Swine Efficiency Starts with Understanding the Ingredients that Matter
It is estimated that roughly 1.3 to 1.5 billion pigs are part of the approximate 113 million tons of pork consumed by humans globally1. With pork being both a large component of the critical human food supply chain and a major contributor to other industries, efficient production is more important than ever. Improved animal husbandry through advancements in nutrition, genetic testing, animal drugs, and other factors leads to better feed conversion, healthier animals, and a multitude of other benefits. However, without process verification from start to finish, production facilities may be at risk.
Feed quality matters
Because grain quality is the precursor to efficient hog production, a qualified inspection service should inspect grains upon intake and graded accordingly. This process may include visual inspection for issues like mold, damaged grains, or grains exhibiting other less than ideal physical properties. During this visual inspection, contaminants may also be noted – rocks, excess plant material from harvest, weed seeds, and other foreign material contaminants which should be minimized in livestock feed. Not only does grading grains help the buyer understand the quality of products being purchased for their operation, but it also allows the buyer to set specifications for which grain loads should be rejected.
Knowing your nutrients
Your feed composition contributes to the outcome of your operation. Hogs at different stages of their life or production cycle have different nutritional requirements to support proper growth and production. Without the correct balance of essential nutrients, animals will not grow as efficiently as an operation requires. While essential nutrients vary in function, each is equally important to overall animal health and performance. Nutritional deficiencies lead to disease, poor growth, and a general failure to thrive.
Proximates, otherwise known as a guaranteed analysis, are the most basic component to understanding a feed’s makeup. Protein provides essential amino acids, but an excess of protein in the diet can lead to excess nitrogen in waste. Often, protein is one of the most expensive components of a finished feed. If protein levels are not monitored, ration costs may exceed what is biologically necessary. In addition, producers can incur further expenses associated with excess nitrogen excretion. Monitoring protein levels is especially important when amino acids or enzymes are added to boost digestion efficiency.
Other components of the guaranteed analysis, like fat, vary depending on the age or reproductive status of the animal. Like protein, fat has a significant economic impact for producers–excess fat in a diet is not ideal for the animal’s health, and it adds unnecessary feed costs. Routine proximate analysis of ingredients and finished feeds can help reduce producer costs by enabling rations to be adjusted quickly and accurately based on analytical data.
Understanding the importance of ingredient quantity
As the world continues to focus on environmental sustainability, more pressure is being placed on pork operations to do more with less. That’s where supplementation of feeds with pure amino acids, enzymes, and even use of antibiotics in feed becomes critical. However, without close monitoring, excess costs can creep in through use of more product than needed. On the opposite end, diets may not have the optimal levels to promote expedient growth.
Pure amino acid ingredients added to a ration can make balancing protein inclusion easier. For example, we know lysine is one of the first limiting essential amino acids for hogs. Without the correct levels being provided, they cannot use other amino acids effectively. Growth becomes limited. Amino acids like lysine and even methionine are commonly added to diets in their pure forms, also referred to as “free” forms (meaning not bound to a protein). Amino acid is added to feed with the goal of reducing the amount of protein source needed, which can lower costs and decrease nitrogen loss through excretion. Verification of inclusion rates through analytical chemistry of either free (added) or total contributed by both additives and protein sources helps better understand the overall nutritional profile. Separately, it is imperative to evaluate mixing distribution process efficiency of these amino acids through mixer studies.
Enzymes also serve an important role in feed conversion efficiency as well as promotion of environmental awareness at the producer levels. As catalysts within the digestive environment, enzymes have a wide variety of applications. Generally speaking, enzymes are added to a diet to improve bioavailability and nutrient uptake, reduce nutrient waste, reduce excess nutrients in excrement, and improve overall feed conversion to reduce cost of feed. For example, phytase, a commonly used enzyme in feed manufacturing for both poultry and swine, helps break down phytic (also known as phytate), which promotes nutrient (phosphorus) availability. By making phosphorus more available to the pig, fewer plant-based feed ingredients where phosphorus is inherently present are required. As nutrient availability improves, the need for added minerals lessens, ultimately resulting in lower phosphorus levels in swine waste. Quantification of the enzyme in feed, concentrates, or premix is usually product-specific with very specific condition requirements. Accurate enzyme quantification is essential for the successful use of enzymes in finished products.
Antibiotic use is also a hot topic in industry as concerns grow around resistance, consumer perception, and ethical use. It is critical to ensure feed suppliers meet the qualification standards established by producers regarding the presence or absence of antibiotics in feed products. If meat is being produced as antibiotic-free, but the feed mill processes medicated feeds, how is the feed being verified to ensure it supports that claim? It’s critical to implement a process verifying there is no carryover between medicated and non-medicated products.
In conclusion, feed composition and quality are critical to swine production efficiency. Eurofins Nutritional Analysis Center provides comprehensive analytical solutions that give operations confidence in the feed’s ingredients. In addition, our technical experts help identify potential process verification risks and offer tailored data driven strategies for risk mitigation.
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