porkjournalNovember/December 2015Volume 37 Issue 6

www.primarymedia.com.au

PrintPost Approved PP10003090 ISSN 1032 3759

Funding boost for SA Pork CRC Industry Placement Program

Recent Advances in Animal Nutrition 2015

WA couple passionate about pig farming

Virkon®S has been independently tested for “Virucidal Effi cacy of a Disinfectant for Use on Inanimate Environmental Surfaces against Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDV)”. This is an approved EPA test protocol. Virkon®S is proven to be effective against PEDV at a dilution rate of 1:600, in the presence of high organic content (5%) and at low temperatures (down to 5˚C). Virkon®S can be used on housing, surfaces, equipmentand footwear. It is especially effective in combating the spread of disease via transport vehicles.

Virkon®S: Effective biosecurity against PEDV in a single pack.

VIRKON®S.INDEPENDENTLY PROVEN TO BE EFFECTIVE AGAINST PORCINE EPIDEMIC DIARRHEA VIRUS (PEDV).

Virkon S_297x210_PEDV.indd 2 23/05/2014 16:48

porkjournalwww.primarymedia.com.au

EDITORIAL & DESIGN

FEATURES

NEWS

ADVERTISING

SUBSCRIPTIONS

ENQUIRIES

EDITOR:

JOURNALIST/PHOTOGRAPHER

PRODUCTION EDITOR

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

ADVERTISING SALES

Peter BedwellPhone: (02) 9797 2406Mob: 0419 235 288Email: primarymedia@bigpond.comRates are available at www.primarymedia.com.au

OFFICE ADDRESS:250 Hawthorne Pde, Haberfield NSW 2045Phone: (02) 9797 2406Mob: 0419 235 288Production: 0409 944 472Email: primarymedia@bigpond.com

Pork Journal consists of a bi-monthly management magazine and an annual industry review, The Pig Industry Yearbook.Published by C D Supplies Pty Ltd trading as Primary Media (ACN 091 560 557)

All material copyright (editorial and advertisements) and may not be reproduced without the written consent of the publishers. Whilst every care is taken to ensure the accuracy of the contents of PORK JOURNAL, the publishers do not accept any responsibility or liability for the material herein.

AUSTRALIAOne Year - $55.00*

NEW ZEALAND One Year - NZ$80

OTHER COUNTRIESOne Year: Airmail - $A90Please send payment in Australian dollars.

Send payment and full details to:250 Hawthorne Pde, Haberfield NSW 2045

*Australian subscription rate includes GST

Peter Bedwell

Alex Bedwell

Rosemary Embery

Alex Bedwell

Page 8: WA couple passionate about pig farming By Brendon Cant

Page 20: The human role in African Swine Fever spreadBy Vincent ter Beek, Editor Pig Progress

3

Steve Hoffrichter on his Shark Lake piggery in WA

November/December 2015Volume 37 Issue 6

NEW PRODUCTS

Page 4: Heather Channon from APL wins 2015 Batterham Memorial Award.

Page 5: APL’s Janine Price wins the WMAA Women in the Environment Award.

Page 6: Challenges facing the global pork industry

Page14: BEC and ICC Brazil launch Hilyses in Australia

Page 16: Recent Advances in Animal Nutrition 2015

Page 18: Pork CRC APSA awards to inspired scientists

Page 19: Secure your farm with new biosecurity videos

Page 22: RATTOFF rat bait for rodent control in piggeries

NEWS

4

Australian Pork Limited’s Manager, Product Integrity, Heather Channon, has been recently awarded the Australian Pig Science Association’s 2015 Batterham Memorial Award at the 15th Biennial Scientific Meeting held from November 22-25 in Melbourne.

The Batterham Memorial Award is a prestigious award conferred by APSA in memory of the late Ted Batterham. The award is made with the aim of “stimulating and developing innovation in the pig industry” and enables the winner to broaden their exposure to national or international pig science.

APL’s General Mamager, Research and Innovation, Dr Darryl D’Souza said “This award highlights the excellent work and significant contributions that Heather has made to the Australian pork industry”.

Heather is currently undertaking her PhD entitles ‘Predicting the eating quality of pork’ at the University of Melbourne and is supervised by Professor Frank Dunshea and Dr Darryl D’Souza.

Heather’s PhD program is providing new information to support the development and implementation of a cuts-based eating quality system for Australian pork.

Her studies, supported by funding from APL and the Pork CRC, have aimed to improve the eating quality consistency of different pork cuts using a pathway approach, with the overall objective of reducing the incidence of pork rated as unsatisfactory or belwo average by consumers (fail rate) to less than 10%.

New information on the interactions between multiple pathway factors on the eating quality attributes of different pork cuts have been delivered.

Heather’s work has also validated that immunocastrated male pigs produce pork cuts of comparable eating quality to those from female pigs.

“Identifying, communicating and implementing outcomes arising from industry-funded R&D to optimise return on investment continues to be

my major motivator, particulalry in relation to pork eating quality, product integrity and carcase measurement,” Heather said.

In her role with Australian Pork Limited, Heather is responsible for identifying new opportunities, managing her project portfolio in

Heather Channon from APL wins 2015 Batterham Memorial Award

Project Integrity and delivering outcomes arising from industry investment in food safety and traceability to key stakeholders.

