Pork Journal November December 2013

Pork Journal

November/December 2013 Volume 35, Number 6

Are the smartest pigs in SA?

APSA 14th Biennial Conference held in Melbourne Primegro IGF-1: Innovative technology for genetically improving feed efficiency in pigs

Recent Advances in Animal Nutrition 2013 Conference

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8 MAIN FEATURE Are the smartest pigs in SA?

Contents

Industry consultant Graeme Pope reports on a project which has been quietly running in SA for more than 10 years and now is gaining new momentum, with a number of regional high schools developing pig keeping facilities within their agricultural plots and incorporating pig production within their teaching curriculum.

A student from St Marks College Port Pirie in South Australia.

Pork Journal November/December 2013 Volume 35, Number 6 Editorial Enquiries Peter Bedwell or Rosemary Embery 02 4323 0005 or 0419 235 288 Staff: Editor/Ad Sales: Peter Bedwell Ph: (02) 4323 0005 Mob: 0419 235 288 Production: Rosemary Embery Email: primarymedia@bigpond.com Mob: 0409 944 472 Journalist/Photogrpaher: Alex Bedwell Mob: 0478 647 798 Website: www.primarymedia.com.au PORk JOURNAL consists of a bi-monthly management magazine and an annual industry review.

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12 GENETICS FEATURE Primegro IGF-1: Innovative technology for genetically improving feed efficiency in pigs Primegro, a leading Genetics and Biotechnology business located in Corowa, Australia is working towards improving feed efficiency and lean meat percentage by using juvenile Insulin-like Growth Factor-I (IGF-I) in its own breeding programs, and also with innovative breeders through the use of their patented and proven testing procedure known as Primegro IGF-I.

NEWS 4 APSA 14th Biennial Conference held in Melbourne The Australian Pig Science Association 14th Biennial conference was held between November 24-27, 2013 at the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne. Alex Bedwell reports.

14 Alltech’s Dr Pearse Lyons outlines future developments Just prior to APSA, Dr Pearse Lyons flew into Sydney to meet some key food industry representatives and also gave Pork Journal some time to outline the development path of his fast growing company Alltech.

16 Recent Advances in Animal Nutrition 2013 Conference The Recent Advances in Animal Nutrition (Australia) 2013 Conference held at the University of New England (UNE) October 23 to 25 2013 offered an interesting combination of topics that covered specific species and issues facing all commercial livestock species.

18 Putting the HAM into the Australian hamburger A celebration of Australia’s best homegrown ham, Ham Week ran from November 10 to 17, to raise awareness for Australian Pork through the Australian PorkMark Awards for Excellence. More than 146 hams were tasted for the awards from butchers and smallgoods processors that make their ham from Australian grown pork. Isabelle O’Brien reports.

19 Jefo and Evonik combine for workshop alliance at APSA Starting the workshop Mr Wayne Bradshaw, Managing Director Jefo Australia, welcomed all delegates and confirmed the appointment of Jefo as an agent for Evonik in Australia. This is a key alliance, Mr Bradshaw stated, an alliance that Jefo initiated in Canada almost 30 years ago.

20 Zoetis introduces strategic plan for driving growth in Australia Zoetis, a global leader in animal health, has released a six-point plan for growth in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region that builds on Australia’s long established and extensive research and development expertise.

PRODUCT NEWS 22 BEC appointed distributor for PKA pH Water Treatment

PORK JOURNAL, November/December 2013 3

NEWS APSA 14th Biennial Conference held in Melbourne Story and photography by ALEX BEDWELL The Australian Pig Science Association 14th Biennial conference was held between November 24-27 2013 at the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne.

Following the Industry Workshops on November 24, the AC Dunkin Memorial Lecture was delivered by Professor Paul Hemsworth, the Director of the Animal Welfare Science Centre.

His topic was ‘The role of science improving animal welfare’.

“The animal welfare movement is increasingly influencing views on animal use and the acceptability of various animal management options,” he said.

“Consumer and public attitudes to animal welfare have the potential to affect society’s use of animals and science has a critical role in underpinning governments’ decisions on animal use.

“Many people in the general community are ignorant about the conditions under which domestic animals live, how they are treated and their species-specific requirements. Failure to assure these stakeholders that the welfare standards for domestic animals are underpinned by sound science will not only hinder the adoption of welfarefriendly new technology in the animal industries but also has the potential to adversely influence the profitability and viability of these industries.

“There are some key challenges that will require targeted research, education and consultation amongst the stakeholders. The science of animal welfare is in its infancy and a substantial increase in multidisciplinary studies, like animal behaviour, immunology, neurophysiology, psychology, stress physiology and veterinary science is necessary for sound animal welfare policies.

“Australia’s RD&E capability and funding opportunities through the Pork CRC for High Integrity Pork and APL, places it in an excellent position to continue to improve pig welfare through understanding both the genuine welfare risks to pigs and the public’s attitude to animal welfare,” Dr Hemsworth concluded.

One of the key events of the conference was the announcement of the Batterham Award at the APSA dinner held on November 25. The Batterham Memorial Award is made to a young scientist within 10

4

years of graduation – past recipiants include many of today’s industry leaders in the field of science and nutrition.

The award is conferred with the aim of stimulating and developing innovation in the pig industry and it is anticipated that the cash component will enable the recipient to broaden their exposure to national or international pig science.

The winner for the 14th 2013 APSA event was announced by previous Batterham Memorial Award winner (2011) Dr Cherie Collins and it was Dr Robert Smits.

Robert Smits is the Research Manager – Meat Processing at Rivelea Australia located in Corowa in NSW. In his current position he has a team of 12 and manages research and innovation into new product development, meat science and microbiology covering food safety QA and herd health programs.

Rob has been with Rivalea for 16 years and previously as the Research ManagerFarming, he initiated and managed a variety or research projects for Rivalea Australia, APL, and the Pork CRC on reproduction, sow welfare, nutrition, growth and physiology, heard health and genetics.

He was previously a Research Officer with the University of WA where he researched sow nutrition projects and implemented AUSPIG growth modeling into WA piggeries and education institutes.

The APSA fellow award, first presented in 2007, recognises the vital contribution of past and present members who have made an outstanding contribution to APSA as well as their contribution and commitment to pig science.

The 2013 APSA Fellow award was presented by Dr Darryl D’Souza to the co-winners Dr Bruce Mullan and Professor Frank Dunshea.

