FNL Swine Grist - Summer 2022

Swine Grist

A PERIODIC NEWSLETTER PRODUCED

BY GRAND VALLEY FORTIFIERS VOLUME 24, ISSUE 2 | SUMMER 2022

Dear Friends, It was a real pleasure for me and a number of our GVF team members from Ontario to recently participate in an Alberta & Saskatchewan Technical Talk and BBQ Tour, meeting with Fortified Nutrition team members and customers in five locations across these two beautiful and vast provinces. In most regions that we travelled, as long as the “big white combine” hadn’t visited the fields, crops were looking good with much better moisture levels being achieved this growing season.

After being kept from visiting for some time due to COVID travel restrictions, it was wonderful to be with one another again! Both Dr. Samuel Waititu (FNL Nutritionist, Winnipeg) and Victoria Seip, MSc. (Ontario) provided informative presentations on the importance of feed conversion (and strategies to improve FCR) during these days of high feed costs. The article authored by Samuel contained within this edition of the Swine Grist provides some of the very interesting information that he presented during the BBQ tour. Lord willing, we will be participating in a similar Technical Talk and BBQ Tour in the province of Manitoba, September 6th (Brandon), 7th (Starbuck), 8th (Darlington). We are truly looking forward to our time together with FNL team members and customers in Manitoba.

I trust that you will enjoy this edition of the Swine Grist and find the information contained herein helpful to your swine operation.

Sincerely, Ian Ross, President & CEO

NUTRITIONAL STRATEGIES TO ALLEVIATE HEAT STRESS IN SOWS

by: YOUNGJI RHO Monogastric Nutritionist, Grand Valley Fortifiers

C

ompared to other animals, pigs are naturally more sensitive to heat as they lack sweat glands and have relatively small lungs compared to their body size, making it harder for them to release heat by panting. The thermoneutral zone for sows ranges from 15 to 22°C with 60 to70 % relative humidity. Therefore, when the temperature rises above the sow’s upper critical temperature (24 -25°C), a sow is unable to or has more difficulty maintaining her homeostatic body temperature. This in turn means she will suffer from “heat stress”.

The impact of heat stress on sows has been well documented.

However, many underestimate how heat stress negatively influences sow performance and longevity. Modern pigs are more prone to heat stress compared to the ones from decades ago as they are leaner and more productive which contributes to generating more body heat.

Impact of heat stress in sows

Reduced feed intake (FI) is often seen in sows suffering from heat stress. The reduced FI can be due to the animal trying to reduce the heat produced by consuming feed. Heat stressed sows can also suffer from respiratory alkalosis. Blood alkalosis occurs when sows are panting excessively, leading to increased losses of CO2 in the body, resulting in increased blood pH. Respiratory alkalosis causes imbalances of various biochemical and physiological functions in the sows body, therefore effort should be made to avoid it.

Heat stress can also impair feed digestibility in sows, which can lead to negative energy balance, poor body condition and less milk yield. During heat stress, more blood flow is redistributed towards the periphery of the sow to release excess heat. This results in reduced blood flow to other organs including the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) which can result in inflammation, oxidative stress, and damaged tissues. Consequently, heat stress is in large part an immune response associated with “leaky gut.”

Heat stress can also compromise reproductive efficiency. Sows exposed to high temperatures have smaller and slower follicular growth after weaning. This results in increased number of sows showing anestrus and silent estrus, ovulation failure, and longer weaning to estrus intervals (WEI). It is important to remember that the follicular size at weaning determines the WEI. Additionally, sows mated in the summer months tend to have lower farrowing rates, which is likely due to early pregnancy disruption. Given all the above, we can clearly see that managing heat stress is critical in sows.

Nutritional strategies to alleviate heat stress

There are environmental management and nutritional strategies to avoid or reduce the impact of heat stress on sows. Environmental strategies such as, better ventilation, drip/sprinkler cooling, floor cooling and reducing the pen density can be very effective. However, these environmental changes may not be possible at certain facilities and/or may require more time and investment. Although less direct, nutritional strategies can be quicker and effective when environmental changes can not be made.

