Crossbred pigs 3 to 4 weeks of age were randomly assigned from outcome groups based on weight and sex to one of four dietary treatments either with or without added soybean oil or hulls. Nursery air quality was evaluated by measuring the concentrations of ammonia, carbon dioxide, settled dust, suspended particle size, and by microbiologically culturing air samples. Weekly performance data was also collected. ADG was unaffected by dietary treatment. ADFI was increased when soybean hulls were added to the ration with the difference being significant in trials 1 and 2 and over-all. Adding soybean oil to the ration produced slightly lower feed intakes over all trials but was not significant. Rations with added soybean oil reduced F/G, whereas, the addition of soybean hulls increased F/G for over-all trials. The response to soybean oil was less when soybean hulls were added. A comparison of rations 1 and 4 showed only slight differences in ADG, ADFI and F/G. The addition of soybean oil resulted in a 47% reduction in settled dust for trials 1 and 2 combined, and a 45% reduction for trial 3. Mean bacterial colony counts for each week and over-all for trial 3 were lower when soybean oil was added to the ration. Ammonia and carbon dioxide concentrations were not affected by dietary treatment. From the results of this experiment, the addition of soybean oil to starter diets improved nursery air quality and performance in some cases, however, gas concentrations were not different. / Master of Science

This study was done in the rural areas of uThukela District in KwaZulu-Natal. The objectives were to determine pig production and management practices used by farmers in rearing pigs in rural areas; to establish the role of pigs in social and economic lives of the people; and to characterize and determine constrains and opportunities of pig farming in rural areas. A farming systems approach was used in conjunction with a cross-sectional survey method using a structured questionnaire in face-to-face interviews with farmers for the collection of data. The study involved 4 local rural municipalities with a population of 4205 people who owned 2555 pigs. The sample size was 533 pig farmers/respondents. The data included the demographic characteristics of pig farmers, pig production and management practices, the role of pigs in both the social and economic lives of people and the constraints and opportunities of pig farming. The data were analyzed to determine simple means and frequencies. The results showed that 20% of pigs were reared in intensive systems and 80% in extensive systems in the district. Each village owned an average of 5 pigs. There were more female respondents (60%) than males, and also female respondents owned more (65%) pigs than males. Most of respondents (99%) were Zulu speaking people and only 1% was from other cultural groups. Majority of the respondents (74%) were unemployed, 16% were pensioners and only 10% were employed. Those who were employed kept more pigs than the other groups. Over one third of the respondents had primary (34.5%) and secondary (35.3%) education; and 2.7% had college education, while 27.5% had no formal education at all. Sixty-two percent of the older respondents between the age of 46 and 65 years kept more pigs than younger farmers. The collective incomes of the communities from salaries, pensions, and sales of livestock and crops per annum were substantial. The average land size per household ranged from 0.01 ha to 56 ha. Male respondents owned more land (1.68 ha) than female respondents (0.96 ha). Similarly, employed people owned more land (2.49 ha) than pensioners (1.26 ha) and the unemployed people (1.04 ha). Respondents kept other livestock species such as cattle, sheep, goats and chickens. Ninety percent of households kept chickens in addition to cattle (53%) and goats (49.3%). They also grew crops such as maize, potatoes, vegetables (cabbage, spinach, tomatoes, carrots, beetroots and onions) and fruits (peaches, apples and grapes). They kept pigs for home consumption (63%), source of income (33%), source of manure (3%) and for other reasons (1%). More employed people (68%) sold pigs for extra income, while 91% pensioners and 81% unemployed people used pigs for home consumption. Marketing channels included pension pay points, abattoirs, butcheries and neighbourhoods. Abattoir sales accounted for 10% and the most common venues were Amblecyte (40%) and Cato Ridge (27%). Selling of pigs occurred throughout the year, with the peak in winter (May/July). Majority of farmers (59%) used their own transport to deliver pigs to the selling points or they used contractors (41%). Pigs were sold at the