Heather also provides strong management and effective c0-ordination of the Pork Processor Referral Group.

Heather Channon (right) recieves her Batterham Memorial Award from Dr Alison Collins, APSA Vice President, from NSW DPI, Camden NSW

Concern over Australian Animal Welfare Committee make upFarmers have expressed concern at the recently appointed Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (AWAC).

Victorian Farmer’s Federation Livestock Group President Ian Feldtmann said the Victoria State government-appointed advisory committee lacks extensive livestock industry experience, and is too heavily weighted to ‘animal rights’.

“There is a glaring omission of the extensive livestock production industry and no balance in the committee.

“This advisory council is supposed to be about supporting best practice across animal industries. There should be a key role for farmers, with on the

ground experience to assist,” he said.He said the appointment of Animals

Australia on the council simply raises more questions than answers.

“The RSCPA is a legitimate animal welfare group whose priority is the wellbeing of animals. But Animals Australia is simply an extreme activist group whose intention is to ensure the farming of animals ceases at all costs.”

“The VFF takes animal welfare absolutely seriously and is working with key bodies such as RSPCA and the Department of Economic Development Jobs Transport and Resources to ensure farmers always do the right thing,” he said.

APL’s Janine Price wins the WMAA Women in the Environment Award

NEWS

5

The Waste Management Association of Australia (WMAA) has awarded Australian Pork Limited’s Manager Environment, Janine Price the 2015 WMAA Women in the Environment Award.

This award is presented to a woman who has made a significant contribution to environmental sustainability in Australia in the past five years.

The award, sponsored by Blue Environment began as an initiative of the WMAA Victoria Branch, and recognises the achievements of women in the environment industry. In 2015, the award was opened to all eligible women in the environment sector across Australia.

Ms Price has been integral as APL’s Environment Program Manager since 2009, delivering many positive environmental milestones for Australian pig farmers.

She has been responsible for the development of the National Environmental Research and Extension Strategy for the industry that has delivered a science based set of environmental guidelines for both conventional and outdoor piggeries.

She has also been involved in initiating the $8.5 million National Agricultural Manure Management Program and the development of Australia’s first Carbon Farming Initiative methodology and Biogas Code of Practise.

Her key bioenergy initiative now sees 26% available pig production using biogas leading to annual savings of $5 million in electricity and 85,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide whilst generating $7.1 million in emissions

reduction credits for Australian pig producers.

“What I am really proud of is the continued growth, development and promotion of sustainability issues within the industry and the use of my capability to link industry and regulators and drive co-regulation that has enabled the Australian pork industry to now be seen as a leader in environmental stewardship” Ms Price said.

“My focus on driving co-regulation has been successful in getting the industry’s National Environmental Guidelines and Biogas Code of Practice accepted by Environmental Protection Agencies (EPAs), various

LtoR: Martin Tolar, WMAA Chief Executive Officer, Janine Price, Australian Pork Limited and Christine Wardle, WMAA Victoria Branch President.

state Department of Primary Industries (DPIs) and gas safety regulators across Australia.

“I am truly honoured to be the recipient of this year’s award and thank WMAA and Blue Environment for their support of women working in the waste and environmental sector.

“It’s a really exciting and innovative area to work in and I’m looking forward to being involved in some interesting projects and opportunities coming up in the near future.”

As Manager, Environment, Janine continues to assist APL Members and producers with enquires specifically in relation to managing the environment, planning processes and concerns.

ALDI supports Aussie pig farmersALDI has become the first major supermarket to support Australian pig farmers by using the pink Australian Pork logo on its own branded BERG Christmas hams.

The supermarket signed up to the Australian PorkMark program, recog-nising the logo was developed to help consumers identify products made from 100% Australian pork.

ALDI has also recently nationally launched a sliced Ham Off The Bone 175g in their BERG Deli range, which also displays the Australian PorkMark.

APL General Manager of Marketing, Peter Haydon, congratulated the retailer on putting country of origin up front.

“People want to buy Australian ham and the PorkMark was designed to make it easier for them to find it,” Mr

Haydon said.“While we have many licensees who

have signed up and put this logo on their ham and bacon, ALDI is the first major supermarket to do so.”

“56% of consumers are unaware that ham or bacon made in Australia could be made using imported pork, but 69% of people would prefer to buy ham made from Australian pork.”

6

NEWS

FDA report shows antibiotic sales rising

Challenges facing the global pork industry

An annual report from the US Food and Drug Administration shows that sales and distribution of antibiotics for use in food animals is continuing to rise.

The FDA presented aggregated sales and distribution data for antimicrobial drugs approved for use in food-producing animals during 2014. According to the findings, 2014 domestic sales and distribution of such drugs increased 4% over 2013 and were up 22% from 2009.

Figures for 2014 domestic sales and distribution of antimicrobials that are medically important to humans but also approved for use in food-producing

animals increased 3% in 2014, but rose 23% between 2009 and 2014.

The report said such drugs accounted for 62% of domestic sales of all antimicrobials approved for use in food-producing animals.