Water is the most important nutrient as it plays a role in various metabolic functions. Therefore, water supply is crucial all year round, but especially during the summer months as requirements increase. Water

Samuel Waititu, Ph.D. | Saymore Ndou, Ph.D. Monogastric Nutritionists

Ian Ross, President | David Ross, VP & CMO Martin Clunies, Ph.D. | Tanka Khanal, Ph.D. |

AB/SK: 1-866-610-5770 | MB: 1-866-626-3933 fortifiednutritionltd.com

Tom Reidy | Adam Totafurno | Youngji Rho, Ph.D., Monogastric Nutritionists

Combining nutritional strategies along with improved environmental conditions can help reduce the negative impacts of heat stress even further, allowing your sows to remain healthy and productive year-round.

lines should be checked more often to make sure good supply of clean water is being provided, and the drinker height should be checked for easier access.

Changing the feeding time to a cooler time of the day such as the early morning and late evenings may improve the feed intake. However, if this is not possible other nutritional strategies should be considered.

As mentioned above, reduced feed intake in sows during heat stress is one of the major concerns. Feeding a diet formulated to have low thermic effect can reduce the heat generated from feed consumption. This can be accomplished by increasing the use of fat sources, reducing the protein and/or fiber content of the diet. Compared to other energy sources, fat has the highest digestibility and generates the least amount of internal heat.

Reducing protein content in the diet can also reduce the amount of heat being produced during protein digestion. It has been shown that when a low protein diet (13.8 vs 18.7% CP) was fed to lactating sows, heat production decreased from 288.7 to 154.8 MJ/(BW0.75) in sows housed under thermal neutral conditions. However, while reducing the protein content, it is important to supply and balance the amino acids required with the currently available crystalline amino acids.

In recent years, a lot of attention has been focused on “fiber”, as gut health has been the hot topic. However, fiber fermentation which occurs in the hindgut generates heat. Therefore, fiber inclusion should be also carefully looked at during times of heat stress.

As mentioned earlier, heat stress can cause alkalosis. Supplying electrolytes such as sodium or potassium can restore the electrolytic balance. This can be supplied in feed or in water.

Betaine supplementation can protect cells from osmotic stress, especially in the GIT as high osmotic regulation occurs in the GIT. Betaine is also known to convert homocysteine to methionine. Sulfur amino acids such as methionine and cysteine are critical in maintaining intestinal function and integrity. During heat stress as gut barrier function is compromised, supplying methionine can increase epithelial regeneration. It has been also found that betaine supplementation to lactating sows experiencing heat stress resulted in increased follicle development and numerically increased farrowing rate. Additionally, supplementing extra levels of feed additives like zinc and antioxidants (e.g., Vitamin E and selenium) have been shown to protect the intestinal barrier integrity during heat stress as well.

Fatty acids especially n-3 and n-6 are critical in oocyte quality as it is an energy substrate for oocyte maturation and are precursors for prostaglandins which is important for uterine health postpartum, follicle develoment, and ovulation. During heat stress, with the reduced FI and negative energy balance, it is important to supplement these fatty acids as they can be depleted.

It is important to understand the detrimental impact of heat stress to sows, and the options to alleviate it. Making management changes to reduce the environmental impact on sows should be priority #1.

Liu, F., Zhao, W., Le, H. H., Cottrell, J. J., Green, M. P., Leury, B. J., and Bell, A. W. (2021). What have we learned about the effects of heat stress on the pig industry?. Animal, 100349.

Lucy, M. C., & Safranski, T. J. (2017). Heat stress in pregnant sows: thermal responses and subsequent performance of sows and their offspring. Molecular Reproduction and Development, 84(9), 946-956.

Mayorga, E. J., Renaudeau, D., Ramirez, B. C., Ross, J. W., and Baumgard, L. H. (2019). Heat stress adaptations in pigs. Animal Frontiers, 9(1), 54-61.

Williams, A. M., Safranski, T. J., Spiers, D. E., Eichen, P. A., Coate, E. A., and Lucy, M. C. (2013).

Effects of a controlled heat stress during late gestation, lactation, and after weaning on thermoregulation, metabolism, and reproduction of primiparous sows. Journal of animal science, 91(6), 2700-2714.

Zhang, S., Johnson, J. S., and Trottier, N. L. (2020). Effect of dietary near ideal amino acid profile on heat production of lactating sows exposed to thermal neutral and heat stress conditions. Journal of animal science and biotechnology, 11(1), 1-16.