Professor Frank Dunshea has had a research career spanning 25 years in farm animal and biomedical research. His area of expertise is in growth physiology and nutrition and understanding the interactions between the animal and the animal’s environment.

Professor Dunshea is a respected research leader in the pork industry in Australia. He is committed to ensuring that all animal industries operate in a responsible and w

PORK JOURNAL, November/December 2013

Top: Pork CRC CEO Roger Campbell.

Centre: Professor Paul Hemsworth who delivered the AC Dunkin Memorial Lecture. Above: Dave Cadogan opens APSA for 2013.

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NEWS v sustainable manner and much of his work has focussed on improving efficiency through reducing inputs and outputs while maintaining product quality and consumer health.

Current projects include looking at how to increase the value of grains, such as barley, wheat and sorghum, for livestock; the production of agricultural products to improve the health and eating experiences of consumers, regulation of growth and development of farm animals, animals as models of metabolic syndrome, animal and human nutrition and the effect of heat stress on health, welfare and productivity of farm animals.

Dr Bruce Mullan is a Group Leader and Senior Research Officer with WA Department of Agriculture and Food.

He is responsible for the co-ordination of activities within the Pork R&D Group, is the manager of research projects in feed evaluation, nutrition and nutrient requirements and meat quality.

Dr Mullan is also Chairman of Pork Industry Training WA and a Board Member of the WA Pig Skills Centre.

Some of the sessions at the conference with a variety of eminent speakers included ‘Delivering science for industry benefit’; ‘Feed preference, applied nutrition and grains’; ‘The gastrointestinal tract and applied nutrition’; Piglet growth and welfare and reproduction’; ‘Sow reproductive performance and nutrition’; ‘Herd and pig health and production and ‘Meat science and technology, sow housing and welfare’.

One speaker was Professor Ron Ball from the Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Sciences, University of Alberta, USA. His paper was titled ‘Feeding pregnant sows for optimum productivity: past, present and future perspectives’.

Professor Ball talked about the importance of introducing phase feeding with pregnant sows as we do with grow finish pigs as the sow changes dietry requirements as she goes through pregnancy.

The young scientists made a significant contribution to APSA 2013, not only delivering a mountain of research but also in assisting more senior members of the pig science community as co-chair of some of the key sessions.

This contribution included young research scientists from overseas as well as young Australian academics. One young researcher was Meeka Capozzalo from Murdoch University who was doing her PhD on Immunonutrition in weaner pigs.

6

1 1. Prof. Ron Ball, University of Alberta.

2. Winner of the Batterham Memorial Award Rob Smits with Rebecca Morrison (left) and previous winner Cherie Collins. 3. Jean Fontaine and Wayne Bradshaw, Jefo. 4. Phil Lambeth (Auspac), Mark Peebles (Lienert) and Christine Clark (Auspac). 5. LtoR: Dave Cadogan with 2013 APSA Fellow Award co-winners Bruce Mullan and Frank Dunshea with Darryl D’Souza.

2

3

4

5 No major scientific event like APSA can be achieved without industry sponsorship: Principal sponsors for APSA 2013 were Australian Pork Limited and the Pork CRC. Gold Welcome Reception was sponsored

by Auspac Ingredients and the pork was supplied by Linley Valley Pork.

The Gold networking dinner was sponsored by Zoetis and the Gold Conference Dinner was sponsored by DSM and the pork was supplied by Rivalea.

PORK JOURNAL, November/December 2013

Another gold sponsor was MSD which sponsored the APSA smart phone app.

Silver sponsors were Feedworks, BEC Feed Solutions, Evonik, Alltech, Biomin, Elanco, Kemin, Meridan Animal Health, BASF, Boehringer Ingelheim, ADM and Rivalea.

Bronze Sponsors were ACE Laboratory Services, Phytobiotics, Linley Valley Pork and Lienert Australia. Coffee Cart Sponsor was Chris Richards & Associates.

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Are the smartest pigs in SA?

By GRAEME POPE, Pig Industry Consultant

B

ecause more pigs are raised annually in rural South Australian high schools than in any other state, does that mean SA pigs are the smartest?

A project which has been quietly running in SA for more than 10 years now is gaining new momentum, with a number of regional high schools developing pig keeping facilities within their agricultural plots and incorporating pig production within their teaching curriculum.

An initiative led by myself back in 2000 resulted in the sponsored construction of a mini-pig shelter at Clare and Waikerie High Schools. These initial shelters were built by Eco-Shelter SA agent Peter Jones, Mintaro and generously funded by members of SA’s pig industry agribusiness.

The project concept was to expose agricultural students to small scale (but ‘best prac’) pig keeping by providing their teachers with the infrastructure capable of attracting students’ interests away from the more traditional cattle, sheep, poultry and goats normally kept at most rural schools.

Once the shelters had been built, the schools were then introduced to a local commercial producer to arrange pig supply into them.

“At Clare, we get in two batches of seven female pigs each year,” said teacher Lesley Squires. “They come in as 5 to 7 week old slips and we buy them direct from Paul and Sue Fiegert at Balaklava.

“The pigs stay at school until they are about 17 weeks of age before we send them off to Menzel’s Meats at Kapunda.

The carcases then come back to Mathies Meat Shoppe in Clare, where they are cut up ready for family and community members who have pre-ordered the pork to pick it up direct from the butcher. We advertise the pork will be for sale in our school newsletter and take orders,” she said.

“Agriculture students are involved in coming into school at 6.30am to help load the pigs onto the school ute and they are transported to Kapunda by our school groundsman. The year 7 and 8 classes learn basic information about pigs and it is those students who you least expect it, who seem to love getting in and working with the pigs. Students also monitor the pigs’ health, feed them and keep the shelter clean,” said Lesley.

“Our year 9 students also get involved as a class by weighing the pigs weekly, study their weight gains and what factors can impact on their growth rates. The year 11 and 12 students are involved in the management of the pig project and look after all aspects of their management, from ordering feed through to advertising and selling the pork.”

At Waikerie High School, a different economic model has been developed to underwrite the project’s budget through establishment of an annual contract growing arrangement with

8

PORK JOURNAL, November/December 2013

local pork producer Riverhaven Enterprises, Taylorville.

