brain, from hens fed high levels of Vit E had reduced susceptibility to lipid peroxidation. In addition, this effect could be heightened by a combination of Vit E and selenium in the hen’s diet. Vit E is also known to improve the humoral immune status of progeny. Practically, optimising Vit E for breeder hens can be achieved either by providing optimal levels of Vit E in the premix or by decreasing the level of Vit A so as to avoid the Vit E Vit A interaction.
Research reports evaluating progeny carry-over of Vit D is lacking and further research in this area will need to evaluate both the levels and source of Vit D.
Hen Biotin deficiencies has been shown to result in progeny with leg abnormalities. There is scant evidence to show that higher biotin levels in the hen may also lead to a decrease in footpad dermatitis in the progeny. In the case of Pantothenic Acid it was shown that the requirement for progeny viability exceeds that needed for hatchability and progeny growth.
It was concluded that future breeder hen nutrient needs should be presented in reference to progeny viability, in addition to egg production traits. These will give the nutritionist more flexibility with formulation decisions and aid in improving overall broiler performance.
M.T. Kidd
Mississippi State University
The Effect of Stocking Rate on the performance of growing pigs
Introduction:
Modern pig housing systems are expensive to construct and operate. Therefore, it is of considerable economic importance to maximise the utilisation of floor space by increasing the kg of pork produced from a facility.
The pig growth study was carried out at the University of Illinois (DeDecker, Ellis, Wolter, Corrigan, Curtis and Hollis) from weaning to 24
weeks post-weaning within a commercial wean-to-finish facility. Air temperature was maintained using thermostatically controlled heaters and fan ventilation.Three treatments were compared:
| 22 pigs/pen providing 0.79 m2/pig |
| 27 pigs/pen providing 0.64 m2/pig |
| 32 pigs/pen providing 0.54 m2/pig |
A total of 1,296 crossbred (PIC Line 337 sires × PIC Camborough 22 dams) weaned pigs (15 days of age) were used.
Each pen had one wet/dry feeder that provided a total of 152 cm of trough space and three nipple water drinkers were located within the trough.
Results and Conclusion
Growth performance from weaning to end of week 24 post-weaning is summarised in the table below:
|
|
Stocking Rate (pig/m2) |
||
|
0.78 |
0.64 |
0.54 |
|
|
Weight at 24 weeks |
121.8 |
117.1 |
113.1 |
|
ADG (g/d) |
688 |
660 |
635 |
|
Mortality and Morbidity |
8.5 |
10.2 |
12.7 |
- From week 8 the ADG decreased linearly (P < 0.001) as the stocking rate increased. The regression analysis indicated a weight reduction of 0.87kg per pen for each additional pig in the pen.
- No treatment differences (P > 0.05) in body weight variation were detected throughout the study.
- There was a linear increase (P < 0.05) in the number of pigs removed due to morbidity and mortality with increasing group size. The regression analysis shows an increase of 1% in mortality and morbidity for each additional pig in the pen.
- The total live weight produced/pen increased (P < 0.001) linearly with increasing groups size (2450, 2839, and 3147 kg of live weight produced/pen for 22, 27, and 32 pigs/pen, respectively).
Interpretation:
Walter Scharlach
Tilapia; the Broilers of Aquaculture?
By way of something different, I came across an excellent article on the Tilapia industry by Dr Robert Swick of the American Soybean Association in Singapore (
www.asasea.com), and have decided to include some aspects of the paper here.Production and consumption of tilapia are increasing at a rapid rate globally. Tilapias have many desirable traits that suit them to culture, processing and value-added marketing. They are well suited to warm and tropical temperatures, are resistant to disease and tolerant to stress. Different varieties are suited to commercial culture in either freshwater or brackish water. Tilapia fillets are tasty and well accepted by consumers. Tilapia respond favourably to new technologies in breeding, genetics, feed production and rearing techniques. Tilapia will grow on a wide variety of nutrient sources from pond algae and bacteria to high quality feedstuffs such as grains, oilseeds and fishmeal. Commercial growout is also possible on all-vegetable diets using high levels of soybean meal as the protein source. Final product taste and quality depend on nutrient sources as well as culture conditions.