COMMODITY PRICES GOING UP, UP, AND AWAY?

by: MARTIN CLUNIES, PHD & KEN VANDERHEYDEN Monogastric Nutrition, Garand Valley Fortifiers

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ho would have thought that after the increase in grain and commodities prices to mid October of 2021, that they would continue to rise further? Certainly not us! In the interim grains and protein concentrates have risen another 34 to 40%. Back in October 2021 corn and Soybean meal was $254 and $513 respectively, now that looks like a great deal compared to the present cost of $395 and $715 respectively.

Similarly, DDGS the next most popular alternative ingredient of most livestock diets has seen a 34% rise in price from $290 to $390 today. Also, the price of the amino acid, lysine has almost doubled during this time, while fat has also doubled albeit over the last 15 months. Thankfully, the price of hogs and cattle have also risen, as a result maximizing the performance and weight of each has been the objective of farmers. All these have increased the demand for high quality, performance diets to take advantage of these great livestock markets.

The question is where do we go from here? The war in the Ukraine has certainly had an impact on the rise in prices and will continue to impact our grain prices going forward. The Ukraine with its rich soils today accounts for 12.3 % of the world’s 2020 corn exports. In 2019, the Ukraine increased its corn production to 35.9 million metric tonnes, from 25 million in 2017. Exporting more than 20 million metric tonnes of corn in 2020, ranked the Ukraine 4th largest exporter behind United States, Brazil and Argentina in that order. The Ukraine accounts for 8% of the world’s wheat exports, ranked 5th behind Russia, United States of America, Canada and France. With the war, the planting of corn and wheat in the Ukraine are suspect to this point. In a world where supply and consumption are within 2-4 percentage points of each other, the disappearance of the Ukraine’s contribution to world grain exports could have a big impact on the future prices of corn and wheat. In retrospect, Russia accounts for 11.6% of world oil exports, yet look at the impact that sanctioning oil has had on the global energy market, all this from an industry that just has to open the taps a bit more for supply. With corn and wheat, we have to wait on the next growing season and the impact of weather and growing conditions on eventual yields. What I am

Swine Grist suggesting is we tighten the seat belts, we may be going for a bit more of a wild ride, not being sure of how much that has been accounted for I think we may be partly there already.

So, what are the strategies going forward for economical minded livestock farmers? We assume that most producers grow the corn their birds, or livestock require, or a good proportion of that. As indicated previously, securing the protein supply has been the most pressing priority for livestock farmers. Maximizing the use of DDGS to the point the animals will tolerate should be the priority in most minds. DDGS almost always saves money, the limit to its use is the amounts birds or pigs will tolerate in their diets. Increasing Hi-Pro DDGS to 75 kg dietary inclusion has little difference in bird or pig performance. This will save 33 kg of soybean meal for a net savings of about $15/T of feed. Thereafter performance is reduced incrementally, though often the nutrient profile of the diet can be adjusted to retain performance until 150 kg of Hi-Pro DDGS included in poultry diets and 300 kg for pig diets. Including Hi-Pro DDGS at 150 kg saves 55 kg soybean meal and $28 per T of feed. At higher inclusions of DDGS, ingredients such as iso-leucine and valine are available at the right price to balance the diet correctly, when combined with the addition of a soluble carbohydrase enzyme this will further increased the bird’s/ pig’s ability to tolerate these high levels of DDGS in the formulations.

While maximizing DDGS usually saves money by reducing the amount of soybean meal required in the diets, this will replace some of the corn in the diets, reducing the usage of corn. Depending on the farm’s corn inventory situation this may be desirable or not.

The other strategy is to reduce the use of expensive soybean meal by maximizing the use of synthetic amino acids. Looking on a combination of amino acids for poultry which includes methionine, lysine and threonine we can reduce the soybean meal by 45 kg, with a net savings of $14 /T of feed. If we combine this with DDGS then we can reduce soybean meal by 100 kg with very little difference of farm purchased ingredients.

The other strategy, which is a bit counterintuitive to most at this time, is to make the best feed possible for the best feed efficiency. Typically, with most formulations maximum output of eggs and body weight is the objective. To obtain the best efficiency requires including more nutrients in the feed and increasing resulting feed costs. With today’s high feed costs, investing in protein provides the best returns on investment (ROI).

