COLLEGE PARK, Md. More than $l3 million worth of hogs and pigs were produced in Maryland in 1991 on the more than 1,000 farms. Because con sumers are increasingly concerned about dietary fat, this industry has experienced growing pressure to produce leaner and cheaper meat It is responding with research. “Maryland is a net exporter of feeder pigs,” said Tom Hartsock, of the University of Maryland SURGE Shown: Surge Alamo Belt* Drive 2800 Pump Package Complete With L-3 Oiler | PENNSYLVANIA , FORSHEY’S, INC. 110 Forahay SL Martinaburg, PA 814-703-3701 LONGACRE ELECTRICAL service, me. Bally, PA 21S-84S-2261 Fine-Tune Production For Cheaper, Leaner College Park. Many of the swine raised here are grown to feeder size not quite market weight, but ready to leave the nursery and then sold. Raising pigs to mar ket weight takes much more time, space and feed than raising piglets to feeder size. 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EXPECT MORE. this segment of the pork produc tion system. “We are making pork farmers more efficient and competitive with other meat farmers and with foreign competition,” Hartsock said, “which can ultimately result in cheaper pork for consumers.” Most of UMES* swine facility research is “geared toward the ear ly stages of the production cycle,” Hartsock said. “We are slanting our research toward what is being Shows actual milk-flow Records total elapsed time. Helps improve milking routines. {surge} BRANDT’S FARM SUPPLY 601 E. High St. Elizabethtown, PA 717-367-1221 done” in Maryland. Because heavy feeding during pregnancy increases the chances of miscarriage, farmers normally breed young pigs when they are bigger, after their second or third cstrus cycle. “If you breed a sow at first estrus,” Hartsock saic, “she is still a young girl and still grow ing.” She still needs to eat a lot. However, the use of vitamin A may change this practice. There is evidence that vitamin A reduces MARYLAND FINDER SERVICE CO. PO Box 7 Kennedyville, MO 301-348-5263 SHANK SURGE Hagerstown, MD 301-790-1226 301-447-MILK (Emmitburg) Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 19.1M343S Pork embryo mortality. Estienne and Hartsock are trying to see if it can counteract embryo death in an overfed young pig who became pregnant in her first cycle. If it works, then “we can breed the sow at first estrus, give her an injection of vitamin A, and still feed her heavily,” To take this line of research one step further, Estienne and Hart sock are trying to induce puberty at an earlier age. Scientists have shown that injections of various hormones stimulate the pituitary gland to secrete lutein izing hormone (LH). LH is responsible for maturing follicles so that they release eggs, or ovulate. Estienne found that n-methyl-as partate (NMA), a simple protein, also in creases the LH level v He and Hartsock are trying to see if they can use NMA to induce early puberty. Normally, sows are bred after they arrive in the breeding pens. If both of these tech niques work inducing early puberty and injecting vitamin A then using them in combination would allow farmers to get a head start on the production cycle. Sows could be pregnant before they arrive in the breeding pens. About 20 to 30 percent of each newborn litter dies, usually the pigs bom in the latter half of the litter. If farmers knew when a sow was going to give birth, they could be there to assist the birth, thus preventing some of these deaths. Hartsock and Estienne are trying to dis cover both hormonal and behavioral clues to when a sow will give birth. “The sow gives a clue somewhere around 18 hours before far rowing and another at about four or five hours,” Hartsock said. “The further you know ahead of time, the more time you have to make the decision to assist the birth or not." Once the pigs are bom, the key is getting them to grow strong and healthy. Estienne and Hartsock are using probiotics to see if they will increase the survival and growth rates of young pigs. “Probiotics are things that either introduce or encourage the growth of good bacteria,” Hartsock said. NMA has also proven helpful here. Not only can it be used to induce puberty, but it seems to increase muscle and reduce fat pro duction. “You get more pounds of meat with less fat,” Hartsock said. Ta gal alartad on Iha 9ymo-Llf» Nutrition Program ar far mart Information, call or wrila TD*hoi«pi6)MM7M Symo-Lffe, Inc. •™ F ~ (l^ 7,a (\sl Ln 3507 Os 62 ToHFw»i-ioo«M« Mllanburg, Ohio 44654 F/ sftSs», 7
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