A statement from the Animal Health Institute called the report “a small part of the story about the public health impact of antibiotics used to keep food animals healthy,” pointing out that “sales data does not represent use.”

“It is also important to note that significant progress continues in the effort to implement FDA’s judicious use policy, designed to eliminate the

use of medically important antibiotics for growth promotion and place all remaining uses under veterinary oversight. When fully implemented one year from now, medically important antibiotics will be used in food animals only to fight disease under the supervision of a veterinarian.”

Avinash Kar, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement that the “dangerous overuse” of antibiotics in agriculture has been on the rise for several years, “putting the effectiveness of our lifesaving drugs in jeopardy for people when they get sick.”

More than 40 industry leaders, representing in excess of 2.8 million sows, gathered at the world-famous Melbourne Cricket Ground for the Alltech Elite Herd dinner to discuss challenges facing the global pork industry and debate how to move forward.

Matthew Smith, Alltech Asia-Pacific vice-president, opened with a reference to forecasts that poultry consumption will overtake pork by 2020 (OD Consulting, 2015).

“Chicken consumption is growing, in large part due to efficient broiler performance, consistency in appearance, texture and taste and no religious restrictions,” said Mr Smith.

“Chicken producers have been leading the way in innovation and flexibility in the number of consumer products on the market.

“There have been more new products created with chicken meat than all other meat sources combined,” he said.

Terry Coffey, Chief Science and Technology Officer, Smithfield, discussed the challenges of being the world’s largest swine producer, especially in regard to the sheer size of business.

He stressed Smithfield’s focus on driving production efficiency across their brands.

“Part of our challenge in producing pork with enhanced attributes is what to do with the lesser-value cuts that are not as desirable,” he said.

Mr Coffey also referred to the fact that Smithfield has some organic farms where inputs are fully traceable. He

said that this forms a very small part of their business and demand for these products has not grown in recent years.

The importance of provenance (where food is grown) was discussed in a debate about locally-sourced products.

Brian Luxford, General Manager of the research and innovation group, Rivalea, emphasised that due to restrictions limiting the importation of genetics in Australia, improvements in production efficiency must be made elsewhere.

He stressed his belief that companies must promote the idea of buying local and ensuring consumers know the origin of their pork products.

Mark Field, Head of Product Technology, Coles, illustrated that when making a purchase, the consumer will look at a range of factors, such as value, marketing, provenance, innovation and convenience.

“We remain focused on listening to the needs of the customer and delivering products they can trust.”

Summarising the night’s debate, Aidan Connolly, Alltech Chief Innovation Officer, said, “The pig business is global. While we once looked at local prices and only pork proteins, we’re now globally interconnected. Prices go up and down together.”

At an Alltech breakfast at the recent APSA conference, Mr Connolly addressed an audience of more than 60 executives from countries across Asia, discussing the trend to move away from antibiotics in production.

“Around 46 countries now have restrictions on the use of antimicrobials,

particularly as growth promoters.” Using examples of iconic global

brands such as McDonald’s, Walmart and Subway, he stressed that change will not come necessarily from legislation alone.

“Governments are pushing the food industry in new directions, but the majority of change will come from the companies themselves,” said Mr Connolly.

He also highlighted trends in the global swine industry towards antibiotic-free production and Alltech’s leading role in this area.

He spoke about the Alltech Antibiotic-Free program, which includes almost four decades of research, practical applications and technical experts, providing a holistic approach to help producers address the challenges that can occur in antibiotic-free production.

He spoke of very large sow units in the US and other countries that have removed antibiotic growth promoters and are using Alltech’s program, emphasising that these companies now have lower mortality and are consistent leaders in feed conversion.

Mr Connolly also shared his experience with an application of the Alltech Antibiotic-Free program, the ‘seed, feed and weed’ approach: seeding the gut with favourable microflora, utilising nutritional technologies in feed that maintain optimum pH, water balance and support gut microbial population, and weeding out challenges in order to maintain gut health and integrity to support overall performance.

8

WA couple passionate about pig farming

T alk about isolation. Talk about

perseverance. Talk about teamwork. Talk about initiative.

Talk about any of these things and you’re bound to be talking about Steve and Deb Hoffrichter.

This incredibly enthusiastic couple are almost as passionate about the pig industry as they are about their much loved family of three young children.

Farming pigs at Shark Lake, 600km south east of Perth and 10km north of Esperance, is a tough gig.

Not only do they own and operate the only commercial piggery on the isolated stretch of WA’s south-east coast, but when they deliver, weekly, to Craig Mostyn Group’s Linley Valley abattoir at Wooroloo in Perth’s eastern hills, it’s a 10 hour trip for a big, slow B-train.

The 20 week old pigs, transported at a cost of $15 per pig, are sold as heavy as possible, dressing out at maybe 68kg or heavier.

Hoffrichters once sold to Dardanup Butchering Company, a domestic only processor near Bunbury, 200km south of Perth, but have been very happy since transitioning to Linley Valley, enjoying the fact that the company is involved in the export market and at the cutting edge of technology and product development.

English raised, but Australian-born (from Waratah, New South Wales), Deb met Steve at the end of 2006 in the United Kingdom and although she had no working knowledge of pigs before the couple partnered, she now commits her boundless energies to promoting the industry and is an advocate unafraid

to speak her mind, whether that’s at a closed industry forum or in a public place.

