Pig Notes September 2009

The Northern Ireland Pig Event 2009 is a ‘one stop’ shop for all involved in the pig industry.  The event will be held on the 16 September at AFBI, Hillsborough and will consist of a mixture of talks, poster displays and demonstrations.  Two sessions have been organised.  The first opens at 10 am, with talks beginning at 11 am.  The second session opens at 6pm, talks start at 7 pm.  Both sessions are the exact same and you can choose which time suits you best.

In addition to the talks and poster displays the committee have also organised a tour of the new Environment and Renewable Energy Centre at Hillsborough.  I know many of you have been thinking about renewable energy and will therefore find this visit of interest.  

In one of the main demonstrations a butcher will cut up a carcase into the various cuts purchased by consumers.  This will let you see the range of cuts that can be produced from a pig carcase.

I look forward to seeing you at the Northern Ireland Pig Event on 16 September at Hillsborough.

Litter size and number of pigs weaned is increasing.  I recently analysed data from 8,300 sows which showed the average born alive per litter is 11.51, with 10.17 pigs weaned per litter.  However, on some units the number of pigs weaned is over 11. A similar trend is occurring in other European countries and the target of 30 pigs weaned per sow per year is now being achieved by some of the top producers.  This increase in pigs born alive and weaned has led some European producers, to provide larger farrowing pens.  In fact, new Danish recommendations now suggest a farrowing pen 2.7m x 1.8m (9’ x 6’).  A few producers in Northern Ireland who have built new farrowing houses recently have also designed the house based on pens 2.7m x 1.8m.  If you are planning to build a new farrowing house it may be worth considering larger pens.

The use of larger farrowing pens is one new development our guest speaker, Peter Best, editor of Pig International, will discuss at the NIPE.  Other new ideas / developments that he will cover in his talk include systems for rearing surplus piglets, systems / methods for increasing feed intake in lactating sows, the right time to move sows to the farrowing house, feed levels for sows and liquid feeding.

On average 0.4 percent of pigmeat is condemned in Northern Ireland.  In other words, approximately 4,500 to 5,000 KG of pigmeat is condemned each week. The main reasons for condemnations include abscesses/pyaemia, pleurisy, nephritis/nephrosis, milk spot and arthritis.  Up until now little information was available to producers on condemnations.  However, it is now possible to obtain ante and post mortem results for your pigs via your own computer.  As the system provides detailed information on why pigs are condemned it therefore allows you to assess overall herd health. The effect of management changes on herd health can also be determined.

If you would like more information on why your pigs are condemned please visit the CAFRE or DARD Veterinary Service stand at the Northern Ireland Pig Event.

As litter size increase are larger farrowing pens required?