Cl2-Lancuttr Farming, Saturday, October 2,1993 FEEDING FOR LEAN GAIN The optical probe (Fat-O- Meat’er, Hennesey, and others) has created more incentive to improve carcass value than any thing else. Not that the optical probe is an end-all. It just showed up at the right time and place. And it has given us a respectable system for assessing carcass value, which most of the industry has adopted. Producers, who for years have screamed for an opportunity to sell hogs on the basis of quality rather than live weight, have their work cut out. The objective is simple find the ingredients to get the hog to market in a way that return is maximized. Notice that we’re not necessari ly recommending maximum car cass value. And we’re not always pushing for optimum feed perfor mance. These two items must be considered together because as many producers have already fig ured out, they can work in opposite directions. What Affects Carcass Value If you check the text books, you’ll find that the heritability of carcass traits is about .40. Put another way, genetics counts for 40 percent, and everything else contributes about 60 percent. hat means your feeding prog ram, your marketing strategy, the building environment, and herd health all these things taken together account for 60 percent of the variation you see from one hog to the next in your grading sheet. The other 40 percent is genetics alone. If that isn’t sobering enough, let’s assume that management wise, you’re already doing things about “right.” Your feeding prog- FRANK A. FILLIPPO, INC. - WANTED - DISABLED & CRIPPLED COWS, BULLS & STEERS ' Call: Frank Fillippo - Residence - 215-666-0725 Steven Fillippo 215-666-7976 ♦ Pork Prose by Kenneth B. Kephart Penn State Extension Swine Specialist ram is meeting all the require ments, you’re marketing hogs in correct weight range, etc. And now you’re asking what you can do to improve carcass value. Well, there may be a lot of things you can tweak, but no single item will com pare to the impact you can make with genetics. So the take-home lesson is wor ry a lot about where your breeding stock comes from. The Feed Program Two nutrients that will have an impact on carcass quality are fat and protein. Increasing protein level may improve carcass value, but it also increases feed cost. Increasing fat will almost cer tainly improve growth perfor mance, but often at the expense of carcass value. Before changing either of these nutrients, be certain other feed related items are correct. For example, vitamin and mineral levels, water quality, molds and mycotoxins, and fiber can all affect both performance and car cass value. Except in the rarest circum stances, added fat will not improve carcass value. But it might Added Fat It's Time T 0... CV/y4/A/Z7CWV/V Four Winter Feeding Program With Nutrena concentrates are designed to balance your home grown forage & grains and to help you get the most out of your cows. We’d like to holp you "chain down” your feed program with October’s promotion. For every 3 or more tons of the following concentrates purchased on ITLO receive a 16’ log chain CALL 1 >BOO-833*3372 For Your Nearest Nutrena Dealer! jr Remember: Nutrena Knows Cows improve growth performance. Adding fat to a typical growing pig diet will increase the energy content (often called energy densi ty). Most animals, including the pig, eat to meet their need for ener gy. That means a pig will have to eat less of a high-fat diet to meet his energy requirement Since weight gain will stay the same or get better, feed conversion improves. The bad news is that high fat diets often lead to increased backfat in the carcass. Do two things to avoid this. First, add only moderate amounts of fat—6o pounds per ton or less. Second, realize (hat since pigs eat less of a high fat diet, they're also getting less of protein, vitamins, and minerals. That means we have to adjust those nutrient levels up, and it's especially critical for pro tein. Without the protein adjust ment, pigs will still show an improvement in feed conversion, but the increases in backfat will be more obvious. Extra Protein Many producers and researchers are recommending high levels of protein, especially for gilts. Gilts are leaner and have more muscle than barrows, so it’s logical that they have a higher protein requirement. A recent study by Gary Crom well at the University of Kentucky, and many cooperators from around the Midwest, suggests that gilts reach their peak in performance at about 17 percent protein. Barrows maximize their performance between 13 and IS percent protein. No economic data were collected to determine which diets were most profitable. In recent Penn State studies. Bob Mikesell and I learned that Nutrena. Concentrates!! both barrows and gilts respond positively to increasing protein to 17 percent from die standard 14 percent. The percent lean cuts on the Hatfield system is higher and the carcass value is improved. But the benefits are worth about the same as the extra cost of feed. Would it work for you? It might, especially if you have relatively lean genetics. Some nutritionists take this concept one step further in what they refer to as “prescrip don feeding." Knowing the actual feed intake on your finishing floor, and the carcass cutout, will tell you precisely how many grams of lys ine, etc. that the pigs should con sume each day. There may be some validity to that, but I would still argue that the economics are an unknown until you try the diet and see what happens. Management Changes That Count I. Know that gilts are worth a lot more than barrows. This is true for nearly every farm and every type of genetics. You may wish to sort on the basis of carcass value, so that the fat pigs are sold by live weight, and the lean ones on the rail. If you do nothing else but' separate by sex, you will have done a pretty good job of sorting for carcass value. 2. As carcass weight goes up. so does fat For every population of hogs, there is a break point on the Hatfield system. Beyond a certain weight, lean cuts and carcass price will take a dive. Look over your grading sheets so that you know exactly what that weight is. 3. Fast gaining pigs are fatter than slow gainers. Market the first pigs out of the pen at a lower FREE! • Coupler 1 40% • Mighty Cow 36% • Mighty Cow 40% • Tochni-cow 36% • Techni-cow TMR Pak ©CCDPQjaB Offer expires October 31,1993 Nutrena.Feeds weight if possible. They’ll be the fattest ones in the bunch anyway, so keep the carcass weight down, and you may avoid a lean cut discount. 4. Understand that the Hatfield system is based on fat and muscle. But like any other carcass grading system, fat counts for a lot more. Changing backfat by only a tenth of an inch may change carcass val ue by more than $2 per head. You would have to change the muscle depth by at least IS mm to equal a $2-per-head change in carcass value. 5. On the Hatfield program. 56 is the magic number. Hogs below S 6 percent lean cuts are discounted heavily. Those above 56 percent are given a bonus. Because the dis counts are twice are great as the bonus, the 56 percent line is an expensive one. Making manage ment changes to get above the 56 percent level, even if they are a bit costly, will often pay. Summary A lot of management practices feed, marketing, health, envi ronment influence carcass val ue. But taken together, they have roughly the same impact as genetics. If your hogs are not cutting well, and you’re looking for answers, the genetic program would be a good place to start. Keep the fat to a minimum no more than 60 pounds per ton. Con sider feeding gilts or lean hogs ele vated protein (17 percent) to take advantage of improvements in car cass value. But never assume that an improvement in carcass value will always pay for the added feed cost.
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