She recently, for example, had a display stand at ‘Taste of Esperance’, held over a weekend at a popular seaside restaurant known as ‘Tearooms’, where she explained to members of the public why and how farrowing crates were used and she fielded numerous ‘curly’ questions, all answered with aplomb and a refreshing honesty, according to some bystanders.

The Hoffrichter Esperance pig ‘pedigree’ really began with Steve’s dad Peter and his mum, Judith, who had a 70 sow piggery at Ceduna in South Australia, before moving west in 1978 to Esperance.

At that time, they started out with 30 sows and were one of the first to

By BRENDON CANT, BCA PR Pty Ltd

w

Steve and Deb Hoffrichter have always had two thirds of their sows in group sow housing.

SHELTERS8, 10, 12, 13 & 15M Clearspan

Configured to suit your requirements

FEEDERS2 – 8 tonne storage capcityIdeal for non-powered sites

LOAD OUT FACILITIESRamps, round yards, shelters, yards

SILOS4 – 70 tonne

STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING

Design • Engineering • Fabrication

Ph: 08 8531 2700 Fax: 08 8531 2711 185 Thomas Street, Murray Bridge SA 5253Email: sales@jacksonsaustralia.com Website: www.jacksonsaustralia.com

Design Consultation Shed Construction

Pig Production Equipment Mundigo offer a complete service from design conception to the finished building, ready to use, anywhere in Australia.

We draw detailed shed plans for owner-builders, supply pre-fabricated steel-framed buildings to your specs, and provide all internals, ventilation and feeding equipment to complete the job.

Mundigo specialise in supplying made-to-order farrowing crates, feeder stalls and steel penning for new sheds and renovations at very competitive prices.

Contact Mike Andersen for assistance with your building or equipment supply requirements.

9

10

FEATURE

w1. Deb Hoffrichter at her display stand at ‘Taste of Esperance’. 2. Deb with seven week old weaners. 3. Steve Hoffrichter with Eugene Betaizar and feedmill.

buy a Hingee double storey pig shed, which housed dry sows and growers in the bottom and farrowing sows and weaners above.

After a couple of years, they moved to a sheep station at Shark Bay, approximately 800km north of Perth, before returning to Esperance not long after and getting back into pigs with a 180 sow piggery on 100 hectares, which has now grown to about 560ha and which supports 600 sows, 300 beef breeders and 300 Dorper ewes.

Steve explained that all of his feed for the pigs is bought from local farmers, recently paying about $240/tonne for barley and $270/t for wheat, delivered to the piggery.

“I look to put back into the local area and support local farmers as we don’t crop at all,” Steve said.

Fishmeal is now fed to sows (5% in dry feed), something which was recommended to the Hoffrichters by Jeff Braun of Myora Farms in SA, from whom they source all of their genetics.

“Jeff convinced us of the importance of Omega three and it seems to be doing the trick,” Steve said.

Locally, Biojohn does their premixes, Kim Nairn of Portec is the consultant veterinarian and South Australian Brian Hardie provides specialist nutrition advice.

Deb was quick to add to the conversation, in her own quirky way: “Our sows are working their butts off for their litters, so you’ve got to feed ‘em right and you can’t feed a professional sprinter burgers!”

With a nursing background, she prides herself on the importance she places on good mothering capacities, with the Shark Lake Piggery’s sow herd. She also looks for fine hair and fine bone.

Selling about 25 pigs per sow per year and weaning an average of 11 piglets per litter, the Hoffrichter’s ‘girls’ are doing the job, for sure, sometimes achieving 16 parities.

Deb says they cull heavily, if sows aren’t producing the required numbers.

“Our blood sows just don’t seem to break down and they typically have exceptional milking capacity and that translates into good size litters and healthy size piglets,” Deb explained.

Steve said they’d never produced as much meat as they now do and that’s what the business of pig production is all about.

Hoffrichter pigs are batch farrowed (50 per fortnight) and weaned at 32 days.

v

1

2

3

Danisco Animal Nutrition

Copyright© 2014 DuPont or its a . All rights reserved. The DuPont Oval Logo,DuPont™ and all products denoted with ® or ™ are registered trademarks ortrademarks of DuPont or its a

Lower your feed costs, improve uniformity and increase raw materialexibility, while reducing environmental impact with these innovative

feed solutions.

Used alone, or in combination, these reliable, heat stable enzyme andnatural betaine products are customized to increase nutrient availabilityand improve tability for pig producers.

Contact our distributor Feedworks, AustraliaTel 03 5429 2411 www.feedworks.com.au

MORE PROFIT FROM IMPROVED NUTRITION

Email : mal.mottram@feedworks.com.au david.cadogan@feedworks.com.au stuart.wilkinson@feedworks.com.au

animal-nutrition@evonik.com www.animal-nutrition.com

Global availability – Reliable supply Secure supply and world-class logistics only make sense if you can also count on competent professionals with expertise in animal nutrition, analytics and product handling. It all comes together in MetAMINO®. Simply Efficient™

15-01-491 AZ Global Availability 275mm x 210mm, engl, 4C.indd 1 08.10.15 08:38

11

12

1. Steve and Deb Hoffrichter’s relationship runs deep and the piggery, including this new extension, bonds them together. 2. Staff member Romulo Libo-on from the Philippines achieves outstanding results. 3. The Hoffrichters look for good mothering characteristics in their sows. 4. The farm entry for the Shark Lake Piggery – the Hoffrichters take biosecurity seriously.

