Pig Development Unit | Pig Production | Staff | Pigs Farmers Conference
Pig Production
Teagasc's research programme on pig production is carried out at Moorepark Dairy Production Research Centre, Fermoy, County Cork. The programme includes studies on nutrition and feeding management; work designed to improve the quality of pigmeat; to improve sow productivity; protect the health and welfare of pigs and to develop management and nutritional strategies to minimise any adverse impact of intensive pig production on the environment.
Research Emphasis
The current pig production research programme involves an increased emphasis on animal welfare, food safety and environmental issues. Consumers and retailers are taking a greater interest in the conditions under which meat animals are reared, the impact of production practices on the environment and the feed ingredients which are used. There is a need for producers to address these issues and demonstrate their concern through adopting measures which will satisfy the consumer and ensure the commercial survival of their enterprises. Relevant new technologies e.g. use of feed enzymes such as phytase, need to have their effectiveness confirmed if producers are to be assured that these techniques can be adopted with confidence.
The following are some priority areas of research:
- Nutrition and Management
- Health and Welfare
- Meat Quality
- Food Safety
- Environmental Management
- Production Economics
Nutrition and Management
Feed represents about 65% of the cost of producing pigmeat. Formulation of diets to contain the optimum blend of nutrients (energy, amino acids, minerals and vitamins) is essential to rapid growth of pigs and efficient conversion of feed to meat. Highly productive animals (due to a combination of genetics, nutrition, health and management) are more friendly to the environment since they use less resources and excrete less manure nutrients.to produce a given amount of pork. Improved genetics (faster growing, leaner pigs) have different nutritional requirements than unimproved strains so that nutritional requirements need to be updated to match the needs of the current genotypes. This is especially true of the optimum levels of dietary amino acids.
A series of trials examining responses to variation in dietary lysine has been completed and currently the optimum concentration of other amino acids (methionine, threonine, tryptophan) is being studied.
Novel ingredients such as naked oats, new varieties of barley and Irish-grown rapeseed are being studied.
Culling of young breeding sows before they have reached their most productive stage of life is a major concern for pig producers. Nutrition and management of breeding sows are being studied with a view to improving their longevity in the breeding herd.
Health and Welfare
Housing of pregnant sows has evolved from individual penning which allowed greater attention to the needs of the individual to group systems with more opportunity for aggressive interactions between animals in a group. Pen design, diet composition (especially fibre level) and provision of manipulative material all influence sow behaviour including the level of aggression. Straw, soya hulls (incorporated into the feed) and grass silage are being studied as potential manipulative materials.
Some research projects such as the impact of low mineral levels on bone strength straddles the research areas of nutrition, health and welfare, and environment.
Meat Quality
Leanness is the principal quality criterion for pork. Parameters such as colour, tenderness and eating quality receive les attention. The effect of the feeding system to which the sow is exposed during pregnancy is being examined as a result of some evidence that extra feed at critical windows (e.g. day 25 to 50 of gestation) will result in a greater number of muscle fibres at birth, faster growth rate after birth and improved meat quality. Other influences on eating quality of meat which are being studied include castration of males, manipulation of the diet and weight at slaughter.
Food Safety
A study of Salmonella infection in different categories of pigs on farms with a high level of positive animals at slaughter showed that pigs on these farms were exposed to Salmonella earlier in life than had been expected, with a high level of infection in sows. Generally, these herds showed no evidence of clinical Salmonellosis infection but the pigs acted as carrieds with the potential for contamination of meat at slaughter. Many of these farms had a very high level of overall hygiene and an effort is being made to identify management practices related to Salmonella infection. Long-term monitoring of herds with a high incidence of Salmonella showed that acidification of the feed combined with management changes would result in a reduction in infection level.
Environmental Management
Better management of manure from pig units is receiving increased attention in the programme. Technologies such as separation of manure into a solid fraction (rich in phosphorus) and a liquid fractions (rich in nitrogen) allows their separate use on lands with a greater need for a phosphorus–rich (e.g. tillage land) and land with a greater need for nitrogen (grassland).
Production Economics
There is free movement of pigmeat within the EU and therefore competitiveness internationally is critical for profitable pig production and indeed the survival of the industry. Physical and financial performance data is collected and analysed. It is then used to benchmark the individual herd against national standards and to benchmark Irish performance against other countries with and outside the EU.
For further information on these and other pig research, please contact Dr Brendan Lynch:
Email: brendan.lynch@teagasc.ie
Telephone: +353-25-42222
Fax: +353-25-42340
