Are you looking to rebuild or remodel your swine production facility? The prospect of taking on the rigorous endeavor can be daunting. Russell Gilliam, Alltech's U.S. swine business manager, has a list of areas that he feels are most important for rebuilding a facility to lower costs and increase comfort for workers and pigs. He asks questions that are important to consider and includes helpful tips from his 20 years of experience in the swine industry.

The following is a checklist with Gilliam’s suggestions, consolidated from his talk at ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference 2017.

What are your goals?

What would you like to accomplish? What type of market are you going to sell to? What do you already have in your barns that will work?

Picture your ideal operation. What does it look like? What does it not look like? If you have an ideal operation in mind, you can proceed to making the more technical decisions that are going to produce the facility that will help you reach your goals.

Master checklist for remodeling/rebuilding swine production facilities

Pens

• Crates or pens

This may differ based on your farm location due to laws and regulations.

Questions to consider: How big are your pens? How many pigs per pen? How big are the pigs?

• Penning equipment

“Oftentimes, we select our penning equipment based on the animals in the barn, and we may forget about the opportunity to increase worker safety and comfort while replacing gates,” said Gilliam.

Questions to consider: Does this work for the animal and employees?

TIP: A walk-through gate might be easier for employees to use. Easier access means better animal care and improvements in animal performance.

Facility

• Monitoring equipment

Will the facility be strictly for production, or will there be research done as well?

• Fans

There are different demands based on location and climate. Match your selection to the air quality expectations in your area.

• Heaters

What kind of heater do you really need? Will it be used for small or young pigs, or is one required to heat the barn throughout the life cycle?

• Concrete slats

Check the width of the opening. Is it too wide? Sometimes hooves can get stuck in slats that are too wide, causing injury.

Check the thickness of the slats. Are they strong enough to hold the pigs?

Research the supplier. Do they have a good track record in the industry?

LED or inexpensive lighting

Inexpensive lighting can reduce costs upfront.

LED lighting can extend the day length for pigs, stimulate feed intake and put workers in a better mood.

Although it costs more, LED lights may help you save money in the long run. You will need fewer lights, and they tend to last longer than inexpensive lights. There are also energy grants available in the U.S. for reduced electricity costs.

TIP: “Pigs don’t see very well, so we need to make sure we have the lights placed where they eat and drink,” said Gilliam.

Feed

• Electronic or manual feeding

Electronic feeding allows producers to track the animals’ eating habits in real time: if they are eating, when they are eating and how much they consume. This information can be seen by the producer on his/her phone anywhere.

Manual feeding (hand-feeding or drop boxes) allows for changes or alterations to be made while walking through the barn. Additionally, it eliminates the worry of technology breakdowns.

• Bins

How many bins are needed? Will they run in tandem? How many phases will you feed?

TIP: If feeding in multiple phases, consider adding bins.

Feeding system

There are numerous feeding systems on the market. Match your choice to your expectations and to the volume of feed that will be going through your barn.

TIP: “Keep in mind how many times (the feeding system) will have to turn corners in your barns because some technology can turn around corners easier than others,” said Gilliam.

• Feeders

What type of genetics are you feeding? How do they eat? All day? Three times per day?

TIP: For pigs that eat a certain number of times per day, make sure that the feeder is larger and has more space to help reduce aggression.

Water

• Water meters

“I’m a big fan of water meters,” said Gilliam. “I really feel like they help us to make early production decisions based on the health of our pigs, and it tells us when they’re stressed.”

• Water medicators

Water medicators make it easier to have water interventions. Interventions can be done more quickly and can be monitored to ensure the desired response. There are different styles and types of medicators, and they should be matched to their usage purpose and rate.

• Drinkers

Who is drinking: sows, nursery or grow-finish pigs? Will the drinkers be hanging, swinging or mounted to the wall? Will you use pans, cups or nibble bars?

Consider looking at different types of nipple technology.

TIP: Avoid spraying. In addition to water waste, spraying can scare young pigs. “If we splash them in the face, they have a little bit of reluctance to go drink,” said Gilliam.