He also admits that good staff and appropriate stockmanship skills are behind his piggery’s success.

“Good staff and good stockmanship means contented animals, which produce better meat,” Steve said.

His farm manager, Phil Smith, has been with the Hoffrichters for 28 years.

Four staff from the Philippines achieve outstanding results, with, for example, Romulo Libo-on, consistently hitting 98.5% conception rate with sows under his control.

“This is in the top 3%, as benchmarked by the industry in WA,” Steve said.

Eugene Betaizar runs the feedmill, a surprisingly simple, but very reliable and efficient operation, producing about 10 tonne of feed a day from five daily mixes.

Group housing of sows is nothing new to the Hoffrichters, albeit it is relatively new to many pig producers across Australia: they’ve always had about two thirds of their sows in group housing.

Quality assurance is all important on the Hoffrichter’s farm, with the couple describing QA as “the ticket to the game”.

And they go as far as saying that those pig farmers not complying with industry QA standards should not be able to sell pigs.

“Pork is a consumed product and you therefore simply must have appropriate levels of QA to ensure consistency of a safe food product,” they explained.

For the past two years, Steve has been part of the Pork CRC’s benchmarking project and he says he’s surprised more West Australian producers are not involved.

He recently attended, along with his worker, Romulo, the Pork CRC’s annual benchmarking meeting in Melbourne, an exercise he described as “enlightening and inspiring”.

“The pork industry in Australia is as exciting as it has ever been and Deb and I simply want to be part of it,” Steve said.

v

FEATURE

2

1

4

3

13

Biotronic® Top3

The Biomin® Permeabilizing Complex in Biotronic® Top3 damages the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria thus boosting the synergistic effect of its components, the organic acids and the phytochemical.

• Increased weight gain • Improved feed conversion• Maximised economical benefi t

Tel.: +61 2 9872 6324offi ce.australia@biomin.net

biotronictop3.biomin.net

the breakthrough in pathogen control

MANAGEM

ENT

Naturally ahead

NEWSFunding boost for SA Pork CRC Industry Placement ProgramFunding of $500,000 from the South Australian Government to the Roseworthy, SA based Cooperative Research Centre for High Integrity Australian Pork has been welcomed by Pork CRC CEO Dr Roger Campbell, who said the money was a boost to its existing successful Industry Placement Program (IPP).

“Our IPP, where we place Pork CRC supported graduates with industry, in particular with our participants, is a partnership where funding and training is shared,” he said.

“Young people get a start in industry and industry benefits from their enthusiasm and injection of fresh ideas

and knowledge, which is often cutting edge science.

“It’s been a win-win for everyone concerned and we’re very appreciative of the SA state government for recognising this and stepping in now to further advance the initiative.”

Pork CRC has supported five IPPs to date and the new funds will help enhance the competiveness of the SA pork industry and provide significant opportunities for graduate and postgraduate students to contribute to what is a vibrant industry.

Pork CRC IPP recipients and their IPP employers, so far, include Dr Rebecca Athorn, Rivalea Australia, Tracey Muller, CHM/SunPork, Dr David Lines, APFG/SunPork Farms, Amy Suckling, Craig Mostyn Group and Vanessa Morris, Chris Richards Group.

Announcing the 2015-16 mid-year budget funding of $2 million across four SA headquartered CRCs, SA Science and Information Economy Minister, Gail Gago, said it would build local capability, leverage private investment and help create more jobs.

For Pork CRC it would expand what she described as “a very successful

industry placement program that helps employ graduate or postgraduates in pork production.”

“Each CRC has indicated between $250,000 and $1.25 million in new cash funding could be forthcoming from CRC participants or other industry partners,” Ms Gago said.

Dr Campbell applauded Minister Gago for the initiative.

Pork CRC CEO Dr Roger Campbell

Alltech to acquire MasterfeedsAlltech and Masterfeeds, Canada’s largest animal nutrition company, have announced they have entered into a share purchase, and Alltech will acquire 100% of the outstanding shares of Masterfeeds, Inc., from AGP.

This will provide Alltech complete ownership of Masterfeeds LP.

“Canadian farmers are facing ever-increasing pressures, including the continued drive to produce more with fewer resources,” said Dr Pearse Lyons, founder and President of Alltech.

“This new opportunity will enable more efficient delivery of superior animal nutrition and tailored feeding programs, supported by robust scientific research.”

“Masterfeeds further strengthens Alltech’s presence in Canada by creating one of the country’s largest animal nutrition offerings,” said Masterfeeds CEO Rob Flack.

Alltech, Masterfeeds and EMF Nutrition, another Alltech-owned Canadian company, employ around 700 Canadians, operating 25 feed manufacturing and premix facilities, nine retail locations and seven distribution centers across the entire country.

