Pig Genetics

Reducing days to finishing has resulted in feed savings of £17,940/100 sows producing 26 pigs a year sold.

So for the 700 sows on the Midland Pig Producers closed-herd system at Upper Farm, Warborough, investment in the Hermitage Seaborough Maxgro terminal sire 12 months ago has been paying dividends.

The decision to change to Maxgro was partly decided because space restrictions on the farm were limiting the kg liveweight off the farm says herd manager, Jason Evans. “We were told Maxgro would increase growth rate, feed intake and conversion efficiency, while at the same time yielding quality lean meat.

“We didn’t expect to see such a difference, as I am usually quite sceptical, but the results have been incredible,” he adds.

At the beginning, Mr Evans inseminated Maxgro to only half of the herd and continued inseminating the rest with Pietrain semen. “The results were instant,” he says. “Some Maxgro pigs were being pulled out to slaughter as much as three weeks ahead of time.

“Now all terminal stock is from Maxgro, which is a 50% Pietrain-based synthetic line. Before, we were sending pigs off at 163 days weighing 72kg deadweight and now they are being sent off averaging 77kg in 147 days, so we are increasing the amount of weight sold through faster growth.

“The Maxgro has had a high feed intake from day one, although they don’t drag any condition from the sow,” he adds. “And although feed intake is increased, a saving on feed costs is made due to faster finishing rate.

“With pigs averaging a growth rate of 808g a day, a total feed saving of 30kg a pig is being made. With UK feed prices averaging £230/t, this equates to a saving for each pig of £6.90, due to finishing earlier.”

Although no serious difficulties have been experienced with Maxgro, Mr Evans says it has taken some getting used to gauging finishing weights. “Before I used to be able to predict finishing weights of pigs by eye. But in the beginning with the Maxgro it was difficult as it is a similar size pig, but a lot heavier due to more muscle, so we had to resort to weighing them initially.”

Looking at a Maxgro pig you can see piglets are muscular, stockier and firmer with good strong bones, says Mr Evans. “They also have a wide loin, which makes the animal look shorter, but in fact they aren’t.”

And from a marketing point of view, producing a leaner animal is what the consumer desires, says Hermitage Seaborough’s general manager, Simon Cook. “The rate and efficiency of lean tissue growth have become more economically important traits than overall growth rates,” he adds. “High lean-growth pigs have a higher peak muscle growth, as with the Maxgro, and they have the ability to continue laying down muscle to heavier weights.”

But the Maxgro isn’t just a good meat producing animal. By increasing the through-flow by finishing earlier, stocking rates can be reduced, adds Mr Cook. “Reducing stocking rates alone can improve growth rate and from a health point of view, as pigs aren’t under such stress, there are often fewer health problems.”

story by Sarah Trickett

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China’s decision to reduce import taxes on pork is a clear sign of interest on the part of the Beijing government in facilitating foreign purchases, members of a Brazilian delegation have commented while visiting a trade fair in Guangzhou. They have been attending the China International Foodstuff Exposition to develop partnerships with Chinese pork importers, as Brazil gears up to add China to the list of destinations for its pigmeat. Sources in Brazil have also referred to the whole Asian market as "one of the most promising for Brazilian pork."

Within China, there have been further moves by the National Development and Reform Commission to respond to the pork shortages that followed pig disease outbreaks and severe weather conditions. Some RMB2.8 billion has been allocated from the commission’s central budget to add to the promotional program that has already seen the establishment of several pig production pyramids. Those completed to date represent 20,000 commercial units backed by 375 multiplication sites and 55 basic pig breeding farms. Also on the commission’s agenda is making extra funds available for helping to restore pig numbers in the area in which the May earthquake struck that killed over 3 million pigs and in other regions hit by severe snowstorms in the 2007/08 winter. Provinces lined up to receive funding include Anhui, Gansu, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi and Shaanxi as well as Sichuan.

Other reports from China say the authorities are to build a frozen meat depot at Zhoukou City in Henan province, with capacity for storing 10 000 tons. Zhoukou is a major meat production center: about 5.2 million pigs were produced in the area during the first half of this year. The city’s annual meat processing capacity is put at 728 200 tons. State frozen pork reserves in China are rotated every 4 months.