Final thoughts

Gilliam said the following three items are his non-negotiables: water medicators, water meters and LED lighting. The extra benefits, especially for the health and welfare of the pig, far outweigh the extra costs.

New technology, such as sensors, can also be beneficial to your operation. Sensors on sows allow convenience and efficiency in multiple areas. They can send a message to your phone when the sow is ready to farrow, prompting a heat lamp to automatically turn on just for that sow and not the entire barn. This greatly reduces energy cost and is better for the overall care of the pigs.

One of the most exciting innovations, however, is electronic barn monitoring. Gilliam calls it “the future of (the pig business).” It allows you to monitor the barn remotely, see problems in specific pens and then communicate it to all your farm workers.

“I can connect every single piece of my farm to my phone and then send it right out to the internet so that my farm managers can see it,” said Gilliam.

Rebuilding or remodeling can be nerve-wracking. However, knowing where to be frugal and where to invest your money will help you make decisions that work best for your operation and, as Gilliam said, “give your animals the opportunity to reach optimum performance.”

In this series, we have investigated the many ways Alltech has harnessed bioscience under the guidance of its ACE principle to reconcile producer profitability with agriculture’s impacts. All of this against a backdrop of a burgeoning global population and increasing concerns about our environmental stewardship. Part four concludes the series with an overview of ACE: where it came from, what it has inspired and how it is leading the company into the future.

Serendipity can happen in a sentence. Consider the origin of the Alltech ACE principle, the architecture of a corporate research and development framework that materialized in the mind of company founder Dr. Pearse Lyons while traveling the world nearly 30 years ago.

Dr. Pearse Lyons, president and founder of Alltech

“We were talking about the things we were doing, the products we were developing and the move against antibiotics,” recalled Dr. Lyons. “Professor Archimede Mordenti, from the University of Bologna, who sadly passed away, was the chairman of a meeting in Italy. He said, ‘I don’t know if you realize it, but you are describing a company that will be friendly to animals, consumers and the environment.’ He could see where we were going, even before we could.”

“ACE” has since become firmly embedded in the Alltech DNA, a guiding reminder that the company’s product lines, programs and concepts must benefit the animal, the consumer and the environment.

That’s a tall order, and it has taken time for the agriculture industry’s priorities to shift in the direction of this more holistic philosophy.

“ACE was not popular amongst animal farmers when first proposed at the Alltech Symposium in 1989 by professor Mordenti,” said Aidan Connolly, Alltech's chief innovation officer and vice president of corporate accounts. “Most believed that animal production should only focus on food availability, affordability and safety. How far our industry has come.”

Aidan Connolly, vice president and chief innovation officer

This vision was indeed somewhat radical at a time when the application of chemicals and antibiotics dominated agriculture’s approach to issues impeding productivity.

“Dr. Lyons decided from the beginning that it was not going to be a chemical or antibiotic-based approach to food animal nutrition,” added Dr. Kate Jacques, Alltech nutrition director. “They were going to dump money into research to find new ways around it. Thirty years ago, that was a very radical idea. It was one we had to drag into the light.”

“We went against the stream,” remembered Dr. Lyons. “Indeed, on a couple of occasions, when we made awards to people who had made breakthroughs, the industry reacted against us and we lost customers. However, we stuck to our guns, and the fact now is that we have literally billions of chickens and pigs around the world on the Alltech Antibiotic-Free program.”

Scientific to the core

Science in support of sustainability is the foundation of ACE. But in the early days of the company, industry resistance to this idea was not the only obstacle the company had to overcome.

“We were starting a business in Kentucky, and we did not have the people with the specific knowledge in the areas that we were to be working,” noted Dr. Lyons. “So, we had to effectively develop our own team. Therefore, we developed the people through our Ph.D. and master’s degree programs.

“We are very proud of the fact that we have had over 260 people do their master’s degree and Ph.D.s with us,” he continued. “We pay two-thirds of the cost, and they pay one-third. When they finish their program, we pay them the one-third of the cost, plus another one-third. It is by reinvesting in education that we have been able to build our business.”

