D4—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, August 25,1984 Nothing is more depressing than an empty farrowing crate. It’s a signal that profit potential down the road will suffer. And it’s a grim reminder that feed was wasted on a non-productive sow. One factor leading to the empty farrowing crate syndrome is the failure of sows to return to heat. This is usually figured to be a fist letter-gilt problem, but it will occur in older sows, too. Why does it happen? Resear chers at the University of Nebraska have been asking the same question. And after several experiments, it looks like they have some answers. In designing the experiments, Do Your Buildings Store A Problem? Barns, storage units, sheds, silos these are all an important part of your total investment Without the proper insurance coverage, they could be a problem for you We will evaluate your insurance program free Jd JOHN W. ROBERTS Hj 218 Leant St, Oxford, PA SSHteJI LgW evereitseThler Jyy mSSm SI r* RD IB,Box4sA,Confluence.PA 814-395-3200 HAROLD R. SHELDON R D 12. Box 25. Thompson PA # 717 727-2881 Old Guard seltzer insurance MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY AGENCY „ Rt 61. Country Club, Hill. 2929 Lititz Pike • P O Box 3010 Orwftburt. PA Lancaster Pennsylvania 17604 717 366-0551 Phone (717) 569 5361 PorJi Prose Kenneth B. Kephart Extension Livestock Spec. University of Del. they suspected that low energy intake during lactation was at the root of the problem. So they fed nursing sows several different energy levels, then took a lot of measurements in both the sows and their pigs. The first series of experiments was set up to look at the sow. D. Reese and E.R. Peo, Jr. placed the sows on low, medium or high energy levels during lactation. These levels corresponded to a daily intake of six, nine or 12 pounds of a normal corn-soybean meal lactation diet. After weaning, they fed the sows four pounds per day. As expected, sows getting only six pounds a day lost a lot of weight during lactation - almost 52 pounds. Those eating 12 pounds per day lost only four pounds. Those on the low energy level lost .3 inches of backfat compared to only a .1 inch loss in the high energy group. By seven days post weaning, 97 percent of the sows on the high energy diet had come into heat. And 91 percent of those on the medium energy level (nine pounds per day) were in heat within the first week. But sows restricted to six pounds were slow. After seven days, only 60 percent had shown signs of estrus. And even after 70 days, 14 percent of these sows still weren’t in heat. What was different about the sows that came into heat and those that didn’t? Reese and Peo decided to take a closer look at the low energy group to find out. They discovered two things. First, sows in the non-return group had less backfat at weaning. And second, blood analysis indicated that the non-cycling sows had overactive thyroid glands. The trouble is, we don’t know if these sows were hyper at the start, or if the restricted feeding made them hyper. That’s a brand new can of worms for future research. What about the baby pig? In the second series of experiments, two other Nebraska scientists, J.L. Nelssen and A.J. Lewis, fed three different energy levels to sows to HOWDY MR. HOG Contact us at Hershey Equipment Co. about our hog equipment. It takes a lot of planning, knowledge and experience to develop a profitable confinement operation. We will assist you in the planning and recommend the most ef ficient arrangement of equipment. This service we provide will blend the building and equipment together to form a practical, labor saving, economical hog system for top quality hogs. Gestation Farrowing Finishing Nursery Systems Systems Systems Systems reduce stress and the are designed with both the are designed using top include pig rearing cages opportunity for fighting sow and farmer in mind. quality penning or penning equipment and feeders. M get a handle on the relationship of calorie intake and sow and litter performance. These levels corresponded to a feed intake of seven, 8.5 or 10 pounds of a corn soybean diet. Pigs received no creep feed. Baby pigs in all groups had similar survival rates - about 93 percent. But feeding sows either 8.5 or 10 pounds each day during lactation produced heavier pigs at 28 days then feeding 7 pounds. For example, feeding 8.5 pounds produced a litter weight of 135.6 pounds compared to 127.4 pounds with the 7-pound feeding level. So the extra 42 pounds of sow feed produced more than 8 pounds of additional litter weight. That’s $4.20 invested in sow feed and at least $7 returned in extra production. Money well spent. Rothrock sale on Nov. 10 KEMPTON - Rothrock Golden Holsteins announces a spectacular opportunity for Holstein breeders across the nation. Named the “Golden Opportunity Sale”, Rothrock Farms will be hosting their first consignment sale this fall. Scheduled for November 10, at the Rothrock Golden Holstein Farm, Rl, Kempton, the sale promises to feature “the best of the breed” according to Jack Miller, farm manager. Consignments will be arriving from as far west as California, and as far north as Canada. Famous Holsteins with tremendous pedigrees and enough ISo there’s a real plus to feeding 8.5 pounds rather than 7 pounds per day during lactation. But in this study, sow and Utter performance in the 10-pound group was almost identical to that of sows getting 8.5 pounds. Where does that leave you? To be sure that sows come into heat quickly, they ought to be getting 12 pounds of feed a day (16,000 kcal) during lactation. But these studies suggest that milk production (at least in first-Utter sows) may plateau at a daily feeding level of around 8.5 pounds. So, full feeding may be more than is necessary. But if you restrict the feed too much for a nursing sow, sooner or later it’ll cost you - either in milk produc tion or in return to heat. milk to fill any tank will appear before the auctioneer. Rothrock Golden Holsteins is the home to the 1983-Pa. Eastern Champion, Down Home Pete Sandy, as well as the newly crowned 1984 Pa. Eastern Champion, Angel PB Abbie - ET. FARMER... * ' *‘3 Give Me Your Attention Please! IT PAYS TO RAISE HOGS IN A SYSTEM DESIGNED BY • HERSHEY EQUIPMENT CO. MAD LANCASTER FARMING FOR COMPLETE AND UP-TO-DATE MARKET REPORTS .'P M* -
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