BOAR FEEDING AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH.

In pig farming the major aim is to produce large litter sizes that are healthy with high reproductive capacity.The success in pig farming is hinged on genetics as the pig cannot exceed the genetic capacity hence a good genetic line is chosen. Housing and management also influences the outcome of venture, proper housing and animal management is another crucial point. The major key to success is feeding programme,the animals must have access to good quality feed ,balanced and readily available. The importance of feed in the boar cannot be overemphasized as the quality of sperm produced will set the genetic track for the farm. When preparing the feed,you need to ensure that all ingredients that will ensure the following are available; proper muscle development, proper bone development and production of high quality and quantity of sperm. The feed should provide the necessary daily feed intake which must contain dietary energy and protein, additives and vitamins such as organic selenium, vitamin E, zinc, biotin, vitamin C. The breeding boars must be mature animals, so also must the to sows. An underweight or overweight boar or sow will often result in breeding failure,hence feeding should be monitored. Boar libido unlike sperm production, cannot be easily manipulated by changing dietary protein and energy levels but its a known fact only prolonged conditions of over-feeding or under-feeding, and excessive extreme cases of body condition change, can negatively impair boar libido. Scientific research proves that protein and amino acids lysine and methionine + cystine, play an important role in sperm production. In particular, the sulphur-containing amino acids methionine/cystine affect the secretory activity of the epididymis, thus significantly enhancing sperm volume. This effect is very marked in intensively used boars, where sperm production has been shown to be positively influenced when extra protein and methionine was added to the diet. Protein combined with adequate energy intake is very crucial for optimal sperm production.

HOW TO LOWER OCCURRENCE OF BOAR TAINT.

Boars in the value chain have always resulted in tainted pork, which not many people can tolerate.There has been several interventions such as artificial insemination and using castrated males in the chain to reduce the taint,but the success rate has not been high,resulting in more research. Research from the Netherlands are about to publish an extensive research towards the reduction of boar taint when raising and using and entire males in the food chain.The study termed: How to lower occurrence of boar taint. The paper, to be published in the Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences (NJAS) is a summary of a comprehensive study by scientists from various disciplines, attached to the Agricultural Economic Institute (Wageningen UR), Wageningen UR Livestock Research, Vion Fresh Meat and Topigs Research Center IPG. Four themes were aimed at in the research programme: 1)Sensory evaluation of meat from entire male pigs. 2)Preventive measures to reduce boar taint prevalence.3)Accuracy of detection for boar taint.4) The relationship between farm management characteristics and levels of mounting and aggressive behaviour of boars.Using observational and experimental studies data were collected in various segments of the pork supply chain.The researchers conclude that ranking AI boars on their genomic breeding values for low boar taint resulted in a reduction in boar taint prevalence of 40%.The skatole level is lower in boars fed via a long trough than in boars fed by a single space feeder. Few eating places, restricted feeding, a low level of amino acids in the diet, insufficient water supply of the drinking system, illness of the pigs, a suboptimal climate and fear for humans were associated with a higher level of sexual and aggressive behaviour and more skin lesions. A partly open pen wall, clean pens and pigs, wider gaps of the slats, feeding by a long trough, and feeding wet by-products were associated with less sexual and aggressive behaviour and less skin lesions. Having more than 30 animals per pen was associated with a higher probability of high boar taint prevalence levels. Hygienic conditions were associated with lower boar taint prevalence levels. Assessing similarity of the rank order comparison between consumer perception and three selected boar taint detection parameters for the consumer perception attribute odour of meat resulted in the highest Kendall's W values for the human nose scores.In conclusion, boar tainted meat was rated as less pleasant by consumers compared to meat of gilts and non-tainted boar meat, indicating the need of detection as a safety net at the slaughter line. Breeding was an effective preventive measure to reduce boar taint. Farms with appropriate management, feeding and housing conditions have reduced levels of mounting and aggressive behaviour. Human nose scores were a better predictor of the rank order of consumer perception, compared to skatole levels and to androstenone levels. read more here;http://www.pigprogress.net/Growing-Finishing/Management/2016/1/Study-How-to-lower-occurrence-of-boar-taint-2740440W/

"African Swine Fever is a man-made disease"

Dr Klaus Depner and Dr Sandra Blome, of the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut in Germany have new insights about the virus , they have studied cases and are of the opinion that “Most problems are a matter of human misbehavior.”

 African Swine Fever, it should be that the major threat with regard to the virus is not the virus itself, but how humans deal with it.Trials at the FLI showed that there is no difference in the way the ASF virus affects wild boars or domestic pigs.

Logically, one of the major questions that the researchers had when ASF was introduced in 2007 in the Caucasus was: how would the virus spread and behave in wild boars? Depner: “Essentially, we had two hypotheses.

The first one was that the disease in wild boars would die out due to the high virulence of the virus.”Blome: “Roughly, the animals get sick four days after infection.”Depner: “Usually death will follow within three to six days, .

This means that almost all infected hosts will die very quickly, which means that the virus will cease to exist very soon because it kills its host.

In that case, we would not have to worry, ASF would do its job extinguishing itself.”Blome, however, points to the fact that ASF virus is not that contagious. High viral loads are found in blood, but saliva or faeces contain less virus:

“We overestimated the contagiousness of African Swine Fever. The disease moves very slowly. When looking at affected wild boar populations, most of them have not been significantly reduced. The virus doesn’t spread that quickly at all.” Blome adds, “Wild boars shed the virus mainly when they are very sick and in the final stage of the disease.

When the animals have high fever it’s in their character to stay where they are, and they are certainly not going to walk very far when they feel bad.”Depner: “So what we have here is a virus that is very stable in its environment without fast movement. It neither dies out, nor moves.

 Undisposed carcasses of infected wild boars remain infectious for a long time in the environment and become a source of infection for healthy animals.” The human factor; its usually a case of human misbehavior. What happened is that infected meat made it to the market.

When many pigs started to die, they were sent to slaughter. Pig prices dropped, cheap meat entered the market and the meat made its way into homes – and into suitcases. This is how the virus dispersed.

 The virus spread along the main roads, the transport routes. This spread bears a 100% human mark.” Humans can be identified as having aggravated the situation ever since as well.

 Since wild boars have often been thought to be spreading the virus, in several countries attempts were launched to eradicate them – Poor bio security protocols have also been identified as cause of spread of the virus.

Bio security measures include the following; Changing clothes, working hygienically and making sure nothing from the outside reaches the inside.

 Story credit; world poultry.

PIG ABATTOIR.

The abattoir should be situated in well drained area with a good gradient to allow easy run off of waste. The abattoir should be easily accessible with good roads, electricity and close proximity to market.A generator is a necessity in the abattoir,with good supply of portable water. The abattoir should be fitted with overhead rails which have water hose and sprinklers to wash carcass at every slaughtering stage.The walls are tilled to allow easy cleaning and disinfection, the floor is made of cement or concrete so that its easy to wash and disinfect. Raising pigs for profit can be more profitable if a mini abattoir or slaughter house is incorporated in the production chain. A very simple procedure with the use of pulleys/ levers can be used to slaughter pigs in an hygienic way with minimal exposure to contamination. The skin of the pig is not removed as this is eaten along with the meat, with the skin intact much of the meat is not exposed. The hair on the skin is removed by scalding in hot tanks which is at a temp of 60-62°c. The simple sketch shows how the slaughtering is carried out, at the end of the slaughtering process, the carcass are passed on to the processing room, where the cut parts are packed into clean bags for sale.