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ESF Feeds Sows With Precision

Jun 08, 2016

From CANARM AgSystems  www.sowchoicesystems.com        By Curtiss Littlejohn

Phase two, of a multi-year study on Precision Sow Feeding (PSF) led by Dr. Kees DeLange at the University of Guelph has received base funding from Ontario Pork and will examine the value of precision sow feeding and its financial, reproduction and environmental impacts.

Phase one of the multi-year University of Guelph study on Precision Sow Feeding (PSF) has proven the potential value of feeding sows with a commercial-level, precision, electronic sow feeder (ESF).
 
Phase one validated the Canarm AgSystems SowChoice Precision ESF equipment in a trial with 140 gilts. Phase Two will continue to follow sows over a second and third parity and prove the value of precision sow feeding in reducing feed costs, improved sow health and productivity. This is achieved through the management of nutrients to precisely match the sow’s requirements in each stage of gestation. Rations can be less expensive but more effective because what the sow is fed individually targets nutritional requirements to match NRC recommendations, which can mean lower use of expensive feed ingredients, and lower cost ingredients for satiety. Matching nutrient requirements to each sow means manure available to farmers for crop production will be more tailored to reducing the environmental footprint.
 
Researchers have shown the value of precision sow feeding in reduction of feed costs, but the difference in the University of Guelph study is that it is using a commercially available precision ESF unit.
 
Canarm AgSystems’ SowChoice Systems ESF is operating daily on farms in Canada and the United States and is known for its North American construction, and industry leading innovation with standard 304 stainless steel construction, industry first low voltage electrical operated actuators and seamless integration with the worlds largest swine management software PigCHAMP .
 
The company has worked with Dr. Kees de Lange and graduate student Quincy Buis to fine-tune PSF option to the ESF. It can now dispense changes to rations in seven-gram increments, depending on the ingredient. The Canarm AgSystems precision feeding ESF allows farmers to blend up to four different ingredients and vary rations daily if necessary.
 
The interest in precision sow feeding at the University of Guelph also evolved from the changes to the NRC requirements for gestation sows in 2012. The NRC models are the standards by which rations are formulated for sows. 
 
“The objective of the Canarm AgSystems ESF being used for the research trials is to further integrate data between the NRC Model, daily data changes in the PigCHAMP Management Software, and the  precise nutritional  requirements for each sow at each stage or day of gestation,” says Curtiss Littlejohn, Swine Products Manager at Canarm AgSystems.
 
The NRC model says there are several questions that should be asked to qualify what nutrition the sow needs during gestation, meaning that the one-ration-fits-all-sows way of feeding that most farmers have used is no longer optimal. 
 
The pilot study with gilts showed little difference among precision-fed gilts and those fed one ration. There was little difference between the groups for lactation performance and piglet born alive weight.
 
Feed intake was about 10 per cent better on the precision-fed gilts.
 
De Lange says that the performance of the herd based on precision feeding will be more accurate on a Phase two of the larger study now planned which will be able to look at environmental and economic impact.
 
“I believe there is a really bright future for precision feeding using electronic sow feeding systems,” says de Lange.
 

For more information on Canarm’s SowChoice Systems ESF, visit

http://www.sowchoicesystems.com