“Our year 11 students are involved in the daily management of the pig shelter in terms 3 and 4,” said teacher Greg Cottle. “Once a week they weigh the pigs and calculate feed conversions. After nine weeks at school, the pigs are processed through the local Waikerie butcher.

“Our pig feed has generously been donated by Laucke Feedmills, Daveyston since we built the shelter more than 10 years ago.

“I use APL’s Pigs in Schools CD as the base resource for my formal pig teaching. At our end of year school Graduation Ceremony, an Animal Husbandry Award is presented by Mark or Nancy McLean from Riverhaven Enterprises to the student who has shown greatest application to the theory and practice of pig production in the Animal Production subject,” said Greg.

A mini-shelter was erected at Kadina Memorial High School in the mid-2000s, funded by the (SA) Pig Industry Fund as a regional development project.

“Our pigs come into school in terms 1 and 3 from local producer Neil and Ros Paterson at Bute,” said teacher Tim Jones. “We have them processed locally through Desmond’s Meats and then sell the sides of pork to school staff and families.

“The students are involved in the daily care of the pigs and those interested can visit Desmond’s Meats to look at the butchering process”, he said. “Next year I am planning to use a farrowing sow for my teaching of our year 9 students”.

A 5m x 4m shelter was built by local farmers and businesses in 2006 at Balaklava High School.

“The shelter has been a brilliant inclusion in our agriculture curriculum, allowing us to process two batches of slips through to heavy pork stage each year,” said teacher Sue Pratt.

“We source our slips from local producers Paul and Sue Fiegert and they generously allow me to take each class group to visit their farm and see a commercial piggery in operation. We have also visited the local

abattoir and are well supported by Ridley AgriProducts with expert pig nutrition information.

“The students love the pig work we do and have learned an enormous amount about an industry that is very important to the Adelaide Plains region but remains largely unseen by the general public.

“Interestingly, those students who come from pig farming families have a more positive feeling and are prouder of their industry as a result of the work we do with our pigs at school,” Sue added.

“This year we put a farrowing crate inside our shelter and had a sow farrow at school. It was a fantastic experience and allowed the students to see firsthand the animal welfare benefits of well-designed housing, as well as being able to have direct experience of all the management practices required to raise piglets,” she said.

Right and above: Students from Kadina Memorial High School are involved in the In 2012, a project submitted by myself daily care of the pigs. through the (SA) Pig Industry Advisory Group was supported to work with Aaron Hines at Jacksons Australia, Murray Bridge to design a small shelter suited to keeping pigs within a school context, and to have the plans certified by an independent engineer, to avoid agriculture teachers having to spend their time and budget on development applications.

At the same time, Stockyard Industries through its SA Regional Manager Shane Daykin, agreed to sponsor schools with an adlib Penguin-type feeder and drinker bowl.

St Marks College, Port Pirie was the first school to construct its 5m x 10m Jackson shelter. “A local farmer donated a pig crate with scales and some internal gates, which allowed us to create a 2.5m x 5m pig handling area at the front of the shelter and to build a swing-around race with a curved gate within the main pen, to make pig weighing easier,” said farm manager Joel Head.

“Students from all year levels had the opportunity to see the pig shelter being constructed and finally the introduction of the first pigs at the Agriculture Skills Centre.

Our first pigs were Tamworth/Duroc crosses donated by a student’s parents. Our feed was subsidised by our local CRT store at Crystal Brook and small barley straw bales were donated by a local farmer,” said Joel.

“The pigs were predominantly cared for by our year 12 students, which included cleaning and maintenance of the shelter, feeding and weekly weighing to monitor growth rates. Their understanding of pig production was enhanced by an excursion to Kim Reid’s commercial piggery at Wanderah and further investigation of secondary information sources from Aussie w

PORK JOURNAL, November/December 2013 9

v Pig Farms and APL websites.

Another Jackson shelter was built at Allendale East Area School in SA’s south east during 2013 and has provided a great learning experience for that school’s agriculture students, with pig production run as a 10-week unit with year 8 students.

“Throughout the unit they learn about pig housing types, feeding and nutrition, health and disease, the pig production cycle, meat quality, marketing and environmental considerations. Students have also been exposed to some commercial case studies through the Piglink website,” said teacher Danielle Westbrook.

“Our pigs are purchased at weaning from Myora Farm, Mt Gambier. Once they reach the desired weight of about 65kg, they are sent to Edenhope for processing.

The carcases are returned to Collins Court Butchers in Mt Gambier where they are cut up and boxed, ready for sale through the school community,” said Danielle.

“Our shelter has been designed with two internal gates to form a raceway down one side of the shelter, to provide students with easy access to top-up feeders. We have also recently constructed a small holding pen alongside the shelter, so that the pigs can be removed during rearing for regular cleanouts,” she added.

Faith Lutheran College Tanunda, raised its first batch of four pigs donated by Freeling producers Gavin and Sherinne Schuster during term 4, 2013.

“The crossbred weaners have created significant interest within the Year 9 classes which are managing the project,” said agriculture co-ordinator Bob Mitchell.

“Students are weighing the pigs weekly and calculating feed conversions, as well as overseeing their daily care requirements.

“The porkers will be grown out, professionally butchered and then sold through the school community,” said Bob. “With the high level of student interest created, Faith College will definitely continue with the project again next year”.

Millicent High and Coomandook Area Schools are two more SA schools which have committed to the construction of a mini-shelter in 2014, while Urrbrae Agricultural High School in Adelaide suburb of Netherby continues to operate its 6-sow, farrow-to-finish pig teaching unit.

In November this year, Ridley AgriProducts through its SA Regional Manager Vaughan Chenoweth has committed to a new ‘Pigs in Schools’ feed sponsorship program, whereby SA agriculture teachers can apply to Vaughan at Ridley’s for supply of bagged feed to cover their pig’s requirements up until 10 weeks of age, after which feed can be sourced through their local fodder store.

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1 3

2 4

1. School students building the Jackson’s shelter. 2. Students cleaning out the shelter at St Marks College, Port Pirie. 3. Students at Faith Lutheran College Tanunda. 4. Some younger students at Allendale East Area School.

This sponsorship arrangement will reduce the budget required by SA agriculture teachers to maintain their school’s pig enterprise and ensure pigs in schools get off to a good growth start!

It’s not expected that every rural high school or agriculture teacher will be interested in adding pigs to the range of livestock options kept and taught at their local level.