14

PRODUCT NEWS

By ALEX BEDWELL

BEC and ICC Brazil launch Hilyses in Australia

On October 10 in Brisbane, BEC Feed Solutions and ICC Brazil launched a new feed additive into the Australian market.

The product, Hilyses, has been used successfully in overseas markets for a number of years, and its introduction into Australia will bring several benefits to the pig industry in terms of enhanced immune system, intestinal integrity, decreased mortality and improved feed efficiency, according to BEC Animal Health, Innovation and Research Manager Dr David Isaac.

“Hilyses is a complete yeast product,” he said. “It is obtained from Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast fermentation originating from ethanol production in Brazil.

“Hilyses contains free nucleotides and nucleosides as well as short chain peptides, beta glucans and MOS,” Dr Isaac said.

“The main difference point between Hilyses and other yeast products available in the market is the hydrolysis of the DNA & RNA of the cell, which results in free nucleotides and nucleosides the bio-available form of the building blocks for cell proliferation.

“The autolysis and hydrolysis process will favour the breakdown of yeast components but still all of them will be in a highly bioavailable form in one single additive.”

“The product contains an important percentage of free nucleotides as well as a highly digestible protein and is rich with yeast components that assist in immune system modulation such as beta glucan 1,3-1,6 and MOS.”

“It is a unique solution when we think about yeast benefits in animal nutrition. We do not necessarily need to isolate yeast components for their functionality and a highly bioavailable product will bring also an important economic gain while also considering partial replacement of protein sources, toxin and pathogen binders by Hilyses,” said Dr Melina Bonato, R&D Coordinator from ICC Brazil.

“This product provides several highly digestible components in one product — namely, peptides (about 38%), beta-glucans (about 22%), mannan oligosaccharides (about 12%), RNA nucleotides (about 6%), glutamine

(about 5%), inositol and B vitamins,” she said.

“These cell wall and cytoplasmic fractions have several dietary modes of action involving feed palatability enhancement, immune modulation, pathogen reduction, mycotoxin binding and growth and maturity of intestinal epithelial cells.

“Resulting benefits typically observed from dietary autolyzed yeast with hydrolyzed RNA are improved health status, heavier bodyweights and better feed utilization in pigs and reproduction benefits in gestating and lactating sows.

“This product is heat stable through steam pelleting and extrusion, has a long shelf life and is recommended at levels of 0.25-1.25% in swine diets during reproduction, in the nursery phase and occasionally during times of nutritional or environmental stress. It may be used alone or in combination with antibiotics.”

Two sow lactation dose-response trials were conducted in Brazil at the University of Sao Paulo in cooperation with ICC Brazil using this autolyzed yeast with hydrolyzed RNA product to determine the optimum dose(s) and to provide results so producers can assess its potential value in their own operations.

Each trial was conducted with 80 sows (Agroceres PIC) using four dietary treatments to show dose- responses. Trial 1 used 0%, 1.25%, 2.50% or 5.00% of the autolyzed yeast product, and trial 2 used 0%, 0.4%, 0.8% or 1.2% of the autolyzed yeast product.

Each trial used completely randomised designs for the four treatments, with 20 sows per treatment. The sows were fed experimental diets starting three days before farrowing — when the sows were transferred to the maternity

unit — until piglets were weaned at 21 days of age. The number of piglets per sow and piglet weights were adjusted (equalized) at birth. Milk production (total pounds) was estimated using the ratio of 1 lb. of piglet weight to 4 lb. of milk.

In trial 2, samples of colostrum and milk at 11 and 20 days of lactation were collected for laboratory analysis of RNA (mg/mL milk).

In trial 1 (Table 1), feeding diets supplemented with 1.25-5.00% of the

Top: Dr David Isaac from BEC Feed Solutions. Above: Dr Melina Bonata from ICC Brazil.

autolyzed yeast product did not affect sow weight or weight loss (P > 0.10) compared to the negative control.

Sow feed intake was highest for the 1.25% level and lowest for the 0%

15

PRODUCT NEWS

info@becfeedsolutions.com.au

and 2.50% levels, with the 5.00% level being intermediate (P = 0.004).

Trial 1 results showed that feeding farrowing sows diets supplemented with 1.25% of the autolyzed yeast product had a positive effect on sow milk production per litter (52.9 lb., P = 0.026), which consequently increased pig weaning weight (1.02 lb., P = 0.002), litter weight at weaning (12.8 lb., P = 0.022) and litter weight gain (13.7 lb., P = 0.035) and reduced mortality of pigs (-2.37% actual, P = 0.048) relative to controls.

Higher dietary levels of 2.50% and 5.00% gave smaller improvements in litter weaning weight, litter weight gain, mortality and sow milk production than the 1.25% level. The 1.25% level was found to be the most beneficial in this trial.

In trial 2 (Table 2), supplementing the diets of farrowing sows with the autolyzed yeast with hydrolyzed RNA

resulted in no differences (P > 0.05) in sow weight or feed intake.

The piglets from sows fed diets supplemented with the autolyzed yeast product had a greater number of weaned pigs (P = 0.072), litter weight at weaning (P = 0.063), litter weight gain (P = 0.027), mortality (P = 0.061) and milk production per sow (P = 0.042) compared with unsupplemented diets.

