Mike Tokach Kansas State University

Publish Date: March 25, 2010

Feed costs represent over 75% of the cost of raising pigs, and producers have many feed purchasing and production options to consider. Swine producers may: 1) choose to buy feed from independent feed mills, mills of national firms, or cooperatives; 2) buy premixes, base mixes, and/or supplements from various companies who also provide nutritional and technical expertise on the proper mixing and feeding of these products; 3) purchase individual raw materials and mix them to their own specifications; or 4) use a combination of these purchasing methods. However, many other services have been traditionally provided by feed companies, and their value must be taken into consideration as well when determining where to purchase feed. Ultimately, the final decision on these alternatives is in the producers’ hands, and it can have a tremendous impact on their profitability.

Publish Date: March 25, 2010

A successful nursery feeding program contains several components, but the most important are to: 1) match dietary nutrient levels and ingredients with weight and age of the nursery pig; 2) maximize feed intake, because newly weaned pigs are in an extremely energy deficient state and early intake helps maintain a healthy intestine; and 3) appropriately adjust pigs (based on age, weight, health status, etc.) to lower cost diets (usually grain-soybean meal diets) as quickly as possible after weaning to reduce total feed cost. The concepts are relatively simple and can be applied in a variety of situations around the world.

Publish Date: September 6, 2006

Kansas State University Swine Day 2004. Two studies were conducted to evaluate the effects of increasing dietary lysine and energy density on nursery-pig performance. Exp. 1 was organized as a combination of two simultaneous experiments, with one set of diets consisting of five treatments with increasing TID lysine (0.99, 1.07, 1.14, 1.22, and 1.30%) concentrations, and the second set of diets consisting of five treatments with increasing energy density (1342, 1406, 1471, 1535, and 1600 kcal/lb). The highest l of both lysine and energy density (1.30% and 1600 kcal/lb, respectively) were combined as one diet and used in both the lysine and energy-density titrations to give a total of 10 treatments. Pigs were randomly allotted to 8 replications with 5 pigs per pen on the basis of BW. Overall (d 0 to 21) in Exp. 1 increasing true-ileal-digestible (TID) lysine increased ADG linearly and improved feed efficiency. Although increasing energy density had no effect on ADG, ADFI decreased, which resulted in a quadratic improvement in F/G. Regression analysis of the response surface was used to predict the optimal lysine-to-calorie ratio of 3.65 to 3.71 g lysine/Mcal ME for the Gentiporc pigs used in this experiment. In Exp 2, pigs were fed diets with two different energy densities (1.34 or 1.49 Mcal ME/lb) with TID lysine-to-calorie ratios ranging from 3.1 to 4.1 g/Mcal ME. There was an energy density by TID lysine-tocalorie ratio interaction observed for ADG. Pigs fed the low-energy diets had the greatest ADG at a lysine-to-calorie ratio of 3.60. For pigs fed the high energy diets, ADG improved as the lysine-to-calorie ratio improved to 3.36 g of TID lysine/Mcal ME. There was a quadratic improvement in feed efficiency as the lysine-to-calorie ratios were increased for the pigs fed the low-energy diet, with the best F/G value observed at 3.87; but the pigs fed the high-energy diets had a linear improvement in F/G as the lysine-to-calorie ratios were increased. Although there was a linear improvement in F/G for the high-energy diet, little improvement in feed efficiency was observed when the lysine-to-calorie ratio was increased from 3.36 to 4.07. On the basis of these results, we suggest that the optimal lysine- to-calorie ratio is 3.30 to 3.87 g of TID lysine/Mcal ME for 20- to 50-lb Genetiporc pigs in these facilities.