age of 5 to 18 months old. Farmers sold live pigs and pork to the communities. Some farmers sold live pigs only, while others sold pork only or both pork and live pigs. Religion and culture had little influence on pig farming. Most farmers (88%) had no religious or cultural influences, while 7% were influenced by religion and 1% was influenced by culture. The most preferred meat among the communities was chicken meat, followed by beef, pork, mutton and chevon. Half of the respondents had >6 years of experience in pig farming, 34.9% had 2 – 5 years of experience and 14.8% were beginners. The breeds of pigs kept in the district included indigenous breeds, Large White, Landrace, Duroc and crosses of indigenous breeds with Large White and Landrace. Farmers bought breeding stock within their communities or they selected breeding stock from their own herds. Very few farmers have ever received any type of training in pig farming. The training was provided by the KZN Provincial Government, Zakhe Agricultural College and private farms. The training took 2-3 days of workshops, 2-3 weeks of short courses or 3-6 months of hands-on training on private farms. The training improved the performance of sows within the communities. Only 41% of farmers practised controlled stock breeding, which improved the farrowing rate and litter size. About one third (32%) of farmers bred their gilts at 6 – 8 months, while 21.2% bred them at 8-12 months, and 29% bred them after 12 months. The farrowing rate of indigenous sows was one litter per annum compared with the majority of Landrace and Duroc sows that farrowed twice a year. Some farmers (28%) reported that they routinely observed farrowing, while 72% of them said they never knew when the sows farrowed until they saw sows and new litters coming back to their pens after grazing in the veld. The litter sizes varied from ≤ 7 to ≥ 10. Half of the indigenous sows farrowed ≤ 7 piglets per litter, while 41% had 8-10 piglets; compared with 49% Large White and 44% Duroc that farrowed 8-10 and ≥ 10 per litter, respectively. Majority of farmers (66.1%) did not wean their piglets at all, which was associated with low farrowing rate. However, farmers who sold weaners for income weaned their piglets between 3 weeks and 3 months. This was associated with higher farrowing rate of sows. Piglet mortality was mainly due to worm infestation (26%), loss of hair (13%), lice and mange infestation (16.4%) and diarrhoea (5.6%). Despite that only 10% of farmers consulted the local Department of Veterinary Services. Some farmers (44.2%) said that they did not know that they could make use of Veterinary services, and 28% of them said it was a waste of time. Majority of farmers (80%) used home kitchen swill and brewer’s grains to feed their pigs. Only 16% of farmers bought commercial feeds and 2% fed them on maize grains and vegetables. Commercial feeds were bought from Farm Save (48%), Afgri (19%) and Epol (7%). Some farmers (65.4%) weighed feed before feeding, while 35% did not weigh feed at all. Water was provided at feeding time, ad libitum or several times a day. Farmers disposed of carcasses by eating them, feeding to their dogs, or throwing them away. Over half of the farmers (52%) did not take carcasses for post mortem, while 26% did not know that they could send carcasses for post mortem and 20% said they could not afford the cost. The study concluded that pigs have a vital social and economic role in the lives of the rural people of KZN for income generation and household consumption. The main constraints are wide spread poverty and lack of management skills in pig production, nutrition, health,housing and management. Government intervention is necessary to help farmers to improve pig production and management as a means of poverty alleviation and household food security. / Agriculture and  Animal Health / M.Sc. (Agriculture)

Two experiments were conducted for this thesis, to determine whether an animal should be fed to its genetic potential in spite of this not being achievable due to an on-farm constraint. The first experiment was designed to compare the response of pigs housed either individually or in groups to a range of feeds limiting in lysine between 40 and 85 kg live weight. Two hundred and eighty-eight entire male Large White x Landrace pigs were used. The experiment was divided into two growth periods, i.e. from 40 to 60 kg and from 60 to 85 kg. In each period, pigs were subjected to feed containing one of four dietary lysine concentrations. In Period 1, the lysine concentrations were 11.03 (L1); 9.54 (L2); 8.00 (L3) and 6.51 (L4) g/kg, while in Period 2 these were 7.82 (T1); 6.71 (T2); 5.55 (T3) and 4.40 (T4) g/kg. Pigs fed an L1, L2, L3 or L4 diet in Period 1 were fed a T1, T2, T3 and T4 diet in Period 2, respectively. Three buildings provided the following group sizes and floor-space allowances: House 1 contained eight pigs per pen at 1.94 m2/pig; House 2 contained four or eight pigs per pen at 1.72 or 0.86 m2/pig; and House 3 contained one pig per pen at 1.72 m2/pig. The individually-housed pigs were divided into three feeding levels, i.e. ad libitum, or pair-fed so that feed intakes would match those of ad libitum-fed pigs housed in groups of either 4 (restricted-4) or 8 (restricted-8) pigs per pen in House 2. For all group sizes, feed intake increased linearly as the dietary lysine content increased. However, this increase was significantly lower for 8, when compared with 1 and 4 pigs per pen. The linear increase in feed conversion efficiency with dietary lysine content was similar for all group sizes. However, at any dietary lysine concentration, pigs housed in groups of 8 had significantly higher efficiencies than the pigs housed individually or in groups of 4. Average daily gain increased linearly as lysine intake increased, this increase being the same for all group sizes. However, pigs in smaller groups grew significantly faster than those in larger group sizes for any lysine intake. Protein and lysine retention were unaffected by group size, increasing linearly as lysine intake increased. The efficiency of lysine utilisation (0.45) was not impaired by group size. The pair-fed pigs housed individually (restricted-4 and -8) consumed significantly less feed than the individually-housed pigs fed ad libitum, and this was reflected in their average daily gains, which increased linearly as lysine intake increased, but with the restricted-8 growing significantly slower than the ad libitum or restricted-4 pigs. In all three treatments feed conversion efficiency increased linearly with dietary lysine content, although the restricted-4 and -8 had significantly higher efficiencies than the ad libitum-fed pigs at any dietary lysine content. Protein and lysine retentions were unaffected by feeding level and increased significantly with lysine intake. However, at any lysine intake the restricted-8 pigs had a significantly lower efficiency of lysine utilisation than the ad libitum or restricted-4 pigs. The pigs with floor-space allowances of 0.86 and 1.94 m2/pig consumed significantly less and grew slower than the pigs with floor-space allowances of 1.72 m2/pig at any dietary lysine content. Feed conversion efficiency was unaffected by floor-space allowance and increased significantly with dietary lysine content. Similarly, protein and lysine retentions were unaffected by floor-space allowance and increased linearly as lysine intake increased. The efficiency of lysine utilisation (0.45) remained unaffected by floorspace allowance. It was concluded that when animals are socially stressed, feeding according to the requirement for maximum protein growth produces the best biological performance and carcass composition, with the corollary that, if profitability and biological efficiency is to be maximised, pigs housed in stressful conditions, or those whose future performance is predicted to be below potential because of external stressors, should not be given feed of an inferior quality. The second experiment was designed to determine the extent to which grouping or floorspace allowance would alter the nutrient content of feed chosen by pigs given a choice of two feeds differing in protein: energy ratio between 40 to 85 kg live weight. Three hundred and eighteen entire male Large White x Landrace pigs were used. Two buildings provided the following group sizes and floor-space allowances: House 1 contained nine and eighteen pigs per pen at 1.72 or 0.86 m2/pig; House 2 contained four, nine and fourteen pigs per pen at 1.72; 0.86 or 0.49 m2/pig. Animals were given simultaneous ad libitum access to a high (236 g protein/kg as fed) and a low crude protein feed (115 g protein/kg as fed) in two hardened plastic self-feeder bins placed side-by-side. A training period of six days was used prior to the start of the trial, during which the two feeds were alternated daily. The reduction in the proportion of high protein feed chosen over time was significantly higher for the groups of four and eight, in comparison to the groups of nine and eighteen, contrasting with the steady increase for the groups of fourteen pigs. Similarly, the significant increase for pigs with floor-space allowances of 0.49 m2/pig differed from the significant decrease for pigs with floor-space allowances of 0.86 and 1.72m2/pig. Pigs housed in larger group sizes and smaller