An architecture for ideas

Creating such career-advancing educational opportunities has attracted dedicated, highly educated professionals to work within the ACE structure. Their innovations have positioned Alltech to offer an array of sustainable alternatives to the use of chemicals and antibiotics in farming.

Among the earliest products in the company portfolio is Sel-Plex®, Alltech's proprietary organic form of selenium yeast. Manufactured to mimic Mother Nature, this organic form is better absorbed, stored and utilized by the animal than inorganic selenium.

“We pioneered the fact that you could use one-third the level of minerals if you put it into the biologically appropriate form,” said Dr. Lyons. “As a matter of fact, you will see a two-thirds reduction in pollution and, indeed, improvement in animal and human performance.”

A turning point was reached 10 years ago in Alltech’s work in nutrigenomics, the study of the interaction of nutrition and genes, especially in regard to the prevention or treatment of disease: humans may also see a direct benefit from Alltech’s mineral technology.

The research has indicated that when fed to animals, Sel-Plex favorably altered the activity of certain biological pathways associated with several serious human illnesses, Alzheimer’s disease prominent among them.

“Out of this work came the observation by the late professor Bill Markesbery of the University of Kentucky’s Sanders-Brown Center on Aging that there was an opportunity on the human side for Alzheimer’s patients,” said Dr. Lyons. “From his observation, we launched a research program to find the active ingredients. Here we are today with our AT-001 (Sel-Plex) now in Phase II of the FDA’s clinical studies for Alzheimer’s.”

The paradigm shifts

In recent years, the agriculture industry has been turning to these rapidly emerging, often revolutionary technologies to support production and profitability while sustaining a healthy environment and serving an increasingly aware and demanding consumer.

“The ACE principle has long served as the primary driving force and standard for developing all new research, product lines and applications,” said Dr. Karl Dawson, Alltech’s chief scientific officer. “It is truly part of our research culture at Alltech. Our approach has always been to use the most recent biotechnologies to investigate, develop and apply natural solutions to many of the problems that limit the efficiencies of agricultural production.”

These have included the science of nutrigenomics, as well as some of the most advanced tools in molecular and analytical chemistry, and trend-setting fermentation technologies.

Going bananas in Costa Rica

Alltech Crop Science provides an example with its non-chemical solution to black sigatoka, also known as “black leaf streak," a fungal blight plaguing the banana groves of Costa Rica.

Kyle McKinney examines banana leaves for signs of black sigatoka.

“From a consumer standpoint and part of ACE, the consumer is driving down inputs on crops,” noted Dr. Kyle McKinney, Alltech Crop Science development manager for Central America and the Caribbean. “They want healthier foods for their families to eat. That’s the big reason we started the project in Costa Rica, but that’s really the overall spectrum of Alltech Crop Science.”

Deploying Alltech’s soil-microbiome stimulating Soil-Set® and plant nutrition supplement Agro-Mos®, McKinney and his team have developed a consumer- and environment-friendly alternative to the practice of weekly aerial sprayings of chemical fungicides.

In the interest of ethical productivity

Animal health and welfare have always been a key component of Alltech research and product development strategies.

“The well-being of animals is not only important to our view of the ethical treatment of livestock, but also results in more productive agricultural practices,” said Dawson. “This has resulted in the development of feed supplementation strategies that use natural ingredients and fermentation products to improve health and improve nutrition.”

Alltech animal nutrition strategies are designed to benefit the spectrum of species, from ruminants and swine to poultry and fish, to horses and pets.

“Apart from strictly reducing the amount of a pollutant like methane that comes from an animal, we also look at the efficiency with which these animals produce food for humans, said Alltech research project manager Amanda Gehman. “If we can have an efficient animal, that animal is by nature a more environmentally sustainable animal.”

An Alltech facility in Winchester, Kentucky, acquired in 2010, has since become one of the world’s largest commercial algae production sites. Work taking place there addresses the pressure on wild fisheries to provide fish oil and fish meal to the world’s expanding aquaculture operations. As a consequence of overfishing, many wild fisheries have been teetering on collapse.