But for those SA schools which chose to do so, the involvement of (SA) Pig Industry Group, Stockyard Industries and now Ridley AgriProducts has ensured they are well serviced with good industry advice,

PORK JOURNAL, November/December 2013

well-designed pig keeping facilities and a pig nutrition program.

Graeme Pope Consulting Nuriootpa is currently drafting ‘A Pig Teachers Handbook’. It is supported by (SA) Pig Industry Group and will provide teachers with an information resource aimed at ‘best prac’ small scale pig management within a school context.

The uptake of pig teaching within SA rural schools is increasing and the support offered to teachers and their school communities by the SA pig industry is not going unnoticed.

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GENETICS FEATURE

Primegro IGF-1: Innovative technology for genetically improving feed efficiency in pigs

By MATTHEW TULL, Primegro Business Manager

P

rimegro Technologies is a leading Genetics and Biotechnology business located in Corowa, Australia.

Primegro is working towards improving feed efficiency and lean meat percentage by using juvenile Insulin-like Growth Factor-I (IGF-I) in its own breeding programs, and also with innovative breeders through the use of their patented and proven testing procedure known as Primegro IGF-I. Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) is a naturally occurring polypeptide produced in the liver, muscle and fat tissues. IGF-I has several roles in growth and development during the post-natal period, specifically; IGF-I mediates the effects of growth hormone (GH); has localised effects on the tissues of production and acts as an insulin-like metabolic regulator.

The measurement of IGF-I in juvenile piglets has been shown to be consistently heritable and is associated with a number of performance characteristics.

Use of Juvenile IGF-I in breeding programs The measurement of juvenile IGF-I concentrations involves a simple blood sample collected from recently weaned piglets, blotted onto a Primegro IGF-I sampling card and sent to Primegro’s NATA accredited laboratory.

Data on the individual piglets circulating IGF-I levels are then included into the herds genetic evaluation software to improve the accuracy of genetic evaluation for correlated traits, like back fat and feed conversion ratio, before the animals have their own performance records.

The IGF data is not used in its raw form to select animals. Instead, the genetic evaluation system is set up to apply corrections first for some systematic effects which influence juvenile IGF-I concentrations, like age, sex, season and assay effects, which is essential for using juvenile IGF-I data in

12

breeding programs.

As the concentration of IGF-I circulating in the blood plasma of weaned (juvenile) piglets is genetically correlated with several economically important performance traits, Primegro IGF-I can be used as an early physiological indicator of performance traits measured later in life.

This can facilitate preselection of which animals to performance test if testing capacity is limited, or if early castration decisions are required.

In particular, moderate to high genetic correlations exist between juvenile IGF-I concentrations and feed conversion ratio (FCR). Thus where feed intake is not measured directly, indirect information can be provided by data on juvenile IGF-I.

Summary of Primegro trial results for Juvenile IGF-I Several herds in Australia and internationally have obtained data on juvenile IGF-I. These studies from independent populations confirm strong genetic correlations exist between juvenile IGF-I, tested according to Primegro protocols, and back fat, feed intake and feed conversion ratio (Table 1). These correlations indicate that downwards selection for juvenile IGF-I would be expected to produce correlated downwards trends in BF and FCR, through some reduction in DFI, but with little impact on lifetime growth rate. The genetic correlations between IGF-I and lean meat % (rg: -0.26 ± 0.26, QAF 1) and scanned eye muscle depth (rg: -0.21 ± 0.14,

Table 1: Heritability estimates for IGF-1 along with genetic correlations between IGF-1 and economically important performance traitsA (ne: not estimated) StudyB QAF 1 (1996) QAF 2 (2000) QAF 3 (2001) USA 1 (2001) USA 2 (2001) UK1 (2001) UK2 (2001) AUS 1 (2002) GER 1 (2003) Average ATrait

Heritability IGF-1 0.20

Genetic correlations between IGF-1 & BF FCR TDG DFI ADG 0.29 0.84 ne 0.37 -0.47

0.23

0.23

0.46

0.52

-0.53

0.51

0.24

0.12

0.46

ne

ne

ne

0.58

0.36

0.54

0.59

0.05

0.59

0.44

-0.20

0.49

-0.20

-0.12

0.50

0.53 0.42 0.28

0.32 0.13 0.08

0.81 0.68 0.77

ne ne ne

0.12 0.13 ne

ne ne ne

0.29

-0.03

0.66

0.78

-0.18

0.81

0.36

0.06

0.57

0.41

-0.09

0.65

abbreviations: ADG: lifetime average daily gain (g); BF: back fat (mm); DFI: average daily feed intake (kg); TDG: average daily gain during performance test (g); FCR: feed conversion ratio (kg feed:kg grain).

PORK JOURNAL, November/December 2013

0.5

● ●

−0.5

0.0

● ●

● ●

−1.0

● ●

● ●

● ●

4

5

−1.5

Genetic SD units

1.0

FEATURE

0

1

2

3

Generation number ●

IGF−1

LADG

BF

DFI

●

RFI

FCR

Figure 1. Differences between mean EBV for Select and Control lines (expressed in genetic standard deviations for each trait).

QAF 3) further support the relationship between juvenile IGF-I and lean growth potential, although standard errors for these trait combinations were large due to lower record numbers.

Hermesch et al. (2001) provided indirect evidence for the association between IGF-I and efficient lean meat growth. Herpin et al.

(1993) had previously noted that selection for lean tissue growth had effects on body and tissue composition, metabolic and hormonal state, and fat metabolism, leading to heavier pigs at birth.

Parameter estimates from the large-scale study by Hermesch et al.

(2001) were consistent with these observations. Estimates of genetic correlations between juvenile IGF-I or BF and piglet birth weight were both negative (-0.33 ± 0.19 and -0.43 ± 0.17) indicating that genetically leaner pigs have heavier weights at birth and lower levels of juvenile IGF-I. More recently, a line selected solely for lower residual feed intake (an alternative measure of FCR, equivalent to improved feed efficiency) at Iowa State University, has produced a downwards correlated response in juvenile IGF-I (Figure 1).

This outcome is consistent with results from the previous trials, providing good supporting evidence that juvenile IGF-I is an informative measure of genetic merit for expensive to measure economically important traits, such as feed efficiency.

In fact, there is accumulating evidence from several studies involving pigs (of various breed composition), cattle and sheep that the concentration of circulating IGF-I is heritable and provides information towards correlated traits included in breeding objectives. In all species, timing of the testing procedure seems important, given that IGF-I levels are affected by the physiological status of animals.