Attempting to improve feed efficiency by including fat/oil in the diet may not provide a return on the dollars invested, due to the high cost of the fat/oil choices.

If we are considering returns or savings from livestock operations, then manure is an important contributor to the farm. This year, manure from the pig barns may become the most valuable commodity on the farm, providing nitrogen and phosphorus for starting crops and optimizing output. Given time with more forewarning the manure could be optimized to provide more Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium by selecting the ingredients used in the feeds. In this last year, we have seen some producers who elect to reduce the use of phytase in their feeds instead supplementing with more Mono-di-calcium phosphate to their formulations, preparing their manure for replacing high priced crop inputs.

The rising costs of grains and feed commodities, has livestock farmers looking for means to minimize their cost of production. Sourcing protein supply is the critical priority for farms making their own feed. We will have to make decisions based on supply, using what is available. DDGS is a viable alternative to Soybean meal. The amounts we can include in the diet are dependant on the pig’s ability to tolerate it. The combination of DDGS and amino acids offers the best opportunity to save feed dollars, in addition formulating to the optimum nutrition provides the best returns per kg of body weight.

EVALUATION OF THE BIOFORCE GROWER-TO-FINISH FEEDING PROGRAM (CASE STUDY PART 3)

BOOSTING PERFORMANCE AND PROFITS USING A FIBER DEGRADING ENZYME by: DR. SAMUEL WAITITU Monogastric Nutritionist, Fortified Nutrition Ltd

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t’s a great relief to see the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions pressure waning. It reminds us that there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. In this article, we are excited to report another milestone in our ongoing BioForce grower-to-finish (GF) trial focussing on improving profits.

Just for a recap, in the first and second articles of this series, we reported the growth enhancement power and carcass quality measurements, respectively.

Seeing consistent good results on performance and carcass quality measurements for over a year, the farm managers running the trial posed the question, can we improve the program to boost growth performance and profitability? Our answer was yes, but there is a price to pay! Obtaining excellent performance is serious business and not cheap but the results are more rewarding. We proposed to trial a fiber degrading enzyme hoping to improve nutrients and energy digestibility and thereby reduce the feed conversion ratio (FCR, is the quantity of feed needed to gain 1 kg body weight).

Why focus on reducing FCR? Feed represents 60 to 80% of the production cost. Why focus on the grower-to-finish stage? It’s because 75 % of feed is consumed in grower-to-finish phase. As hog producers, we do not have control over the market price of hogs, hence we cannot only dream of improved profits by hog price increases because they happen slowly and are subject to sudden down shifts. Therefore, the most excellent way to obtain the highest sustainable profits is by reducing feed cost. Here lays a trap, a salesman who sells on price will sell inefficiency at a low cost, whereas a salesman who sells on value will sell efficiency for its true worth. For instance, why invest in a program where a $50 investment yields $10 profit when you could get a $20 profit from a $60 investment?

Here is something worth thinking about! From weaning to finish, one pig on average consumes about 330 kg of feed, that is approximately 30 kg in the nursery, and 300 kg in the grower-to-finish stage. If you are using a 5 kg micro in the grower-to-finish stage, then each pig needs only 1.5 kg of the micro to make it to market weight. Hence, 298.5 kg which equals 99.5% of the required feed represents other farm inputs: grains, limestone, dical, salt, amino acids and vegetable oil. So, where do you cut cost? In the grower-to-finish phase. How does it happen? When pigs eat less feed but gain more body weight! Such a feeding program is marketed on FCR basis.

We tested this hypothesis by supplementing the BioForce GF 5 kg micro with a fiber degrading enzyme and compared the average performance of pigs during the 6 months with the enzyme to that of the preceding 6 months (Table 1). In this barn, pigs enter grower phase at 30 kg average body weight and the target market live weight is 130 kg.

Table 1: Growth performance of grower pigs fed BioForce GF 5 kg micro-based rations without or with a fibre degrading enzyme.

Average of 6 months Without Enzyme

Average of 6 months With Enzyme

Average Days in Grow-Finish

95

95

Mortality (%)

1.8

1.6

Performance Indicator

for tifiednutritionltd.com

Overall Gain/Hog (kg)

96

98

ADG Grow-Finish (g/d)

1010

1036

Feed/Pig Grower-Finish (kg)

302

298

FCR Grower-Finish

3.15

3.04

Average Hog Weight on Truck (kg)

130

132

Average # of Hogs Left in Load Out

97

46

Supplementing the enzyme reduced mortality by 0.2% and feed intake/hog by 4 kg but increased overall gain/hog by 2 kg. In the 6 months pigs received the enzyme supplemented rations, the growerfinish feed cost/kg was $0.46 and the cost of enzyme per pig was $1.14.