“We believe we have a real solution in our algae that will reduce reliance on fish oil while increasing the amount of DHA available to farmed fish and, ultimately, to consumers,” said Dr. Jorge Arias, Alltech’s global director for aquaculture.

The new Alltech Coppens Aqua Centre in the Netherlands is working to deliver new technologies, including algae, aimed at achieving greater efficiency and sustainability.

Since joining Alltech in 2016, Coppens International, an aquatic feed solutions company in the Netherlands, has collaborated with Alltech’s research teams to introduce several new algae-based products containing innovative technologies such as ForPlus®, a sustainable algae-derived fish oil replacer that delivers very high levels of DHA..

Concern for the consumer

Why would an animal feed company have interest in ensuring high levels of DHA?

Western diets are seriously deficient in this omega-3 fatty acid that is a primary structural component of the human brain, cerebral cortex, skin and retina. Yet, vertebrates do not manufacture DHA, so it must be consumed in our foods.

“What we’re doing with our DHA enrichment program is making omega-3 fatty acids more accessible to the consumer by adding them to food products that they already enjoy eating, that they already buy, that they already know how to prepare, that are fairly inexpensive and are convenient,” explained Nikki Putnam, registered dietitian nutritionist and a nutrition solutions specialist at Alltech. “So, chicken, eggs, dairy products, beef, bacon — we can put DHA in all of those food products.”

Where all of this is going

Alltech continues to invest in natural-based approaches to agricultural production. Over the last decade, guided by its ACE “North Star,” the company has embraced many new scientific technologies that can be used as tools to improve understanding of feeds and feed management.

As Alltech’s chief scientist, Dawson envisions the development of ways to naturally improve disease resistance, reproductive health and the overall comfort of livestock using new feeds, ingredients and more precise nutrient management practices.

Connolly, ever mindful of connecting the dots between farm and table, anticipates increasing consumer demand for products that are clean, in keeping with their values, aspirations, ethics and expectations.

“In fact, this fits with the ACE principle,” he noted. “Alltech’s development of new strategies to allow farmers to remove hormones from beef production, antibiotics of all types from the feed of poultry or pigs, to help reduce viral diseases or avoid parasitic challenges such as sea lice, all of these are animal-friendly, consumer-acceptable and don’t negatively affect the environment.”

Read our entire ACE series:

The Animal

The Consumer

The Environment

Piglets should be weaned at an appropriate age and body weight to ensure that they continue their desired growth curve. Poor growth, immaturity and high variability within the litter can lead to variation in performance as the piglets progress through the grower and finisher phases, causing increases in costs at slaughter. This may negate the “all-in/all-out” (AIAO) strategy used on many farms, in which pigs reach age when they have reached finished weight.

All piglets should be checked at weaning

Monitoring weight gain immediately before weaning is important to make sure that there are no growth issues in the first seven days after weaning. Several strategies can be implemented to avoid problems with subsequent performance.

All piglets should be checked at weaning to ensure target and uniform weights are attained. The manager can either group piglets by litters or by body weight; both groups have pros and cons, so the choice should be consistent across litters.

During the first four days after weaning, specific attention to the housing environment is essential to eliminate cold spots and draughts. Solid boards, rather than slatted floors, should be used.

All weaned piglets must have free access to clean water

They should also be provided with highly digestible feed that they find palatable. The feed should be soaked with water for the first two days to encourage intake.

Feed should be offered in enough open dishes to allow free access for all the animals during the first three days post-weaning. Troughs should be large enough to supply feed to all piglets after this date. Poor access to feed can lead to smaller animals being excluded from feeding.

Use a highly digestible and palatable diet

Diets should include proven enzyme supplementation to enhance digestion, as well as products such as Actigen®, which will balance microflora and contribute to good gut health at this important time. Specialist ingredients, such as nucleotides, can be used to promote the development of the digestive tract. Creep feed should be available little and often throughout the day — perhaps four or five times — and any refusals or stale feed should be discarded.