Tilapias have been referred to as "the aquatic chicken" by many aquaculturalists. Tilapia do have the potential to become a mainstream meat product and in certain respects are already following the highly successful broiler model. It is of interest therefore to examine certain aspects of the ‘broiler model’ to see what can be further applied to tilapia. In the U.S., per capita consumption of broiler meat has surpassed that of beef, lamb, fish and pork.
Since 1976, the per capita consumption of fish increased by a modest 12%, pork by 41%, while beef decreased by 33% and lamb decreased bye 41%. Broiler chicken and turkey meat were the star performers with increases of 93% and 100% over the same period (Graves, 1999). Broiler production has followed similar trends in other countries with large increases in China, Brazil, Mexico, France, UK and Thailand. In most countries, a majority of the production is consumed domestically. Coupled with the increased consumption of broiler meat during this time has been a fantastic increase in profit margins of companies involved. What caused the shift in consumption pattern favouring chicken? What made these companies so successful? What are the take home messages for tilapia producers? The answers are: 1) successful marketing of attractive, high quality products, 2) branded finished products, 3) vertical business integration with decreased costs and improved quality, 4) economy of scale in production, 5) technological breakthroughs and innovations in production, 6) control over many, if not all, aspects of production and marketing through vertical integration. In its most evolved form, vertical integration involves control of primary breeding, hatching, growout, shipment of raw materials, feed production, meat processing, delivery of finished meat products, marketing, restaurant chains, retail outlets, grain farming and soybean processing. Teams of highly trained technical and management specialists are required to manage operations under one entity.
Because of tilapia’s desirability as a food protein source, production can and likely will follow the broiler model. Skilled managers and technical expertise will solve many of tilapia’s present problems that include pollution caused by unregulated production, poor quality finished products and piecemeal marketing. Commercialisation and integration of tilapia production will advance the industry and boost the incomes and success of all involved. This is already beginning to occur in several large Southeast Asian companies. Demand for exports is also on the rise, and there has been a dramatic rise in tilapia consumption in the US since 1986. Ten years ago, few Americans had ever heard of tilapia. Now, many households routinely consume it once or twice a month. Product consistency and quality at the consumer level are the major keys to tilapia’s success. Culture methods and feeding have a major impact on product consistency and quality.
Robert. A. Swick, American Soybean Association, Singapore
A re-evaluation of the phosphorus requirements of the broiler
Phosphorus is a very critical and expensive nutrient provided to poultry for supporting growth and development of a strong skeleton to withstand the rigors of growth, transport and processing. It must be supplied in adequate but not excessive amounts. In addition, the presence of phosphorus in poultry litter has resulted in severe pollution problems around the world.
Many companies are adding the phytase to broiler diets to reduce phosphorus excretion. Another effective way in which the amount of phosphorus in the excreta can be reduced is to closely examine the phosphorus levels used in formulation.
Recently, Waldroup and Fritts of the Poultry Science Department, University of Arkansas, conducted a study to determine the Non Pyphytate Phosphorus (NPP) needs of male broilers. They fed a control program and three modified sets of diets to Cobb broilers. In addition, all diets were fed both with and without Phytase (Natuphos 1200/kg, BASF).
Table: Dietary treatments fed to male broilers from 0 to 56 days.
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In was concluded that the use of any of the three modified phosphorus feeding programs did not negatively impact on live performance of broilers grown to 56 days of age. There was significant improvement in the percentage of tibia ash found in birds fed the modified phosphorus diets when phytase was supplemented. The use of a modified phosphorus-feeding program can significantly reduce the excretion of phosphorus by broilers. Considerable savings in cost by utilizing any of the modified phosphorus feeding programs can be obtained. Therefore reducing dietary phosphorus in the diet, with the supplementation of phytase, can sustain live performance and skeletal development whilst reducing total and soluble phosphorus in the litter when compared to levels of NPP currently being fed in the commercial poultry industry.
Under South African commercial conditions, it is estimated that it is possible to save between
R13 and R15 per ton of Grower or Finisher diet.P. Waldroup and C. Fritts
University of Arkansas.