There were no differences (P = 0.143) among treatments in individual pig weights at weaning.

The autolyzed yeast product supplementation produced no significant response (P > 0.05) in the total RNA in colostrum, but the amount of RNA present in milk at 11 days of lactation significantly increased (P < 0.002).

Trial 2 results showed that feeding diets supplemented with 0.4%, 0.8% or 1.2% autolyzed yeast to farrowing sows had a positive effect on milk production

per litter (16.2 lb., P = 0.042) and the total RNA concentration in milk (0.499 mg/mL), which consequently increased the number of weaned pigs (0.68 pigs, P = 0.072), litter weight at weaning (3.51 lb., P = 0.063) and litter weight gain (3.95 lb., P = 0.027) and reduced mortality of pigs (-3.80% actual, P = 0.061) relative to negative controls.

The 0.8% level of autolyzed yeast was found to be optimal in this trial.

For more information about the product you can contact BEC Animal Health, Innovation and Research Manager Dr David Isaac at BEC Feed Solutions, phone (07) 3723 9855 or visit the website at ww.becfeedsolutions.com.au

Contract research trials were conducted by LA Vitagliano (Ianni Agropecuaria, Itu, Sao Paulo), LF Araujo (University of Sao Paulo) and MA Bonato, RLC Barbalho and GD Santos from ICC Brazil.

16

NEWS

The ‘Recent Advances in Animal Nutrition in Australia conference was held at the University of New England, Armidale NSW on October 26-28, 2015.

The focus for this event was ‘Early Life Nutrition for Long Term Animal Productivity’.

The conference covers ruminants as well as monogastric livestock and is the only academic event of its type held in Australia.

A surprising number of issues are common to all livestock production and for the many commercial attendees and speakers, RAAN offers a unique opportunity to communicate with just about all of their customer base.

The broad nature of RAAN delivers a wider gene pool in both the lecture theatre and at the social gatherings. It has a well deserved reputation for the delivery of relevant and often novel science and the 2015 event certainly maintained that track record.

Dr Bob Swick Chair of the Organizing Committee and Dr Roger Hegarty, co-chair gave the opening welcome address.

Dr Robert Van Barneveld, Managing Director of Sunpork Farms, spoke about reducing variation in pork production systems through maternal pre- and post weaning feeding strategies.

After defining the costs of variation Dr Van Barneveld explained management practices to reduce variation including, “split sex housing and feeding, phase feeding, segregated parity flows, use of high health systems, cross fostering, split weaning, increased weaning age and reduced variation in weaning age,” he said.

In concluding Dr Van Barneveld stated that, “Variation is difficult to minimise but nutrition solutions can help.

“Gestation –there is no effect of DE: supplementation with arginine and glutamine.

“Lactation, optimise milk production and minimize sow weight loss, also try split suckling.

“Wean –oestrus – supplement with dextrose and on the topic of post-weaning, there were limited options for interventions,” he said.

Kate Jacques from Alltech’s Center for Nutrigenomics and Applied Animal Nutrition KY USA spoke about ‘Understanding early-life nutritional programming using nutrigenomics’.

“Nutrigenomics is the study of how nutrients impact the genome,” she said.

“Nutrigenomics has evolved into a systems biology approach for studying the impact of nutrition on gene transcription, protein abundance, and tissue metabolites,” Ms Jacques said.

“In animal production, nutrigenomics technology can be used to help better understand fetal and early life programming and how they relate to productivity. Research has begun to investigate how changes in the maternal diet can affect the fetal genome and how these changes affect growth throughout the life of offspring.

“Evidence is also growing that indicates early life nutrition can have long-lasting effects on an animal’s development.

“Through both fetal programming and early life programming, nutrigenomics has been used to better understand nutrient triggered biomollecular changes and how these changes relate to animal growth health and production.

“The potential of epigenetic imprinting and nutritional conditioning is critical to disease resistance, enteric ecosystems, nutrient utilisation, performance efficiency, meat yield and quality, reproductive efficiency and animal behavior,” Ms Jacques said.

Dr Hans Stein, from the University of Illinois USA, deliver two papers, the first of which was, ‘Use of fee technology to improve the nutritional value of feed ingredients’.

Feed particle size and the type of grinders, i.e. roller mills and hammer mills were discussed.

“Energy utilisation may be improved by pelleting of extrusion or by a combination of both.

“The advantage is obtained regardless of fiber levels in diets, but may be greater in high fiber diets,” he said.

In his second paper, ‘Digestibility of calcium in feed ingredients and requirements for digestible calcium in weanling pigs’, Dr Stein’s conclusions were that, “Dietary Ca affects P-digestibility and that there are interactions among Ca, P, phytate and phytase.

“Diets should be formulated based on STTD of Ca and requirements need to be expressed as STTD of Ca.

“Values for STTD of Ca in feed

Recent Advances in Animal Nutrition 2015

1. Bob Swick, Chair of the Organising Committee for RAAN 2015. 2. Dr Carrie Walk from AB Vista. 3. Dr Hans Stein from the University of Illinois USA. 4. Minister for Agriculture, Barnaby Joyce talks to speakers and students.