Group the pigs by weight

Seven days or so after weaning, any small piglets should be removed and placed together in a separate pen within the same house. They should be maintained on the creep diet for longer to allow their body weight to catch up with their siblings. Any in-feed medication prescribed by a veterinarian should be administered during the first 10 days after weaning.

Use different diets according to body weight and age

As the piglets progress in age and weight, diets must be adjusted to match their changing requirements. The environment needs to be controlled and changed accordingly (e.g., temperature). This will prevent the development of respiratory and other diseases as well as help maintain optimal conditions for growth and health.

Feeding age-and weight-appropriate diets with proven zootechnical ingredients to promote digestive function and the ideal gut environment are crucial to the development and efficiency of the intestinal tract. Without the appropriate diet, or if the pigs are exposed to gut pathogens, the villi that line the gut may be damaged. This may lead to atrophy and poor endogenous enzyme secretions, poor mucous protection and reduced nutrient absorption. Because only minimal amounts of feed are consumed during the pre-weaning period, attention to detail during this stage is important for the health and productivity of the animals until slaughter age.

Key factors dictate the degree of villus atrophy

Several factors affect the chances of the piglet developing atrophied villi after weaning. The age and weight at weaning is important, as this is a measure of the animal’s maturity and ability to cope with weaning stresses. Environmental factors within the house are also important; if not controlled correctly, it can add further stress to the piglet and make it more susceptible to disease.

Feed should be palatable and highly digestible to ensure that it is digested in the upper ileum and does not bypass enzyme breakdown, which can result in the feed flowing into the hind gut, where it will act as a substrate for non-beneficial bacteria. This can lead to the development of gastrointestinal disease. Certainly, protein is important in this respect, as bypassed protein can be utilized by toxic bacteria such as Clostridia spp. Feed and water hygiene will help reduce the introduction of many pathogens into the piglets, and whilst feed is often monitored, water troughs and water quality may not always be. Many pathogens are transmitted via dirty water systems.

To arrange a complimentary Alltech Pig ASSIST audit for your herd, please contact us at pig@alltech.com.

The quality and stability of animal-derived food products, including pet foods, will depend on the management, diet and genetics of that animal. What an animal is fed can directly impact their antioxidant defense system. Incorporating dietary antioxidants and other functional feed ingredients can minimize oxidative damage, which will impact the end product (and pet food ingredient): meat.

When we are talking about food, whether for people or pets, oxidative deterioration will impact palatability. Oxidative damage to lipids and proteins produces rancid off-flavors and off-odors and decreases textural characteristics. But even more importantly, when proteins are oxidized, there is a loss of important amino acids, which are necessary for pets’ growth, development and overall health.

More to minerals

Minerals are necessary for proper biological function and good health. They are especially important in maintaining the antioxidant and oxidant balance within humans, livestock and pets. Some key players involved in maintaining this balance are antioxidant enzymes, such as glutathione peroxidase, catalase and superoxide dismutase. But, minerals are a double-edged sword. They can be beneficial or detrimental depending on the quantity fed and the form used.

Going full circle

Making sure pets get the right nutrition for optimal health means we need to look at what livestock animals are fed.

Organically complexed minerals are more bioavailable than their inorganic counterparts, which means we don’t need to add as many minerals to the diet of livestock. By replacing and reducing the amount of minerals in the diet, we can restore the oxidative balance in the animal and, in turn, the meat ingredient in pet food. Research has shown that feeding organically complexed forms of selenium, iron, zinc and copper can increase antioxidant enzyme activity in skeletal muscle. Also, by including fat-soluble antioxidants, such as vitamin E and/or carotenoids, we can inhibit lipid oxidation and subsequently protein oxidation in muscle. This will translate to more nutritious, delicious and better-quality ingredients being fed to pets.

I want to learn more about pet nutrition.

Excessive plant growth can reflect hormonal imbalance

Contrary to popular belief, plant growth is not directly linked to an increase in yield. For example, in beans, excessive vegetative development can lead to self-shading, a condition in which the lower leaves, where the productive areas of the plant are located, do not receive sunlight. This impedes photosynthesis, decreasing the productivity of the plant.