Primegro’s use of IGF-I, backed up with extensive use of on farm finisher electronic feeders, has delivered superior performance for feed efficiency and lean growth within Primegro’s own breeding lines. Commercial producers can benefit from this investment by Primegro Genetics through introducing genetic improvement from Primegro Genetics into their herds, whilst breeding companies can better improve selection for feed efficiency within their herds by implementing Primegro IGF-I technology.

For more information on Primegro contact Matthew Tull – Primegro Business Manager (mtull@rivalea.com.au). For more information on technical aspects several peer reviewed scientific papers are available upon request.

PORK JOURNAL, November/December 2013 13

NEWS Alltech’s Dr Pearse Lyons outlines future developments Just prior to APSA, Dr Pearse Lyons flew into Sydney to meet some key food industry representatives and also gave Pork Journal some time to outline the development path of his fast growing company Alltech which operates in 128 countries and manufactures in 32 locations. It employs 3112 people globally and operates three bioscience centres of excellence.

Pork Journal met Alltech Chairman and President Dr Lyons with Mathew Smith, Alltech’s Director Asia Pacific on November 23 at the Langham Hotel in Sydney.

“Alltech continues to be an innovation driven company and agility has to be one of our greatest characteristics if we want to maximise our opportunities as a global entity,” Dr Lyons said.

“In recent years we have been focused on what the world needs to feed itself: as populations grow, available land to crop feed and food crops is diminishing and even worse, as food/feed demand grows crop yields are actually falling in many parts of the world.

“Alltech’s challenge is to reverse this situation and through our innovative technologies boost yield and just as importantly, farmer’s profitability.

“Our customers today are not only farmers but also consumers. We at Alltech are also now a major food company,” Dr Lyons said.

Matthew Smith, Director Asia Pacific and Dr Pearse Lyons, Chairman and President.

“I want us to refocus on farmers, their productivity and just as importantly, their viability. In Australia for instance, pig farmers need at least two or three extra piglets per sow per annum and we have the technology to help them achieve that goal.

“Alltech has moved into crop science and we believe we can deliver extra yields as well as reducing the negative effects of mycotoxins, and achieve these benefits to farmers naturally.

“In the future we hope to have an agronomist in every one of our offices.”

In answer to the question of ‘What is happening in the area of Alltech’s algae

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PORK JOURNAL, November/December 2013

research?’ Dr Lyons revealed that Alltech has developed an algae based replacement for fish oil from which is derived Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an Omega 3 oil vital to human development and health.

On the question of growth markets apart from China, Dr Lyons replied that he was extremely excited about the potential of Africa. “You just have to look at the sheer size of that continent to grasp its potential: we are also focused on Indonesia – a country whose population will exceed 300 million,” he said.

Apart from agriculture Alltech is involved in the food and liquor industry.

In the US the company brews Kentucky Ale from its historic Lexington brewery and now its ‘Town Branch Bourbon’ is being distilled at the first new distillery built in Lexington in 100 years.

Soon it is hoped both Kentucky Ale and other Alltech liquor products will be available in Australia.

Alltech hopes to have a representative looking after its beer and possibly other liquor products in every one of its key locations including Australia.

Dr Lyons latest enterprise is to build a new distillery in a deconsecrated church located in the centre of Dublin.

Alltech also run a bioscience centre in Meath, Ireland, which has operated for many years but undergone considerable expansion in recent times.

Alltech’s global turnover has recently reached $1 billion and the challenge Dr Lyons has set himself and his employees is to expand that to $3 to 4 billion in a 3 to 4 year time span.

NEWS Alltech’s Pig Performance and Profitability Calculator Alltech launched its latest innovative tool for the swine industry, the Alltech Pig Performance and Profitability Calculator, at the company’s breakfast meeting during APSA recently.

The easy-to-use program has been developed to measurably demonstrate improved profitability through enhanced performance and to support implementing Alltech programs to reduce the gap between current performance and the modern pig’s genetic potential.

Efficiency and profitability are two fundamentals within today’s highly competitive, global pig industry.

“It is crucial for every successful pig producer to identify the key performance indicators (KPI) of their animal production and benchmark them against industry standards. The Alltech Pig Performance and Profitability Calculator was designed to help identify those KPIs that are below the target and to calculate the cost associated with those differences in performance. It is well-tailored to the individual producer’s goals, ambitions and capacities,” said Arturo Frio, Technical Manager, Alltech Asia-Pacific, (pictured) during the Alltech Breakfast.

“It is an interactive, easy-to-use, PC based program which can show pig farmers the areas where action needs to be taken for improved performance. Equally importantly, the program can clearly demonstrate the impact on the producer’s margins,” he said.

“The program has already been successfully tested with numerous swine farms in Asia. One recent example comes from a 4,000 sow farm in Thailand. With the program, we were able to compare the farm’s actual KPI values such as feed conversion ratio (FCR), average daily weight gain (ADG) and the average daily feed intake with the target industry standards.”

The program clearly indicated the potential within the pig farm for increased performance and higher profitability.

The farmer now had his goals and, by implementing the Alltech W35 On-Farm Solutions program, he managed to lower FCR by 0,15 as well as increase ADG by 29g per day, reaching 1,37kg heavier pigs by day 68. In terms of profitability, the program resulted in an extra $2,14 per pig net profit, which meant an additional $214,000 for the farm (4,000 sows x 25 piglets per sow per year).

“Modern pig production has the potential to produce up to 35 piglets per sow each year. This program can be used to support producers in identifying those factors that are limiting performance and in showing the farmer what opportunities they have for making more money,” said Matthew Smith, Regional Director, Alltech Asia-Pacific.

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NEWS Recent Advances in Animal Nutrition 2013 Conference The Recent Advances in Animal Nutrition (Australia) 2013 Conference held at the University of New England (UNE) October 23 to 25 2013 offered an interesting combination of topics that covered specific species and issues facing all commercial livestock species.

The first session on Wednesday October 23 was probably the most relevant to the pig industry – ‘Animal production and the consumer’.

Dr Bob Swick, Chair of the organizing committee for the RAAN conference, gave the opening address in which he reminded delegates that “Consumer demand for meat is projected to double in the next 35 years driven by a more affluent and growing population and this challenge will require game changing innovations in efficiency.

