Feed Additives for Swine

Dr. Bob Thaler South Dakota State University [email protected]

Feed Additives

 Compounds that

MAY

elicit a response independent of the pig’s energy, amino acid, and vitamin/mineral requirements  Response is dependent on age of pig, disease level, genetics, environmental factors, & type of diet/feedstuffs

General Categories

 Antibacterials & Antibiotics  Chemotherapeutics  Organic acids  Probiotics & Prebiotics  Enzymes  Botanicals  Carcass modifiers  Flavors  Aromas  Mold inhibitors  Mycotoxin binders  Odor reducers

Antibiotic Efficacy in Nursery & Grow Finish Pigs (% improvement)

Years 1950-77 Production Stage Nursery (7-25 kg) Grow-Finish Daily Gain 16.1

Feed/Gai n 6.9

4.0

2.1

1978-85 Nursery (7-25 kg) Grow-Finish 15.0

3.6

6.5

2.4

Sows & Antibiotics

 General thought is not to add antibiotics to sow diets if conception rate is > 85%  However, if conception rate is < 85%, may be beneficial depending on the problem  Must be at the therapeutic level  2 weeks before breeding  One week prior to farrowing to weaning

Commonly Used Feed Additives

Tylosin CTC Bacitracin Lincomycin Carbadox 0 56.3

48 35 6.3

8.6

10 20 30 40 % Sites Feeding Antibiotics 50 60 USDA:APHIS, 2000

Commonly Used Feed Additives

(Company Feeding >25% of US Pigs) Dietary Inclusion Antibiotic Concentr (g/kg) #1 CTC #2 Tylan #3 Mecadox #4 BMD #5Lincomycin 22 110 22 5.5

66 Retail $/kg 3.06

3.76

2.95

5.26

6.14

55/ton 11-110 g/ton 55 g/ton 33 g/ton 22, 44, 110, or 220 g/ton

Lincomycin

 Reducing the severity of swine mycoplasmal pneumonia caused by

Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae

 Controlling ileitis, also known as Porcine Proliferative Enteropathy  Treating and controlling swine dysentery

Lincomycin

 Increasing the rate of weight gain in growing finishing swine  FDA approved for ileitis control and

Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae

 LINCOMIX at 40 g/t for ileitis control costs $5 to $7 less per ton than the approved Tylan* dose of 100 g/t

Tylosin (Tylan)

 Classic antibiotic used for growth promotion  Relatively inexpensive  No withdrawal. Tylan can be fed to market weight  Only Tylan ® Premix, fed at 100 g/ton, is approved to prevent and control ileitis. No other product can legally make this claim

Tylosin (Tylan)

 Convenient. One product for ileitis prevention and growth promotion  Tylan is primarily active against gram-positive bacteria and has significant activity against mycoplasma  Feeding it during grow-finish phase increased longissimus muscle area

Carbadox (Mecadox)

 Typically fed in the Pre-weaning, Nursery, and early Grower diets  For the treatment of clinical outbreaks of swine dysentery (vibrioic dysentery, "bloody" scours of haemorrhagic dysentery)  For the prevention and control of swine dysentery

Carbadox (Mecadox)

 For increase in rate of mass gain and improvement of feed efficiency 10 week withdrawal prior to slaughter  Do not use in feeds containing bentonite  Usually too expensive to use strictly for growth promotion

Chemotherapeutic Agents

 Naturally occurring or chemically synthesized compounds that inhibit the growth of microorganisms  Copper Sulfate  100 to 250 ppm in nursery diets  Additive effect with antibiotics  Zinc oxide  1500 to 3000 ppm  Controls some post-weaning scours   Higher levels can be toxic (know base levels) High levels in the manure – environmental problems  Already being regulated in some European countries

Probiotics

 Living bacteria or yeast cultures to enhance microbial balance 

Lactobacillus species

,

Bacillus subtilis

,

Streptococcus faecium, Saccharomyces cerevisiae

or various mixtures  Traditionally use in nursery diets  Beginning to be used in grow-finish diets  Strain of microbe, dose, interactions, feedstuffs, feed processing

Enzymes

 Increase nutrient utilization  Not much benefit with corn-SBM diets  More of a benefit with wheat & barley-based diets  Beta glucanase and xylanase are the most commonly used ones  Others include alpha amylase, cellulase, protease, and various combinations  Great variation in efficacy

Phytase

 Most commonly used enzyme in the world  Increases utilization of phytate P in grains  Decrease P excretion  Less P running off into lakes and rivers  Less euthrophication  Decrease amount of inorganic P  Currently slight economic savings in diet cost  Tremendous environmental benefit

Others

 Mold Inhibitors  effective against molds, not mycotoxins  Antioxidants – increase shelf-life & are effective  Mycotoxin Binders  Are present even if mold is gone  Products effective against aflatoxins (clays, HSCAS, pellet binders)  Few, if any, products effective on other mycotoxins

Others cont.

 Odor Reducing Additives  Many products, few effective (DeOdorase, Microaid)  Heavily dependent on condition of individual systems  Manure composition, pH, temperature, antibacterials, water, etc

Carcass Modifiers

 Ractopamine (

Paylean

)  Chromium tripicolinate  Betaine  L-carnitine  Zilpaterol

Ractopamine (

PayLean

)

 Beta agonist that “repartitions” where nutrients go (from fat to lean deposition)  Improves:  Growth rate  Feed conversion  Lean deposition

Ractopamine (

PayLean

)

 Approved at the 9 g/ton level the last 90 pounds prior to slaughter  5 g/ton improves gain (10%) & efficiency (17%)  Maybe carcass  9.9 g/ton improves gain & efficiency, carcass weight & dressing %

Ractopamine (

PayLean

)

 19.8 g/ton seldom used  cost of product  Increased death-loss potential  Greatest response first 2 weeks, then decreases over the last 2 weeks  Need at least a 16% protein diet and .90% lysine diet (watch all amino acid levels)

PayLean Use In Commercial

Operations

 Used to decrease total number of marketing days for a group/barn #1 Market first group of heaviest pigs #2 Feed the 5 g/ton level for 2 weeks #3 Feed the 9.9 g/ton level for the last 2 weeks or until all the pigs are marketed

Handling/Stress Is An Issue!

Elanco has developed a program on proper handling of swine from farm through harvest

Carcass Modifiers

 Organic Chromium (tripicolinate)  Increase leanness 6%, but not consistent  200 ppb Cr improved sow fertility, # born & weaned  Must be fed at least 6 months to get sow response  Betaine (sugar beet industry)  Enhance leanness and feed efficiency (?????)  Works with met/cys deficiency or lysine excess  Carnitine  Initially thought to improve leanness & efficiency  Some response in nursery pigs  50 ppm in gestation increased litter size & birth weight

Example

 Current diet cost = $120/ton  Feed additive costs $15 to add to a ton of feed ($135 - $120) * 100 = 12.5% improvement in F/G $120 just to pay for itself

If getting a 10% improvement in feed efficiency, still losing money!!!

Doesn’t take into Consideration Changes in:

 Gain  Carcass characteristics  Deathloss

Summary

 Feed additives can be effective tools when used properly 

Do the “Homework” for YOUR operation

Match disease problem with feed additive  Feed additives are not a replacement for poor management  Ractopamine is economically advantageous when used strategically

Summary

 Make sure you get a real “Net” economic benefit that’s consistent  Use your feed $ where you’ll get the best, most consistent return on your investment.