Hence, considering savings due to the reduced feed consumption, the profit/hog due to the enzyme was $0.70, a 61% return on investment (ROI). If we computed the value of reduced mortality and the extra 2 kg gained/hog, the enzyme would have over 100% ROI. That is the impact of just a 3.5% improvement on FCR which means we can do even much better.

The message from this trial to the producers on choosing a feeding program is clear: keep an eye on the grower-to-finish stage, and don’t buy based on cost, instead buy considering the feed conversion efficiency for that’s where the profit is hiding.

high and with rumours of a shortage of diesel around the world and strongly inflationary numbers, it is unlikely the price will be dropping anytime soon.

Phosphates

While corn and soy markets are not reacting as strongly to the Russia-Ukraine war, phosphate prices continue to be impacted by the situation and price increases on phosphates continue to negatively impact premix prices. A 35% tariff is still being applied to phosphates entering the country from Russia, one of the world’s largest phosphate producers. Increases in phosphate prices can also be attributed to a poor FX rate and increased transportation costs.

Amino Acids

After eight months of amino acids increasing in price, we have begun to see relief on lysine, methionine, and threonine. Lysine has been affected by several factors. While strong corn prices would usually promote a strong lysine price, opportune trading conditions with China, and lower than average pig production in China, due to ASF, has led to weaker global lysine demand.

Methionine and threonine have also followed suit and have fallen off the high prices experienced this past year.

Conclusion MARKET FLUCTUATIONS CONTINUE

by: MATTHEW SCHOENMAKER Purchaser, Grand Valley Fortifiers

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ver the past month we have seen significant changes in the market landscape; some positive, others negative. On a positive note, with major Chinese ports once again fully reopening, product has begun to flow more steadily back and forth across the ocean.

With that being said, lead times on product still run at roughly 6 months as we look to catch up with demand. While shipping across the ocean begins to stabilize, high diesel prices and expensive trucking and rail, along with a weak Canadian dollar have become key issues that are affecting the purchase of all ingredients.

Exchange Rate

Canada is historically known as a country that trades strongly in natural resources. This means that normally, when the value of natural resources are high, the Canadian dollar would strengthen; when natural resources drop in value, the Canadian dollar would weaken. In 2014, when oil was previously over $100/barrel, the Canadian dollar was within single digits when compared to the US dollar. Today, with oil close $100/barrel, the Canadian dollar sits at $0.77 per USD. This weakening Canadian dollar has been caused by several factors which include a very high debt-to-GDP ratio and strong inflationary numbers. While this is beneficial when exporting product, importing most products has become very costly.

Transportation

Transportation of goods within North America continues to be an ongoing issue as trucking remains expensive, and fuel surcharges remain extremely high. Recently we have seen the cost of fuel surcharges more than quadruple from where they were at only a year ago. The price of diesel remains at an all-time

As farming becomes more and more globalized, we begin to rely more significantly on information and product from around the globe. Exchange rates, phosphate tariffs, energy reductions in Europe and ASF in Chinese hog herds all continue to affect both the feed and premix inputs, and hog pricing. While prices fluctuate on several ingredients within premixes, we continue to work closely with our nutrition teams to find quality products that increase nutritional value while also being economically beneficial.

Thought for the Day The Agony of Prayer Luke 22:44 “And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly.

Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”

“Prayer is not difficult to understand. It is difficult to do. When was the last time your heart so grieved for those you were interceding for that your entire body agonized along with your mind and heart? (Heb. 5:7).

We are a generation that avoids pain at all costs. This is why there are so few intercessors. How do we become more mature in our prayer life? By praying. When we do not feel like praying is precisely the time we ought to pray. There are no short cuts to prayer. There are no books to read, seminars to attend, or inspirational mottoes to memorize that will transform us into intercessors. This comes only by committing ourselves to pray and then doing so.”

— Experiencing God Day by Day devotional Henry T. Blackaby & Richard Blackaby.