“At the same time the wants and needs of the consumer, demanding safe and traceable meat produced under the most humane conditions possible, will become more focused.

“The industry needs to react positively and diplomatically to the consumer if we are to remain viable,” he warned.

Professor Neil Mann (RMIT University) is an established expert on how the human diet evolved and has published books on the topic.

His paper ‘Human evolution and diet: a modern conundrum of health versus meat consumption, or is it?’ reviewed important aspects of the need for animal sourced foods in the human diet.

“Despite negative press reports on the effect of meat and other animal-source foods (ASFs) on human health and a vocal minority who contend that humans evolved as vegetarians, scientific evidence contradicts these views.

For several million years before the development of agriculture, our ancestors were heavily reliant on ASFs as a source of energy and critical substrates such as protein and long-chain omeg-3 fatty acids,” Dr Mann stated.

In reaching his conclusions which were that, “Pre-agricultural humans and ancestral hominins depended on ASFs for more than 60% of their energy requirement, for much of their protein, iron, zinc and longchain n-3 fatty acid requirements and almost their entire Vitamin B12 requirement.

“ASF can be included in cholesterol low-

ering diets if lean varieties are consumed.

“Meat is also essential for ensuring an adequate intake of iron, zinc and Vitamin B12,” he concluded.

‘Ensuring safety in the food chain’ was delivered by Robert Parkes of Ridley.

“As a consequence of recent global food security issues, stock feed has emerged as a critical link in ensuring food safety.

“As the leading Australian stockfeed manufacturer, Ridley Agriproducts has implemented the Stockfeed Manufacturers Council of Australia Feedsafe mill program that includes HACCP principles across all its manufacturing facilities,” Mr Parkes said.

In summing up his paper Mr Parkes pointed out that, “the interrelationship between units in the food supply chain and the multiple component nature of the food supply chain must be recognized in any HACCP program.”

There was a lot of interest in the next speaker Rob Cumine. Rob recently joined Coles as its Agricultural & Animal Welfare Manager in 2013, taking responsibility for the management of its programs in meat, dairy, produce and fish. Prior to his current role at Coles, he worked in agriculture, food manufacturing, retailing and as an agri-food consultant in the UK. He also has hands-on practical farming experience and remains a partner in a grass-fed Wagyu beef business he founded in the UK. His topic was ‘What do consumers think we feed our animals?’

He revealed the results of consumer surveys conducted in 2013 that revealed a consumer obsession with ‘natural’ food whatever that means and an interest in issues such as animal welfare and related issues including cage free eggs, sow stall free production and environmental issues that embraced green house gases and sustainable food production.

Perhaps of most interest to the pig industry was that while consumers expressed a preference for pork produced in sow stall free operations they had no idea what a sow was, let alone a clear idea of how she was housed – interesting!

Top marks to Rob for even turning up at a forum like RAAN let alone being willing to engage his audience in open and frank discussion.

At the end of the day our big retailers (like Coles) are also the major customers of livestock industries – we can’t blame then

16 PORK JOURNAL, November/December 2013

1

2

3 1. Dr Bob Swick, Chair of the organising committee. 2. Rob Cumine, Agricultural & Animal Welfare Manager at Coles. 3. Dr Rob van Barneveld. 4. Adam Naylor from Alltech.

NEWS for every impediment they place on efficient and profitable farm operation.

That said, the next speaker Dr Ian Lean (SBScibus), is a master of giving it to those entities who bend to every unscientifically based consumer whim.

In his paper, ‘What are the effects of retailer pressure on the efficiency of agricultural industries’, he suggested that policies of British supermarkets, particularly the ban on hormone growth promoters (HGPs) had made, “production less viable within a country and make producers less profitable and efficient, thereby increasing the environmental footprint of production and increasing vulnerability to imports.

“The effects of policies in the UK largely lead by Tesco (and similar to those of Coles), on the UK farming community has been devastating.

“The UK was a net food exporter but now imports food including beef and poultry meat,” Dr Lean said.

‘Nutritional management of group housed gestation sows – key challenges in the transition from stall-housing system’, was the topic for APL, Ridley Director and nutritionalist Dr Rob van Barneveld.

“Conversion from stall based systems to group housing for gestating sows is a reality in Australia, and many producers have deomonstrated high levels of innovation and animal husbandry in managing the transition.

“Using low cost ($150/sow) high density (1.8 sqm per sow), small (15-20 sows) group systems, potential exists to contain the capital costs of conversion and to improve reproductive efficiency to make up any shortfall.

“Nutritional management is central to the success of group systems,” Dr van Barneveld stated.

“A focus on managing variation in body condition within and between sows over the course of reproductive cycles, meeting nutritional requirements during gestation, and using feed access and satiety to manage aggression at mixing and beyond are key drivers of successful implementation of group housing systems.

“Further research is required to better understand the social and behavioural consequences of mixing sows in different systems and to develop a better understanding of diet components that can induce satiety in sows,” he explained.

“The need for producers to change systems in response to market access requirements means that practical implementation and development of management techniques in commercial settings has preceded some of the research that is being conducted.

“All evidence suggests that superior

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NEWS Putting the HAM into the Australian hamburger

By Isabelle O’Brien Australian Ham Week celebrates Australian Pork with announcement of the PorkMark Ham Awards and the launch of an Australian ‘HAMburger.’

A celebration of Australia’s best homegrown ham, Ham Week ran from November 10 to 17, to raise awareness for Australian Pork through the Australian PorkMark Awards for Excellence.

More than 146 hams were tasted for the awards from butchers and smallgoods processors that make their ham from Australian grown pork.

The PorkMark Ham Awards are divided into three categories: Traditional Artisan Bone-in Leg, Artisan Boneless and, for the first time in 2013, the ‘Nationally Available’ category. Products were judged on appearance, texture, aroma and taste.

The awards were announced at the Ham Week launch at Chef Warren Turnbull’s Sydney restaurant Chur Burger on Monday November 11, along with the un-veiling of the ‘HAMburger’.

This was a burger made with the winning ham sliced from the bone, glazed with pineapple relish and lime chili slaw.

Master Meats QLD won the Overall Winner and Best Australian Ham category, of which a great deal was sampled at the launch.

