Livestock Notes
Cost Savings In Energy
Efficiency
Keith A. Bryan
Penn State Instructor
Dairy & Animal Science
As cosl-of-production and
gross income margins narrow in
the swine industry, producers are
faced with the multi-faceted chal
lenge of reducing costs. One
potential cost-saving item that
may be overlooked is conserva
tion of electricity.
Consider the total number of
kilowatt hours of electricity used
by a single light fixture during a
24-hour period. A light fixture
with a 100-walt bulb uses 0.8 kilo
watt hours of electricity in eight
hours. At 7.5 cents per kilowatt
hour, this single fixture would cost
six cents per day to operate, or
$21.90 per year. Using a 40-watt
incandescent instead of a 100-watt
bulb would result in a savings of
$13.14 per fixture. In a 2,400-sow
farrow-to-feeder operation with
approximately 400 fixtures, this
simple change amounts to an
annual savings of $5,236.
What if we changed all fixtures
from 100-watt incandescent fix
tures to 40-watt fluorescent? The
annual energy savings would
remain about the same, but we
would reap two additional benefits
increased life-span of the bulbs
and increased light output. A
40-watt fluorescent light tube has
an average lifespan of approxi
mately 12,000 hours, whereas a
100-watt incandescent light has an
average lifespan of approximately
750 hours. In a typical year, an
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incandescent fixture would
require 3.9 bulbs at a cost of 12
cents per bulb, or 47 cents per fix
ture per year. But a fluorescent
fixture would require only 0.25
bulbs at a cost of 99 cents per
bulb, or 25 cents per fixture per
year. The result? A net savings of
22 cents per fixture or approxi
mately $BB annually in this exam
ple. Although this is minimal,
using 40-watt fluorescent tubes
versus 100-watt incandescent
bulbs increases the amount of
light from 1,750 to 3,200 lumens
an 82 percent improvement.
There are a few potential short
comings to this proposed
changeover. We have not
accounted for the cost of replacing
incandescent fixtures with
fluorescent fixtures. Also, locat
ing or designing water-tight/
waterproof fluorescent fixtures
may be cost-prohibitive. Alterna
tively, incandescent bulbs could
be replaced with fluorescent bulbs
that work in typical incandescent
fixtures. You’ll want to investi
gate the costs before making a sig
nificant change. Regardless of the
type of bulbs and fixtures used
currently, the potential exists to
reap considerable sasvings by
choosing alternative lighting.
Source: Carroll’s Pig Tales &
Turkey Talk, Vol. 2, No. 1; Rhon
da Ezzell, editor.
Immunocastration Of
Boars
Keith A. Bryan
Penn State Instructor
Dairy & Animal Science
Now more than ever, questions
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are cropping up about the necessi
ty of typical management prac
tices in swine units, due primarily
to enhanced public awareness of
animal welfare issues. Routine
castration of boars destined for
normal market channels is one
such practice. The idea of alterna
tive methods of castration is not
new.
Scientists have investigated
several methods to reduce the
compounds which are responsible
for the pungent odor of boar meat
(primarily testicular steroids and
skatole, a product of tryptophan
degradation in the pig’s digestive
system).
One alternative method of
castration is immunization against
hormones that affect testicular
steroid production. Up until now,
(he problem with this method has
been that immunization schedules
are ineffective in practical swine
production situations.
Researchers from France and
Canada recently evaluated the
potential for immunocastralion of
boars by administering antilutei
nizing hormone-releasing hor
mone (anti-LHRH) at 65 pounds
and again at 195 pounds. This
treatment was designed to provide
minimal effect during most of the
growing period in order to main
tain advantages of boars in
growth, feed efficiency and car
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cass composition; and to provide
maximal effect just prior to
slaughter at 230 pounds, when
levels of testicular steroids and
skatole begin to exceed those
deemed acceptable by consumers.
As expected, boars grew faster,
ate less, and converted feed to
body weight gain more efficiently
compared with barrows. Howev
er, there was no difference due to
immunization status of boars for
traits associated with growth per
formance. For all of the carcass
traits studied, control boars were
superior to barrows, but there was
no difference between control and
immunized boars for carcass
traits.
Immunization of boars greatly
reduced development of the repro
ductive organs and associated sex
glands compared with control
boars. Immunized boars had
smaller testes, epididymides,
seminal vesicles, and bulboureth-
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ral glands. Furthermore, boars
immunized against LHRH had
lower concentrations of testoster
one in blood at 230 pounds and
lower concentrations of androste
none in fat, but the concentration
of skatole was unaffected by
immunization status. None of the
immunized boars, but nearly two
thirds of control boars, had
androstenone levels that would be
considered unacceptable for
human detection and
consumption.
The reported immunization
schedule demonstrations the
potential for more widespread use
of boars for meat production by
reducing levels of testicular ster
oids partly responsible for boar
taint, without compromising
advantages in growth perfor
mance and carcass composition of
boars versus barrows.
Source: M. Bonneau et al, J.
Arum. Sci. 72:14.