Page 2 - Australian Pork Newspaper

Innovation – now and into the future
Pig Industry Calendar of Events
2018
AUG 21 - 24 – Digestive Physiology of Pigs, Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, Brisbane QLD www.dpp2018.org
SEP 17 - 19 – VIV China, Nanjing International Exhibition Centre (NIEC), China www.vivchina.nl/en/Bezoeker. aspx
SEP 25 - 27 – PorkExpo 2018 Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil www.porkexpo.com.br
OCT 17 - 19 – Vietstock Expo & Forum, Saigon, Vietnam www.vietstock.org
NOV 11- 14 – Space 2018, Rennes, Francia, France www.space.fr
NOV 13 - 16 – EuroTier, Hannover, Germany www.eurotier.com/en
NOV 15 - 18 – Allen D. Leman Swine Conference, Saint Paul, Minnesota, US www.ccaps.umn.edu/allen-d- leman-swine-conference
NOV 19 – National Pig Awards, London UK www.nationalpigawards.co.uk
How to supply event details: Send all details to Australian Pork Newspaper, PO Box 387, Cleveland, Qld 4163, call 07 3286 1833 fax: 07 3821 2637, email: ben@porknews.com.au
porknews.com.au
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WITH the profitability issues currently afflict- ing the industry, it is very difficult for many of you to think about implementing new ideas and innovative solutions on farm.
However, it is still im- portant for us to remain aware of new learnings and opportunities that may benefit and have ap- plications in our industry.
In early July, the Aus- tralian Society of Animal Production conference was held in Wagga Wagga at Charles Sturt Universi- ty, with the theme of ‘Fos- tering Innovation through the Value Chain’.
Australian Pork Lim- ited sponsored the open- ing keynote presentation, which was given by Edwi- na Beveridge of Blantyre Farms.
Edwina’s honest and enlightening presentation was certainly an ‘on-topic opener’ and provided the audience with a great in- sight of the innovations possible in modern com- mercial pig production systems and why continu- ing innovation is vital to ongoing industry sustain- ability and viability in Australia.
As Edwina highlighted during her presentation at PPPE, challenges come with innovation and one solution to a problem can result in the development of another problem.
For example, utilising human food waste in or- der to reduce feed costs creates tonnes of waste packaging that needs to either be disposed of or recycled – which is usu- ally easier said than done!
These challenges are not insurmountable and fur- ther innovation or simple changes to processes or procedures can help to re- solve these issues while
still reducing costs.
The benefits of methane
capture and biogas gen- eration for use on farm as a real cost-saver in terms of on-farm energy costs were also discussed.
Edwina emphasised that innovation doesn’t have to be complex but can be as simple as changing a process or making small management changes to result in incremental in- creases in efficiencies; with these incremental gains adding up over time.
While the conference covered a range of live- stock species, Edwina’s presentation struck a chord with attendees and presenters who referred back to the issues she highlighted in their own presentations and also initiated some stimulating discussions among differ- ent industry stakeholders.
Dr Jay Johnson from the US Department of Agri- culture discussed the ef- fect of heat stress in live- stock.
A lot of Dr Johnson’s
work has involved inves- tigating the effects of heat stress in the pig, and in particular, prenatal heat stress.
More and more research is indicating prenatal heat stress may be partially responsible for reduced postnatal performance of progeny.
In utero heat stress has immediate effects on off- spring and litter charac- teristics.
Birthweight can be re- duced as a result of in utero heat stress, which is likely caused by short- ened gestation length and in utero growth retarda- tion due to insufficient placental development.
In addition to the imme- diate effects on offspring and litter characteristics, a variety of postnatal con- sequences resulting from IUHS were described, including effects on ther- mo-tolerance, nutrient partitioning, performance, reproduction and bioen- ergetics.
APL is currently fund-
ing a number of studies in this emerging area of research and outcomes from research being con- ducted under Australian commercial production systems will add greatly to our knowledge of the negative impacts of IUHS on postnatal performance and welfare.
It will also aid in the development of effective mitigation strategies to help manage this issue.
Another interesting area addressed at the confer- ence was big data.
Big data refers to the production of large data sets that are so vast that traditional data process- ing software is insuffi- cient to handle these data sets.
Big data requires cloud- based platforms to accept data streams from multi- ple inputs and uses ana- lytic software to provide information to decision makers.
Dr Stuart Wilkinson from Feedworks focused his presentation on mod- ern pig and poultry pro- duction.
Stuart discussed the cur- rent and future challenges facing industries on the cusp of a digital revolu- tion.
Driving this digital revolution of agriculture are advancements in sen- sor technology, faster and more powerful computing as well as the requirement to increase production while reducing inputs.
Pig and poultry produc- ers generate vast amounts of data, however, the method of capturing and recording is typically via manual inputs, with little sharing among decision- makers along the produc- tion chain.
As a result, management decisions are most often performed in hindsight with missing and/or inac- curate information.
In a world where every- thing is connected, data is a critical asset.
Food production is no different, yet agriculture has the lowest adoption of digital technologies of all industries.
Access to reliable and fast internet is often cited as the predominant bar- rier to the adoption of technology on farms.
As the roll-out of fixed wireless and satellite in- ternet services continues, pig and poultry produc- ers will have access to a greater array of digital technologies, enabling more informed decision- making.
As internet access in- creases in rural and re- gional areas, it is pre- dicted an increase in the adoption of automation and sensor technologies will follow, leading to the production of big data sets.
By capturing, analysing and sharing data in real time, this can be used to
better inform decision making.
For pig producers, the measurement of feed con- sumption, water intake and body weight in ad- dition to environmental and behavioural indices (that are likely to be avail- able in the near future) will provide vast data sets and opportunities for im- proved decision-making.
A revolution in how we raise and manage our ani- mals is on the horizon.
So, producing meaning- ful data sets that feed into meaningful real-time de- cision making tools will facilitate increases in pro- duction efficiency – thus enabling industry to pro- duce more from less.
In APL’s latest call for research, the demonstra- tion of technologies that provide real-time feed- back in terms of body weight measurement and animal health indices were included as a priority to ensure the Australian pig industry is well in- formed on currently avail- able technologies.
We will keep you in- formed of developments in this area as outcomes become available.
On another note, I advise the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority has recently completed a review on the use of macrolide antibiot- ics (kitasamycin, olean- domycin and tylosin) as growth promotants.
The APVMA has decid- ed to withdraw approval for the use of macrolide antibiotics for growth pro- motion in animal produc- tion.
Growth promotant and improved feed conversion efficiency (in pigs) claims are to be removed from the labels of macrolide antibiotics.
The registrations and associated label approv- als of the product ‘Vet only TRUBIN L-50 growth promotant for pigs (35806)’ will be can- celled.
The APVMA has de- termined there will be a 12-month phase-out pe- riod, such that the use of TRUBIN L-50 growth promotant for pigs and other kitasomycin, olean- domycin and tylosin prod- ucts that do not carry the new labels can only be used until April 9, 2019.
The Australian pork in- dustry is committed to the prudent use of antibiot- ics and antimicrobials to ensure the continuation of the high standards of ani- mal health and welfare in our industry.
The full report can be found on the APVMA website apvma.gov.au
For further informa- tion on any of the topics discussed in this article, please do not hesitate to contact me on 0423 056 045 or heather.channon@ australianpork.com.au
by HEATHER CHANNON Research and Innovation General Manager
As the roll-out of fixed wireless and satellite internet services con- tinues, pig and poultry producers will have access to a greater array of digital technologies, enabling more informed decision-making.
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