The winner of Best Nationally Available Ham was awarded to Bill McDeed of Metcash Food and Grocery for the IGA Naturally Smoked Bone-in Leg Ham. Metcash stock all Australian Pork brands distributing to IGA and independent supermarket stores nationally.

The hams were judged by Fleishmeister Horst Schurger with a Master’s degree in Butchering and Smallgoods, accompanied by two chefs, Paul McDonald and Simon Bestley.

According to Australian Pork Limited (APL), “currently only 35% of Australian Pork accounts for the total domestic ham market… approximately 75% of the overall small goods consumed in Australia are made form imported pork”.

Both Ham Week and the PorkMark Awards are held to raise awareness about the $10m worth of imported pork arriving in Australia weekly.

18

Top: Bill McDeed (left) from Metcash Food and Grocery collected the Best Nationally Available Ham award and Paul Rae, from Master Meats Qld, won Overall Winner and Best Australian Ham. Above: Food writer, Isabelle O’Brien at the Ham Week launch with the gourmet hamburgers.

The distinctive pink ‘Australian Pork’ square label is the PorkMark, an initiative of APL for consumers to easily identify local over imported produce.

“This campaign is aimed at allowing consumers to support Australian producers, who produce high quality, safe and nutritious pork products,” APL CEO Andrew Spencer said.

A number of venues around Australia featured a ‘HAMburger’ to celebrate Ham Week.

And the competition winners are…

• Overall Winner and Best Australian Ham Paul Rae Master Meats QLD (also known as Aussie Smokehouse) 07 5309 5797

PORK JOURNAL, November/December 2013

• Traditional Bone-in Leg Ham – 1st Paul Rae Master Meats Qld 07 5309 5797 – 2nd John Bartlett Wattle City Meats Vic 03 5460 4637 – 3rd Franz Knoll Barossa Fine Foods SA 08 8447 6200 • Boneless Ham – 1st Tony Rapone Bertocchi Smallgoods Vic 03 9355 5109 – 2nd John Yeo Westridge Meats Qld 07 4635 6611 – 3rd Franz Knoll Barossa Fine Foods SA 08 8447 6200 • Best Nationally Available Ham IGA Naturally Smoked Bone in Leg ham

NEWS Jefo and Evonik combine for workshop alliance at APSA Up to 100 people attended when Evonik and Jefo held a combined workshop on Sunday November 24 at the recent APSA conference.

Starting the workshop Mr Wayne Bradshaw, Managing Director Jefo Australia, welcomed all delegates and confirmed the appointment of Jefo as an agent for Evonik in Australia. This is a key alliance, Mr Bradshaw stated, an alliance that Jefo initiated in Canada almost 30 years ago.

Mr Jean Fontaine, President and Founder of Jefo International based in St-Hyacinthe Quebec Canada, was then introduced.

Mr Fontaine said that he was so proud to be able to attend this high level pig industry conference and that it has now been almost nine years since Jefo commenced operations in the Pacific Rim and the growth has been amazing.

In the last 32 years that Jefo has been in operation, Australia has been one of the fastest growing regions in the history of the company.

“Jefo’s focus is on the integrity of the gut health of the respective animals. As an industry we are just touching the surface on how we can improve the animals performance with natural means,” Mr Fontaine explained.

Mr Bradshaw then introduced Mr Richard Bilodeau who is the Head Nutritionist for F Menards in Canada and controls the feedmill which feeds 1.1 million pigs, 250 million broilers chickens and 200,000 layer chickens.

Mr Bilodeau explained that because of the current environment that the industry has to deal with in Canada in regards to welfare and industry standards, the future of feeding animals may be with the inclusion of specific programs and additives that can improve the performance without AGPs. The final presenter was Dr Rob Payne, Director for Nutrition and Tech Services Evonik SE Asia, who is based in Singapore.

Dr Payne presented a very informative talk on the specific tools available to the feed industry to confirm and test the feed and

ingredients being included in the diets.

Tools like batch testing for feedmills including traceability, NIR and Wet Chem to test the break up of ingredients and other tools to ensure the modern day nutritionist is able to fine tune the diets to benefit the farmer, the animal and the feedmill.

The Jefo and Evonik workshop was one of three presentations during the APSA workshop sessions and provided an opportunity to present the key opportunities and benefits the Evonik and Jefo alliance can offer the feed industry in the Pacific Rim.

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Richard Bilodeau, Head Nutritionist, F Menards, Canada and Jean Fontaine, President Jefo International.

PORK JOURNAL, November/December 2013 19

NEWS Zoetis introduces strategic plan for driving growth in Australia Zoetis, a global leader in animal health, has released a six-point plan for growth in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region that builds on Australia’s long established and extensive research and development expertise.

According to Dr Stefan Weiskopf, Executive Vice President and Area President Asia Pacific, specifics of the plan are ‘to leverage its local presence and strong customer relationships; further penetrate emerging markets while pursuing new product development and value added life cycle management to extend the Zoetis product portfolio,” he said.

“We also want to continue providing high quality products and expand complementary businesses to become a more complete trusted partner,” he added.

“Zoetis, formerly a business unit of Pfizer, has combined its previous parent company’s 60 years heritage of expertise and innovation to deliver market leading animal health products including

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LtoR: Paul Halliday, Dr Stefan Weiskopf and Mike van Bloomestein

the world’s first Hendra virus horse vaccine (Equivac HeV) and Improvac for pigs: a product developed in Australia and now marketed globally,” Dr Weiskopf revealed.

“We foresee that Australia will play a pivotal role in building and strengthening the company’s position in the region.

“We pride ourselves on being able to align the Zoetis vision to local, regional and global demand.

“We strive every day to help our customers meet and overcome real-world challenges through high quality medicines and vaccines complemented by diagnostic products and genetic markers,” he said.

“Our R&D hub at the Parkville Facility in Melbourne plays a vital role in delivering our vision for the future.

“We have a direct presence in 13 countries across the APAC region with more than 2700 employees at eight manufacturing operations and three R&D sites which account for approximately 16% of Zoetis total global revenue.

“As well as developing innovative products, our Australian operation is an example of manufacturing best practice for the rest of the region, with this expertise being leveraged across sites in the region, including China,” Dr Weiskopf said.

Mike van Blommestein, General Manager of Zoetis Australia, stated that the success of Zoetis’ local innovations is based on more than Zoetis alone. Rather it is a testament to the relationships and partnerships that the company has with leading research and academic institutions and key stakeholders, both locally and internationally,” Mr van Blommestein said.