According to agronomist Fransérgio Batista, grain specialist and technical manager for Alltech Crop Science, this occurrence signifies a hormonal imbalance in the plant.

“There is a plant hormone, auxin, which is responsible for plant growth,” explained Batista. “When the plant develops excessively, it’s because there is too much of this hormone acting on the plant. This also inhibits the production of other hormones that are important to the plant.”

Intent on improving the balance of his bean crop, Joel Ragagnin, a grower from Jataí, in the state of Goiás, Brazil, added natural products that are based on plant extracts, nutrients and amino acids to his management practices. This combination aids the crop in balanced plant development.

“By having better control over plant growth, we can improve the productivity indexes on the farm,” said Ragagnin.

According to Batista, because photosynthesis is vital to the plant, keeping leaves green and healthy should be a prime objective of crop management.

“There are leaves from the lower to the upper parts of the plant,” said Batista. “A plant that produces is a plant that photosynthesizes in all its leaves. This is a key process for the plant.“

In addition to the use of crop inputs that contribute to the hormonal balance of the plant, the agronomist noted the importance of plant nutrition, the availability of water during the entire growth cycle and the control of pests and diseases for attaining adequate crop development.

“Through these methods, it’s possible for the producer to have an even more significant response,” concluded Batista.

Biostimulants enhance nutrient assimilation and plant development. They are becoming a popular crop input in many countries around the world for several reasons.

Benefits to using biostimulants on your farm

1. Biostimulants assist in combating the effects of environmental stresses.

Biostimulants promote enhanced germination and root development, leading to increased vigor and greater stress resistance. An enhanced root system promotes more efficient nutrient and water uptake and translocation throughout the growing season.

2. Biostimulants increase grain fill and quality.

Promoting growth and improvinga plant’s metabolism can benefit overall plant growth and health. In addition, providing a catalyst at specific developmental stages can lead to increased yield, improved uniformity and overall crop quality.

3. Biostimulants encourage plant growth.

Biostimulants generally operate through different mechanisms than standard fertilizers and provide essential nutrients for plant metabolism that stimulate plant growth. These metabolic pathways upregulate gene expression that can have an effect on cell division and sizing, root and shoot growth, and reproductive development and timing.

Your agronomist or crop advisor can give you more information on incorporating biostimulants into your current crop management program.

When scouting for disease in your crops, it is important to remember that sometimes the cause of the symptoms is not obvious. Diseases can be caused by a variety of factors, such as environmental stressors, reactions to various fertilizers or herbicides, nutritional deficiencies or soil problems. Therefore, it can be difficult to pinpoint the cause of the disease and determine an appropriate treatment.

When scouting your crops for disease, pay particular attention to these three plant parts:

1. Examine the roots

“Windshield scouting” while driving the fields doesn’t work because disease is not always easily visible to the human eye. To ensure you are catching any sign of disease before it progresses, it is important to get into the field and dig up a few plants to examine the roots. Look for unhealthy roots that may have lesions. To get a better look, try washing the roots with water and then cutting them up the middle to examine for any sign of internal infection.

2. Examine the leaves

Especially during flowering, make sure to look at the leaves and sheaths on each plant. Pay attention to lesions, which will help you determine the amount of leaf infection.

3. Examine the stem and heads

When examining the stems, heads and pods of plants, be sure to split them apart for a closer look at the inside, observing any discoloration that could be caused by fungi or bacteria. Also, check the outside of the stems, heads and pods of the plants for signs of fungal material or lesions.

Scouting for disease is critical to ensure early intervention. Samples should be taken of all suspect crops and submitted to a trusted lab, such as Quantum Genetix, that can test for disease.
 

How does Dan Donavan of Murphy and Sons increase yields and improve the quality of his tomatoes which are destined for restaurants like Subway, and What-A-Burger? He looks under the soil at root structure, of course, and that’s where Alltech Crop Science comes in.

Telmo Cristina, an industrial tomato producer in central Portugal, tells how Alltech Crop Science solutions improved the quality of his produce and helped him to better meet the demands of the tomato concentrate industry.

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