Tips for Surviving Low Market Prices
Controlling feed costs is probably the most important way of surviving low market prices. So, ask yourself the following questions:
Why should I concentrate on feed? Besides accounting for 60 to 65% of the total costs on a swine operation, feed is 75 to 80% of variable costs. During low market cycles, swine operations must be able to cover variable costs. Controlling feed cost is the only way to substantially influence variable costs.
How should I monitor feed cost? Producers must control the factors that influence feed cost per pound: (1) diet cost and (2) feed efficiency. Closely scrutinise all components of diet cost: in particular the prices of grain and protein sources. They account for approximately 90% of diet cost. Reduction of feed wastage through feeder adjustment, maintaining proper particle size (700 to 800 microns) and eliminating non-productive animals cannot be overemphasised. Another method to reduce feed costs is through co-operative purchasing with neighbours.
Phase feeding programs are needed to more closely match the nutritional needs of pigs. Phase feeding is especially critical in the late finishing phase due to the large amount of feed consumed and in the nursery phase due to the diet cost. Multiple phases in the finisher are critical for minimising feed cost per pound of gain. A four-phase grower-finisher program can result in approximately a $3 per head reduction in feed cost compared to a conventional two-phase program.
Additionally, feed usage should be monitored to ensure diets are fed to the correct weight and not too long.
Table: Suggested feed usage by phase of production are:
|
Feed |
Feed Usage % |
|
Starter I (Creep) |
0.5 |
|
Starter II (Link diet) |
2 |
|
Starter III (Weaner) |
6 |
|
Grower |
22 |
|
Finisher |
52.5 |
|
Breeding Herd |
16 |
Where else should I concentrate my efforts?
Obviously, all phases of production should be critiqued. However, the following points may yield the greatest immediate returns.Reduce sort loss. In a survey conducted by Kansas State University, weighing pigs prior to marketing was shown to yield a return of $50 to $100 per hour, just by reducing sort loss.
Keep marketing current. Feed efficiency drops off rapidly as pigs are taken to heavier weights. Lean premiums also decline for most genotypes due to the rapid increase in backfat. Low market prices changes the outlook for heavier weights. Once pigs are past the minimum weight for your packer (usually about 105 kg), further increases in weight often result in a decreased net return, even with current low feed prices.
Remove non-productive sows from the herd. A non-productive sow costs you more than $1.00 per day to keep. During low markets, sow culling should be intensified to keep only the most productive animals. Suggested management guidelines to use are as follows: A) Only gilts and first litter sows should be given two chances to rebreed; B) Second parity and older sows are give a single opportunity at weaning to become pregnant; C) Any sow that aborts after 60 days of pregnancy is an automatic cull; and D) sows with a history of poor performance (litter size or weaning weight; health problems) should be scheduled for culling. Sows should be sold immediately without attempting to add extra weight. Poor sow feed efficiency (6:1 to 7:1) makes it impossible to make money by fattening sows, even with low feed cost.
Review non-feed costs carefully. Critically review vaccination and medication schedules and any other purchases for the operation to determine where savings can be made. This includes careful examination of feed grade antibiotic selection and usage.
Adopt proven technology. Are you using high lean genetics, all-in, all out production, and split-sex feeding? If not, you have to consider these possibilities. Can you accomplish them on your current operation or do you need to consider co-operative production with neighbours or other family members? This can appear to be a bold move in a low market cycle. For some operations, bold moves may be necessary.
Gilbert Hollis University of Illinois
SPESFEED (Pty) Ltd. |
|
Animal Nutrition Consultants SPESFEED NEWS is published by the consultants at SPESFEED (Pty) Ltd. The purpose of the newsletter is two fold. It serves both as a source of information for those involved in animal agriculture as well as a means for us to maintain contact with our clients. SPESFEED provides a professional technical service to the livestock and animal feed industries. Our aim is to ensure that our clients use optimal production and feeding systems in order to maximise the return on investment. The company has no affiliation to any particular product or supplier. SPESFEED (Pty) Ltd PO Box 48 Rivonia 2128 South Africa Tel + 27 11 803 2050 |