Pig production shows the feed price effect

Our annual analysis of global pork production trends considers data pointing to the first downturn for some years

No one should have been surprised that a major international analysis of world meat markets this year has had a complete section devoted to uncertainties. Unprecedented prices for feed grains have created doubts about the continuation of historical patterns and complicated all attempts at forecasting.

From the viewpoint of the pork sector, it had long been clear that 2008 would be a time of adjustments in production to take account of smaller herd inventories. In fact the data now available for 2007 show that some industries around the world were adjusting to the new grain price situation already last year.

Higher grain prices on the world market can be expected to continue for the foreseeable future, suggests the fourth annual Agricultural Outlook paper published jointly by the 30-country Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Looking at the period 2008 to 2017, they predict world meat production will grow on average by 2% per year, although there will be marked differences in growth rates from one region to another. Meat consumption in developing countries (especially those of the Asia-Pacific area) will account for more than 80% of global growth.

But the report available at www.fao.org and www.oecd.org acknowledges those uncertainties in trying to formulate a forecast. It says this year’s Outlook was prepared in an environment characterized by increased instability in financial markets, higher food price inflation, signs of weakening global economic growth and food-security concerns. Five key assumptions were made in reaching its conclusions, relating to biofuel use of grains and oilseeds, petroleum prices, income growth in major developing economies, crop yields and the exchange rate of the US dollar relative to the currencies of all other countries.

Developing countries are expected to dominate production of many agricultural items by 2017. Brazil could hold a 30% share of total world meat exports by the end of the projections. It will figure alongside a small number of major exporters including the USA, Canada, Argentina and Australia as dominant forces in world markets. By contrast, the export share of the European Union is predicted to fall throughout the review period.

Import dependency in meat products should grow in many developing countries as rising demand surpasses the domestic capacity for meat production. Among the developed countries, Russia looks set to remain ahead of Japan as the world’s largest net meat importer by 2017. Worldwide, the changing factors behind supply and demand are forecast to result in commodity prices during the period 2008-2017 being substantially higher than in the last 10 years. Beef and pork prices are forecast some 20% higher, with the price of wheat and maize likely higher by 40-60%.

Coming back to the present and recent past, however, an assessment by FAO has proposed that global pigmeat production in 2008 will increase by almost 2% after a 3% decline in 2007 which was largely the result of culling of pigs in China following that country’s outbreak of PRRS. This year, output in China is foreseen to expand more than 1%.

In South America, an increase in pigmeat production is anticipated in virtually all producing countries for the fourth consecutive year. Argentina, Brazil and Chile, which have ample feed supplies, are the main contributors to the 4% output expansion projected for the region. In Russia, production is set to grow by more than 6% in 2008 as the pig population increases. US pork output could also be higher. But in Canada and the European Union, where output last year was at cyclical highs, production is expected to decline in 2008. Vietnam’s production is also affected by PRSS and culling of infected animals will reduce the national growth in production for 2008.

 

See the full version of this article: Pig Production

 

Genetic fingerprints trace German pork

Samples of hair taken from pigs’ tails are used to create a traceback trail genetically that links the pork in the store to the production site

A pork production scheme that started officially in southern Germany at the end of last year claims to be Europe’s first working example of the use of DNA for full traceability of pigmeat from the point of purchase back to the farm of origin.

This German project involves a network of 38 pig producers in Bavaria. They belong to a producer union devoted to the generation of high-quality pork from certified facilities meeting all standards and regulations for animal welfare and food hygiene. The pigmeat from all the participating units is marketed as Franken Premium Pork to highlight its regional origins and special sourcing.

To ensure that the meat is completely traceable, their membership of the organization now also requires them to submit a sample of hair from their pig breeding herd to a laboratory where the DNA profile of the individual animal is determined. The so-called pig genetics fingerprint is then lodged with a central on-line database so that it can be used later in proving the parentage of slaughter pigs whenever necessary.

herd to a laboratory where the DNA profile of the individual animal is determined. The so-called fingerprint is then lodged with a central on-line database so that it can be used later in proving the parentage of slaughter pigs whenever necessary.