floor-space allowances consumed significantly less and grew slower than pigs housed in smaller group sizes and larger floorspace allowances. However, the feed conversion efficiency remained unaffected by group size and floor-space allowance. The non-significant effect on protein retention with increasing group size contrasted with the significant increase associated with increasing floor-space allowance. The results of the two studies were compared to determine whether pigs chose differently depending on the degree of stress and the implication of this choice. Average daily gain was significantly reduced as the group size increased for pigs fed a fixed lysine content and choice-fed. However, this reduction was less severe with choice-feeding than when feeding a fixed lysine content. Increasing the group size significantly reduced the feed intake in pigs fed a fixed lysine content only. The efficiency of protein utilisation remained unaffected as the group size increased for the pigs fed a fixed lysine content. However, at any group size pigs fed lower lysine contents had higher efficiencies than pigs fed higher lysine contents. On the contrary, increasing the group size significantly increased the efficiency of protein utilisation in choice-fed pigs. The average daily gain and feed intake was significantly improved as the floor-space allowance increased but was similar for pigs fed a fixed lysine content and choice-fed. Although the efficiency of protein utilisation remained unaffected by increasing the floor-space allowance for the pigs fed a fixed lysine content and pair-fed, at any floor-space allowance pigs fed higher lysine contents had higher efficiencies than pigs fed lower lysine contents. The results indicate that providing socially stressed pigs a choice between an appropriate pair of feeds differing in protein: energy ratio, does not overcome the reduction in potential growth, but does result in performance similar to that of pigs fed a fixed lysine content. It was concluded that the social stress of grouping or floor-space allowance has no influence on the ability of the animal to select an appropriate dietary combination allowing the expression of potential growth within the constraint(s) of the production system. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.

This study was done in the rural areas of uThukela District in KwaZulu-Natal. The objectives were to determine pig production and management practices used by farmers in rearing pigs in rural areas; to establish the role of pigs in social and economic lives of the people; and to characterize and determine constrains and opportunities of pig farming in rural areas. A farming systems approach was used in conjunction with a cross-sectional survey method using a structured questionnaire in face-to-face interviews with farmers for the collection of data. The study involved 4 local rural municipalities with a population of 4205 people who owned 2555 pigs. The sample size was 533 pig farmers/respondents. The data included the demographic characteristics of pig farmers, pig production and management practices, the role of pigs in both the social and economic lives of people and the constraints and opportunities of pig farming. The data were analyzed to determine simple means and frequencies. The results showed that 20% of pigs were reared in intensive systems and 80% in extensive systems in the district. Each village owned an average of 5 pigs. There were more female respondents (60%) than males, and also female respondents owned more (65%) pigs than males. Most of respondents (99%) were Zulu speaking people and only 1% was from other cultural groups. Majority of the respondents (74%) were unemployed, 16% were pensioners and only 10% were employed. Those who were employed kept more pigs than the other groups. Over one third of the respondents had primary (34.5%) and secondary (35.3%) education; and 2.7% had college education, while 27.5% had no formal education at all. Sixty-two percent of the older respondents between the age of 46 and 65 years kept more pigs than younger farmers. The collective incomes of the communities from salaries, pensions, and sales of livestock and crops per annum were substantial. The average land size per household ranged from 0.01 ha to 56 ha. Male respondents owned more land (1.68 ha) than female respondents (0.96 ha). Similarly, employed people owned more land (2.49 ha) than pensioners (1.26 ha) and the unemployed people (1.04 ha). Respondents kept other livestock species such as cattle, sheep, goats and chickens. Ninety percent of households kept chickens in addition to cattle (53%) and goats (49.3%). They also grew crops