Eric van Heutgen North Carolina State University

Publish Date: March 25, 2010

Proper diet formulation involves having accurate knowledge of the nutrient requirements of the pig and information about the energy and nutrient composition of available feed ingredients. In addition, it is important to realize that some feed ingredients possess inherent factors that will decrease pig growth and reproductive performance and/or impact carcass composition and quality if fed in excess.

Publish Date: March 25, 2010

Animal production involves the feeding and care of animals to obtain usable end products, such as meat or milk. Since the efficiency with which animals use nutrients is less than 100%, a portion of the nutrients supplied to the animal is excreted as feces. The end/byproducts of metabolism are excreted in urine. Traditionally, these excreta were used as fertilizers for crops and thus were an integral part of the nutrient cycle. Over the last decade, animal production has expanded significantly in areas without adequate local feed production. To sustain expanding animal agriculture, feed ingredients were shipped in from major crop producing regions, initiating the import of nutrients, including nitrogen and phosphorus into animal producing regions. Due to the bulk of animal manure relative to its weight, shipping it to the feed producing regions for use as a fertilizer was not economically viable. Alternative methods to deal with manure were thus sought. Some are focused on different processing and storage techniques after manure production, while others deal with reducing the excretion of nutrients in manure. This factsheet outlines some of the underlying principles for modifying pig diets with the objective of reducing nutrient excretion and ammonia and odor emissions.

Publish Date: March 25, 2010

The ability to properly formulate diets to achieve production goals and optimize profitability is essential for the success of any pork production operation. Swine diets are increasingly more complex with the emergence of improved nutritional technologies and greater availability and use of alternative feed ingredients. This factsheet is intended to teach key practical concepts and principles of swine nutrition and diet formulation through the presentation of diets made for various classes of swine.

Publish Date: March 25, 2010

Profitability of commercial swine enterprises is affected by a variety of factors, such as the pigs genetic potential, environment, feed intake, ingredient availability and market prices. Each of these factors needs to be considered in designing the most optimal and profitable feeding and management system. The final feeding and management strategy implemented may be different for each individual production unit and will also vary with changing environmental and economical conditions. The challenge to the producer is to manage all variables in such a way that productivity and profitability are optimized. Feed represents approximately 65 to 75% of the total cost of producing pork and approximately 75% of this amount is fed in the grow-finish phase of production. Close attention is needed to develop a nutrition and feeding management program to increase the potential for profitability.

Publish Date: July 18, 2006

North Carolina State University Pork Quality Research from 2001. The objective of the current experiment was to determine the effect of vitamin E supplementation (0, 100, 200, 400, or 800 mg/kg of diet) on fresh pork quality of pigs fed saturated (choice white grease) or unsaturated (soybean oil) fat sources. The results of this study suggest that vitamin E accumulation in loin muscle increased linearly with supplemental vitamin E level and that this may be dependent on dietary fat type. Vitamin E supplementation and fat type had minimal effects on fresh pork quality.

Publish Date: April 17, 2012

Odors from swine operations can come from live animals, manure, dead animals and spoiled feed. The odors emitted are from the anaerobic breakdown of organic matter and proteins from these sources.

Publish Date: April 17, 2012

Starting Nursery Pigs on Feed

Publish Date: March 25, 2010

A major challenge in the pork industry is to produce lean pigs without compromising pork quality. Pork quality includes both lean (e.g. color, intramuscular fat, drip loss or purge) and fat (e.g. firmness, slice ability of bellies, flavor) quality of the meat products. One of the strongest determinants of carcass fat quality in pigs is the dietary lipid level and composition. Because the efficiency of utilization of dietary fat is very high (90%) in pigs and the transfer of dietary fat to carcass lipid is high (31-40%) [1,2], the carcass lipid composition is often a reflection of the dietary fat fed when pigs shift from de novo synthesis of fatty acids to dietary uptake. Dietary lipids may have different effects on carcass lipid depending on its composition, level, and duration or timing preslaughter during the grow-finish period. Understanding and managing the factors that control carcass fat quality is a challenge for swine producers given several feedstuffs may be very economical (e.g. DDGS), but may be detrimental to carcass fat quality. Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a fatty acid that may be one tool to help producers manage pork carcass quality. CLA refers to a group of linoleic acid (18:2) isomers that have several biological effects. When fed to finishing pigs, CLA has been reported to reduce backfat, improve feed conversion, carcass leanness, loin marbling, and carcass fat firmness.

Publish Date: March 25, 2010

Pork producers have the goal to efficiently produce lean, quality pork to meet consumer demands for lean high quality meat products. The implementation of lean value carcass pricing systems has led to the selection of pigs with increased lean growth rates, increased carcass lean percentages and improved lean feed conversion. Health, nutrition, and facility management strategies have been implemented across the swine industry to increase commercially achievable lean growth rates. Paylean (Elanco Animal Health) is a feed additive that when added to a swine diet increases the rate and efficiency of muscle tissue growth and reduce fat deposition. The active ingredient in Paylean is ractopamine hydrochloride. Paylean was approved in 1999 to be fed at levels of 4.5 to 18 grams per ton (5 to 20 ppm) from 150 to 240 lbs live weight (last 90 lbs of live weight gain prior to slaughter). However, in 2006 the FDA approval was modified to reduce the maximum dietary level fed (4.5-9.0 g/ton) and removal of the upper weight restriction such that Paylean can be fed for the last 45-90 lbs of weight gain prior to slaughter. Because of the increased muscle growth and protein accretion, pigs fed Paylean have increased dietary essential amino acid requirements and have a minimum dietary crude protein requirement of at least 16% CP based on label restrictions.

Publish Date: March 25, 2010

Minerals constitute a small percentage of swine diets, but their importance to growth, health, and productivity of the pig cannot be over-emphasized. Swine require 15 minerals in their diet and macro-minerals are the minerals that swine need in larger quantities, usually described for inclusion in percent of the diet. The macro-minerals are: calcium, phosphorus, sodium, chlorine, potassium, magnesium, and sulfur. About 5 percent of the total body weight of swine consists of minerals. Although these minerals are indigenous in most feed grains, some are at low concentrations in feedstuffs commonly used in swine diets. Consequently, it is essential that the diet be balanced using supplemental mineral sources. Minerals are essential for most of the basic metabolic reactions in the body and are an important factor in growth, reproduction, and resistance to diseases. They have a role in digestion; metabolism of protein, fats, and carbohydrates; and the structure of chromosomes, enzymes, nerves, blood, skeleton, hair and milk.