Although field-tested over the last 2 years, the project can in fact trace its own history back for almost a decade. It began with an idea by German pig specialists Professor Josef Lorenz and Dipl.-Ing.agr. Friedrich Berkner at the university city of Giessen, to create a limited company for integrated and certified pig production. The idea grew quickly into Integrierte Zertifizierte Schweineproduktion (IZS GmbH) defined by Mr Berkner as a community of piglet producers with the united aim of improving the performance of their enterprises.

"The central point was to increase the output potential of each herd by using better genetics," he says. "The herds needed to switch over to healthier, more efficient breeding animals on a long-term basis and there would be obvious advantages in having the same source of genetics for every member. As part of that process, some pigs were imported from the Scapaag/Multigene co-operative in France. That relationship has grown: we have sold breeding pigs from the co-operative in the southern part of Germany since March 2002. They are especially popular in this area as a source of the Duroc lines that the meat trade prefers.

An alternative sampling area for herds in the German scheme: hair is collected from sows in gestation stalls.

"In our development of IZS, however, we also realised that the piglets from these herds should be independently certified as having been produced according to declared standards. When the first reports appeared from countries such as Canada and Japan, about achieving traceability with meat by means of a DNA analysis in the animal sector, we decided to incorporate this aspect along with the certification. We see it as the only way to make sure these pigs really stand out from the mass of quality seals and certificates in the modern marketplace and therefore have the chance to capture an exclusive market segment."

"We see DNA analysis as the only way to make sure these pigs really stand out from the mass of quality seals and certificates in the modern marketplace and therefore have the chance to capture an exclusive market segment."DNA analysis is of samples of hair collected from all sows and boars used in pig production.

Today this process has evolved into the 38-member Bavarian venture Interessen Gemeinschaft Zertifizierung GbR, formally unveiled in the southern town of Rothenburg during October with presentations from regional officials and professors from the University of Munich. The launch information about IGZ classified the current membership as consisting of 18 piglet producers, 16 finishing-only enterprises and 4 closed farrow-to-finish herds. It also calculated that these privately-owned operations produced approximately 100 000 piglets annually from a total of 4500 sows and controlled some 23 000 grow-finish places capable of marketing 60 000 slaughter pigs per year.

IGZ’s method of DNA analysis for traceability was devised by Munich university researcher Dr Ruedi Fries as part of an overall development process that is reckoned to have cost approximately one million Euros to complete. But local-government support for this process, including a grant of 820 000 from the 2 Bavarian ministries of consumer protection and agriculture as well as from Germany’s Centrale Marketing Gesellschaft der deutschen Agrarwirtschaft (CMA), has limited the need for high operational costs in practice.

Tracing starts in the live animal. DNA analysis is of samples of hair collected from all sows and boars used in production. For each genotyping test, undertaken by a specialized laboratory at Weihenstephen, scheme members pay only about 25 per animal.

Every piglet born that goes on to be slaughtered as a finishing pig can be pursued back for its origin without any previous registration of its own individual DNA code, says Mr Berkner. Traceback can even be done after each carcase has been broken up into hundreds of different cuts and pieces through several different production lines. All that is needed for the detective work is a minimum of about 1 square centimetre of meat.

This sow with her litter is an example of the Scapaag importation from France to unify genetics in IZS herds.

A clear allocation of each piece is possible because of the combination of typical DNA analysis market genes of the 2 parent animals and the information from the operating records used by the farms in their pork production. In practice it means that the 55-60 piglets produced per sow lifetime in those herds need fewer than 10 DNA analyses for their traceability to be secured.

It is a minimal cost when expressed per kilogram of pork produced, Mr Berkner declares, with the added attraction that the process is unique in giving 100% reliable traceability.

"Costs for analyzing the DNA in tissue samples are falling all the time," he continues. "Look at the applications for this type of analysis that have emerged in different countries. There is now a growing use of genetic fingerprinting to identify pet dogs and cats, for example, and horses exported from a European country will soon need to have official passport documents that include DNA identification.

"My colleagues in this IGZ program have now shown that the same approach works for pigs and pork. It is reliable and affordable. Our units were already certified as producing according to the requirements of the quality management standard ISO 9001. With the start of the genetic database they can also state today that their premium-quality pork is totally traceable."