Page 8 - Australian Pork Newspaper
P. 8

Vet corner: pumping iron leads to heavier weights
WITH porker and ba- coner prices on the rise, all producers are primed on how to produce not only more pigs, but heavier pigs at wean.
It goes unsaid that the more robust and health- ier a pig is at weaning, the less mortality and medication cost a pro- ducer should expect to invest until time to mar- ket.
Whether prices are above or below mar- ket standard, at the end of the day it all comes down to how to produce pork in the safest and most efficient manner possible.
The past decade has seen an enhanced focus on preventative medi- cine.
Good producers are keeping their finger on the pulse of what the industry is doing and the
best producers are then taking it a step further to see how they can set the pace.
Administering supple- mentary iron is a perfect example.
The data is out there, telling us pigs raised in- doors will become anae- mic early on without the administration of sup- plementary iron.
It’s the implementation process where variation, and thus opportunity, lies.
Let’s rehash the basics to make sure we’re all on the same page.
Iron, a mineral that is naturally found in abun- dance in soil, is unavail- able to pigs raised in farrowing crates.
This traditionally hasn’t been a problem because injectable iron is both economical and easy to administer.
Pigs are a unique spe- cies in that they are born with very low iron lev- els.
Studies estimate they are born with roughly 50mg of iron, mostly in the form of haemoglo- bin.
This is critical to un- derstand because iron is the key component that holds oxygen to your red blood cells and makes sure what your lungs are breathing in can be used by your body.
Iron has the added benefit of being critical for the immune system, brain function and mus- cle strength.
Supplementary iron is typically provided either orally or as an injection within the first week of life.
Iron is available in both 100mg/mL and 200mg/ mL concentrations.
Day of administra- tion, as well as route, could potentially be costing your piggery,
both in terms of wean- ing weights as well as feed conversion in the nursery.
Sow milk is a poor substitute for soil when it comes to iron supple- mentation.
Milk provides roughly 1mg of iron/day, which only accounts for about 15 percent of the pig’s daily requirement of 7mg/day.
What’s more, a pig doubles in size in the first week of life.
This requires a tremen- dous increase in iron both for its oxygen car- rying ability as well as muscle (and thus weight) gain.
Studies in 2015 and 2017 in Danish, US and Canadian systems demonstrated there are severe gaps in iron administration protocols that result both in anae-
mia and subsequently decreased average daily gain ADG.
By measuring Hb at weaning, it was deter- mined that 19 out of 20 farms assessed had anaemic pigs at wean- ing.
Several factors could be contributing to these pigs having sub-par iron levels, but at the end of the day, almost every farm was affected, and the effects on their weaning weights were consistent.
Each report recorded it was the largest piglets in the litter that were at the highest risk of devel- oping iron deficiency at weaning.
Thus, our inability to provide adequate iron couldthenbeimplicated in holding these heavy- weight pigs back from maximising their full
growth potential. Consequently, those
pigs with higher Hb lev- els at weaning showed marked ADG advan- tages over their anaemic counterparts, even as far as three weeks post- weaning.
If you are concerned your pigs may be at risk for anaemia, reach out to your Apiam pig veteri- narian today and request an on-farm assessment.
Step 1: Identify if the problem exists.
Step 2: Collaborate with your veterinarian regarding your farm spe- cific data to develop an intervention strategy or new protocol.
Step 3: Reap the ben- efits of heavier weaning weights and improved ADG.
Dr Bri Fredrich Apiam Animal Health Swine Services
can now be used to protect your pregnant and lactating sows
Whole herd protection against Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae. Now for your piglets and sows.
For more information, please contact your Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health Territory Manager.
® Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health Australia Pty. Ltd. Level 1, 78 Waterloo Road, North Ryde NSW 2113. ABN 53 071 187 285. Ingelvac MycoFLEX
Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica GmbH. All rights reserved. AUS/MFX-191028
is a registered trademark of
Bruce McConnel, TSBE and Gavin Ash, USQ.
Future needs of protein feature at conference
FOLLOWING the success of the 2018 Intensive Ag Confer- ence, Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise recently hosted a new event, Protein 2020, bringing together the pork, poultry, beef and dairy sectors with the view to share best practice, advocate for common policy change and allow col- laboration across the sectors.
The Protein 2020 Conference was held in Dalby on March 4, discussing the future needs and availabil- ity of water for our intensive animal in- dustries, the threats and opportunities of African swine fever, industry updates and key investments and the brightest new in- novation assisting our protein sectors.
The following day featured a site tour of a feedlot, followed by a networking dinner.
TSBE Food Lead- ers Australia gen- eral manager Bruce McConnel said with Queensland as Aus- tralia’s largest pro- ducer and exporter of beef, this event is a must attend of indus- try participants.
“Queensland’s agri- cultural industry is a major contributor to
the state’s economy, worth an estimated $16.9 billion in 2014- 15 and has the third- largest food process- ing industry in Aus- tralia,” Mr McConnel said.
“Of this, $13.3 bil- lion was farm gate, with value-added products contributing $3.6 billion.
“The Protein 2020 Conference show- cased the many advan- tages that see contin- ued strong investment in the pork, poultry, beef and dairy sec- tors.”
One of the event guest speakers was Gavin Ash, executive director of the Insti- tute for Life Sciences and the Environment at the University of Southern Queensland.
Mr Ash is respon- sible for leading the new One Basin CRC bid, jointly between USQ and the Univer- sity of Melbourne.
Mr Ash spoke on the Murray-Darling Ba- sin Management and its current and future impacts on Intensive Animal Industries.
Protein 2020 was held at the Dalby Events Centre on Wednesday, March 4 and Thursday, March 5.
www.tsbe.com.au
Page 8 – Australian Pork Newspaper, March 2020
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