Publish Date: September 1, 2006

Kansas State University Swine Research 2005. We conducted a trial to evaluate the effects of feeding added salt (0.38% in addition to the 0.35% already added to the diet) and a 0.70% addition of a blend of 50% glutamine and 50% glycine to weanling pigs as a substitute for spray-dried animal plasma. A total of 216 pigs (initial BW 12.4 1.9 lb and 21 2 d of age) were used, with six pigs per pen and six pens per treatment. Pigs were randomly allotted to pens, blocked by weight, and assigned to one of the six dietary treatments. The six treatments were a negative control diet based on corn-soybean meal, a positive control diet containing 5% spray-dried animal plasma, and diets with high concentrations of synthetic amino acids. Diets were arranged in a 2 2 factorial, with or without 0.7% of a 50:50 blend of glutamine and glycine and with or without added salt (0.38% more than the basal level of 0.35% in all diets). From d 0 to 7, ADG and ADFI increased (P<0.05) for the pigs fed the positive control diet, compared with all other treatments. Pigs fed the synthetic amino acid diets (glutamine:glycine and Na treatments) had improved (P<0.05) F/G, compared with that of pigs fed the negative and positive control diets. From d 7 to 14, pigs fed the positive control diet had increased ADG, compared with that of the pigs fed the negative control, but ADG did not differ from that of pigs on any of the four glutamine: glycine and Na treatment diets. Pigs fed the positive control diet had greater ADFI and improved F/G for d 7 to 14, compared with those of pigs in all other treatments. For the overall feeding period, (d 0 to 14), pigs fed the positive control diet had a numerical improvement in ADG, compared with that of pigs fed the synthetic amino acid diets. Pigs fed the positive control diet also had a greater (P<0.05) ADG and ADFI than those fed the negative control diet. The pigs fed the positive control diet consistently had greater ADFI than pigs in all other treatments. The increase in ADFI corresponds to the increase in ADG for the overall feeding period. The data suggest that adding spray-dried animal plasma to the diet improves ADFI and ADG, and it seems that synthetic amino acid diets containing added Na and a 0.70% dietary blend of 50:50 glutamine:glycine can not equal the response exhibited when spray-dried animal plasma is added to nursery pig diets. Pigs fed the synthetic amino acid diets did have greater growth performance than that of pigs fed the negative control diet. The addition of large amounts of salt or the glutamine:glycine blend to synthetic amino acid diets did not have any influence on pig performance in this experiment.

Publish Date: September 1, 2006

Kansas State Swine Research 2005. A total of 360 weanling pigs (initially 14.1 lb and 21 3 d of age, PIC) were used to determine the effects of different rates of waterbased medication on nursery pig growth performance. Pigs were given one of eight experimental treatments: negative control (no antibiotics in the feed or water); positive control with Neo-Terramycin in the feed (140 g/ton Neomycin sulfate, 140 g/ton Oxytetracycline HCl); 38.0, 75.5, or 113.5 mg of Neomycin sulfate per L of water; 100 or 200 g/ton of Neomycin sulfate in the feed; and Neo-Terramycin in the feed and 75.5 mg of Neomycin per L of water. Overall (d 0 to 24 after weaning), pigs provided Neomycin sulfate in the water, pigs fed diets containing Neomycin sulfate, and pigs fed the positive control diet had greater ADG (P<0.02) and ADFI (P<0.05) than did pigs provided nonmedicated water and feed. Pigs provided Neomycin sulfate in the water or feed also had improved F/G (P<0.05), compared with the F/G of pigs provided non-medicated feed and water. Pigs provided the combination of the positive control diet and Neomycin sulfate in the water had greater ADFI (P<0.04) and tended to have greater ADG (P<0.09) than did pigs fed the positive control with nonmedicated water or pigs fed the negative control with Neomycin sulfate in the water. Increasing Neomycin sulfate in the water improved ADG (P<0.03) and ADFI (P<0.05). Increasing Neomycin sulfate in the feed improved ADG and ADFI (P<0.01) and improved F/G (P<0.03). There were no differences in growth performance between pigs provided Neomycin sulfate in the water and in the feed. Finally, there were no water medication feed medication interactions for the overall treatment period, but main effects for water and feed medication were significant (P<0.02) for ADG and ADFI.

Publish Date: June 3, 2006

It is reasonable to assume that any strategy for survival in the future will have considerable focus on breeding herd efficiency as an essential component. The data in Table 1 shows that there is considerable opportunity for improvement of reproductive efficiency within the US swine industry.

Publish Date: February 27, 2008

Minimizing Feed Costs for Improved ProfitabilityMinimizing Feed Costs for Improved Profitability