such as maize, potatoes, vegetables (cabbage, spinach, tomatoes, carrots, beetroots and onions) and fruits (peaches, apples and grapes). They kept pigs for home consumption (63%), source of income (33%), source of manure (3%) and for other reasons (1%). More employed people (68%) sold pigs for extra income, while 91% pensioners and 81% unemployed people used pigs for home consumption. Marketing channels included pension pay points, abattoirs, butcheries and neighbourhoods. Abattoir sales accounted for 10% and the most common venues were Amblecyte (40%) and Cato Ridge (27%). Selling of pigs occurred throughout the year, with the peak in winter (May/July). Majority of farmers (59%) used their own transport to deliver pigs to the selling points or they used contractors (41%). Pigs were sold at the age of 5 to 18 months old. Farmers sold live pigs and pork to the communities. Some farmers sold live pigs only, while others sold pork only or both pork and live pigs. Religion and culture had little influence on pig farming. Most farmers (88%) had no religious or cultural influences, while 7% were influenced by religion and 1% was influenced by culture. The most preferred meat among the communities was chicken meat, followed by beef, pork, mutton and chevon. Half of the respondents had >6 years of experience in pig farming, 34.9% had 2 – 5 years of experience and 14.8% were beginners. The breeds of pigs kept in the district included indigenous breeds, Large White, Landrace, Duroc and crosses of indigenous breeds with Large White and Landrace. Farmers bought breeding stock within their communities or they selected breeding stock from their own herds. Very few farmers have ever received any type of training in pig farming. The training was provided by the KZN Provincial Government, Zakhe Agricultural College and private farms. The training took 2-3 days of workshops, 2-3 weeks of short courses or 3-6 months of hands-on training on private farms. The training improved the performance of sows within the communities. Only 41% of farmers practised controlled stock breeding, which improved the farrowing rate and litter size. About one third (32%) of farmers bred their gilts at 6 – 8 months, while 21.2% bred them at 8-12 months, and 29% bred them after 12 months. The farrowing rate of indigenous sows was one litter per annum compared with the majority of Landrace and Duroc sows that farrowed twice a year. Some farmers (28%) reported that they routinely observed farrowing, while 72% of them said they never knew when the sows farrowed until they saw sows and new litters coming back to their pens after grazing in the veld. The litter sizes varied from ≤ 7 to ≥ 10. Half of the indigenous sows farrowed ≤ 7 piglets per litter, while 41% had 8-10 piglets; compared with 49% Large White and 44% Duroc that farrowed 8-10 and ≥ 10 per litter, respectively. Majority of farmers (66.1%) did not wean their piglets at all, which was associated with low farrowing rate. However, farmers who sold weaners for income weaned their piglets between 3 weeks and 3 months. This was associated with higher farrowing rate of sows. Piglet mortality was mainly due to worm infestation (26%), loss of hair (13%), lice and mange infestation (16.4%) and diarrhoea (5.6%). Despite that only 10% of farmers consulted the local Department of Veterinary Services. Some farmers (44.2%) said that they did not know that they could make use of Veterinary services, and 28% of them said it was a waste of time. Majority of farmers (80%) used home kitchen swill and brewer’s grains to feed their pigs. Only 16% of farmers bought commercial feeds and 2% fed them on maize grains and vegetables. Commercial feeds were bought from Farm Save (48%), Afgri (19%) and Epol (7%). Some farmers (65.4%) weighed feed before feeding, while 35% did not weigh feed at all. Water was provided at feeding time, ad libitum or several times a day. Farmers disposed of carcasses by eating them, feeding to their dogs, or throwing them away. Over half of the farmers (52%) did not take carcasses for post mortem, while 26% did not know that they could send carcasses for post mortem and 20% said they could not afford the cost. The study concluded that pigs have a vital social and economic role in the lives of the rural people of KZN for income generation and household consumption. The main constraints are wide spread poverty and lack of management skills in pig production, nutrition, health,housing and management. Government intervention is necessary to help farmers to improve pig production and management as a means of poverty alleviation and household food security. / Agriculture and  Animal Health / M. Sc. (Agriculture)