In discussions Pork Journal had recently, Dr Weiskopf covered a number of topics including a question on reduction of reliance on antibiotics by livestock producers in key markets.

“Vaccines obviously play an important role in antibiotic use reduction but then so does more targeted use of diagnostic skills.”

Dr Weiskopf declined to comment on Australian ‘big retail’ food policies but pointed out that Zoetis’ contribution to overall animal health through both preventative and disease treatment strategies had to have a benefit not only for farm animals but food retailers and consumers as not only food quality was maintained but disease risk overall was lowered.

On the topic of Improvac, Dr Weiskopf emphasised that, “beyond the control of boar taint which is a huge consumer benefit, Improvac made handling of male pigs easier as aggression levels in herds could be substantially reduced. This was also an OH &S benefit for both farmers and their staff and enhanced welfare outcome for pigs,” he pointed out.

Apart from its own extensive research capabilities Zoetis is a great supporter of the Pork CRC partner.

NEWS Mutton to chair Pork CRC Dennis Mutton has succeeded John Keniry as Chairman of the CRC for High Integrity Australian Pork (Pork CRC), after Dr Keniry AM retired at its recent 2013 annual general meeting in Melbourne.

Dr Keniry’s retirement marked the conclusion of eight years as chair of the present Pork CRC and its predecessor, CRC for an Internationally Competitive Pork Industry.

Pork CRC Board now comprises Mr Mutton (Chairman), Kathryn Adams, Sandra Di Blasio, Rod Hamann, Professor Simon Maddocks, Professor John Pluske, Kenton Shaw, Andrew Spencer, Chris Trengrove, Professor Robert van Barneveld and Dr Hugh Wirth.

The four research programs of the CRC for High Integrity Australian Pork are: 1. Reduced confinement of sows and piglets.

2. Herd health management.

3. Healthy pork consumption.

4. Carbon-conscious nutrient inputs and outputs.

Mr Mutton, BSc (Hons), Grad Dip Mgt, JP, FAICD, is an Adelaide, South Australia based independent consultant in resource planning and development, administration of R&D, leadership, strategic management and regional development.

He is Chair of BioInnovation SA and was previously Chair of Grape and Wine R&D Corporation, Council of Rural R&D Corporations, Natural Resources Management Council SA and Director of CRC Viticulture.

Mr Mutton is a member of the Premier’s Science and Industry Council and a Director of WPG Resources Ltd. His distinguished career in the South Australian Public Service includes Chief Executive of Primary Industries and Resources SA, Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Woods and Forests Department.

Speaking after the AGM, Pork CRC CEO Roger Campbell thanked Dr Keniry, who he described as instrumental in the universally acknowledged success of the first Pork CRC and for the second Pork CRC being awarded.

“John positively impacted all directors and staff and was largely

responsible for how very effectively the two boards operated for the past eight years,” Dr Campbell said.

“Dennis, who has been on the board for a year, has vast experience managing large organisations and as a director and chair of a number of boards.

“He also brings to the board and industry considerable experience in commercialisation, a skill and strength Pork CRC needs as we transition to a different investment model in the next couple of years.

“Change is inevitable, even at the very top and we wish John all the best in his future endeavours and welcome Dennis as our new Chairman,” Dr Campbell concluded.

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PORK JOURNAL, November/December 2013 21

PRODUCT NEWS BEC appointed distributor for PkA On Tuesday Decmeber 3, BEC Feed Solutions and Animal Science Products hosted a seminar on ‘Managing for optimum immunity through drinking water and spray vaccinations’.

Present were Bailey Reynolds, President of Animal Science Products (ASP) and Ryan Izard, ASP’s Chief Science and Technology Officer.

BEC Feed Solutions has been appointed the exclusive distributor for the Veterinary Specialty Products Division of Animal Science Products in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and the Pacific Islands.

One of the products BEC will be distributing is PKA pH Water Treatment.

PKA is a water treatment product designed for lowering pH as well as cleaning and de-scaling water lines.

Ryan Izard presented a paper that was titled ‘Benefits of drinking water acidifica-

Ryan Izard, ASP’s Chief Science and Technology Officer spoke about PKA ph at the recent seminar.

tion program’.

Mr Izard explained that poor water quality can lead to bacteria growth, algae slime, mineral scale deposition and a build up of biofilm, which in turn can restrict water flow through pipe lines and result in a lower rate of body weight gain.

“Some of the benefits of PKA pH

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Water Treatment are that it is more than three times stronger than a citric acid and therefore requires much lower addition rates to acidify drinking water to biologically effective low pH levels.

“PKA in drinking water has no bitter taste and therefore does not affect the drinking rate of animals,” Mr Izard said.

v CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17 husbandry and nutritional management based on the principles outlined in this paper are adequate to successfully implementing a group sow housed system that optimizes sow welfare while maintaining productivity,” Dr van Barneveld concluded.

On October 24 in the session ‘Increasing the efficiency of livestock production’, Dr Julian Wiseman from Nottinghan University in the UK posed the question ‘Can processing improve digestibility of amino acids and starch in cereals and legumes in non-ruminants?’

Introducing his paper Dr Wiseman said: ‘For newly weaned pigs processing can overcome, to an extent the post weaning growth check.

Later in the session Hadden Graham from AB Vista spoke on the topic of ‘Taking near infra-red spectroscopy beyond analysis to enhance animal production profitability’.

“NIR is currently used by the animal feed industry for quality assurance and quality control.

“However developments in both hardware and software raise the possibility of using this technology to determine the nutritive value of incoming feedstuffs as well as to control the in line real time accuracy of feed formulation.

“This is potentially worth several billion dollars in terms of feed cost savings and more predictable animal performance for animal feed industries worldwide,” he concluded.

Apart from the scientific papers and their value to delegates, RAAN presents a great opportunity for numerous elements in livestock industries to get together and discuss their issues, products and research.

Key sponsors of RAAN 2013 were the US Soybean Export Council, the Poultry CRC, BEC Feed Solutions, ADM. AB Vista, Ridley Agri-Products, Addcon, Novus, Adisseo, Meriden Animal Health, Jefo, ABScibus, Coles, Alltech and APL. Adam Naylor of Alltech rounded out the second day with an interesting lecture on the ‘History of Beer’ before allowing delegates to sample his company’s ‘Kentucky Ale.’

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