1

2

3

17

NEWSingredients need to be determined and that excess Ca can be detrimental to pig growth performance,” he concluded.

Professor Mamduh Sifri from ADM, Animal Nutrition, USA raised the vexed subject of ‘The World without in-feed antibiotics and the scientific process for alternatives’.

“Why should we be discussing this subject?” was the question posed by Prof Sifri

“Because it has a profound impact on early nutrition,” he said.

“To have a world without in-feed anti biotics, it requires using the scientific process to assure that an alternative is efficacious and supports the desired economic performance,” Prof Sifri concluded.

The social aspect of RAAN is always a key component on the overall conference experience.

The welcome barbecue on the first night, Alltech’s Adam Naylor’s supplied the drinks session at the end of the second day with ’Kentucky Ale’, and some less alcoholic additions to the Alltech brewing range.

The official conference dinner featured food and wine that the subject of the guest speaker could only have dreamt about 3.5 million years ago.

Peter Brown’s (Australian National University) interesting revelation entitled ‘Hobbit Nutrition’ concerned the diets and habits of a sub species of modern humans whose remains, artefacts and dietary detrious were found on the remote island of Flores (Indonesia) not long ago.

The find spurred a blizzard of publicity in both scientific and popular media.

The next speaker on Day 2 was Dr Carrie Walk, who joined AB Vista in July 2010 as Research Manager.

Her topic was ‘The influence of calcium on phytase efficacy in non-ruminant animals’.

Her role includes developing, managing and implementing research trials utilising various AB Vista products.

“High dietary Ca can negatively influence growth performance and reduce P, Protein and amino acid digestibility in broilers and pigs,” Dr Walk said

“In addition, high dietary Ca will precipitate with phytate at pH conditions within the small intestine.

“Details of our research aim to highlight factors influencing the effect of Ca on phytase efficacy, encompassing the difference between Ca sources and their affinity for phytate, and finally how these factors influence the Ca to P ratio and thus phytase efficacy,” Dr Walk concluded.

A lively panel debate followed which revealed apart from other things that there is plenty to do in the field of ‘early life nutrition’

As one speaker put it, “there are a few Phds out there!”The Vice chancellor of UNE, Prof Annabelle Duncan made

some concluding statements at the event of the last session.“We are proud of the universities interaction with industry

and UNE has a good track record of transference of research conducted by our students and staff,” Prof Duncan said.

“The last thing we want is to be in an ‘ivory tower’ remote from the realities and needs of the students and industries who need our help and who can help us in return.

“The university is going through a significant growth phase involving a $27 million investment to build 17 specialist laboratories and facilities to keep as the forefront of research involving key aspects of agricultural science.

She then introduced the Minister for Agriculture the Hon. Barnaby Joyce to deliver the event’s closing address.

“I was born in Tamworth, and graduated from UNE in 1990,” the Minister revealed.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

RATTOFFZinc Phosphide Bait SachetsPERMIT APPROVED FOR RATTOFF USE AROUND PIGGERY BUILDINGS

3 APVMA permit came into effect 29th Oct nationally3 RATTOFF to be used for external perimeter baiting of piggery buildings3 Controls rats within a few hours of ingestion3 Kills rats due to circulatory and respiratory failure and then rapidly degrades3 Greatly reduced risk of secondary poisonings in non-target species3 Consists of sterilised wheat grains coated with attractants3 Available in 5kg and 10kg buckets

For more information, contact: CCD Animal Health

Unit 2, 84-92 Barnes St Tamworth, NSW 2340 Phone 1300 791 009

Fax 1300 798 005 ccdsales@ccdanimalhealth.com.au

* Registered Trademark Animal Control Technologies

*

On the future of agriculture in Australia and in particular the New England the minister stated “we are in the right place at he right time.nThere are many regions in Australia, including around the New England region where the country is too poor to raise crops but is ideal to rear livestock of all species.

“The kind of work conducted at this university plays a vital role in fulfilling the global protein supply task that is before us,” he concluded.

RAAN has established a consistent record of delivering both good science and a good time and the 2015 event was no exception. It is a credit to the team that organized it, Bob Swick, Roger Hegarty and Florian Ruhnke to name but a few.

4

18

CRC NEWS

Pork CRC supported PhD candidate at University of Sydney, Lechelle van Breda, has won Pork CRC’s ‘Best Presentation and best first time presentation’ award at the 2015 Australasian Pig Science Association (APSA) biennial conference in Melbourne.

Her presentation, ‘Antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli isolated from pre- and post-weaned piglets: a snapshot survey of Australia’, was judged the best presentation at APSA on Pork CRC supported research.

“By virtue of winning the main award, Lechelle also won our award for the best first time presentation or Young Scientist award and this has never happened before,” said Pork CRC CEO, Roger Campbell.

“The awards were judged by a panel of six experts in the fields of science, communications and pork production and while the competition was close, Lechelle’s presentation was the clear winner.”

The panel comprised Roger Campbell and Charles Rikard-Bell, both of Pork CRC, Robyn Terry and Pat Mitchell, both of APL, Tony Edwards of ACE Livestock Consulting and Dave Cadogan of Feedworks.

Dr Campbell commended all Pork CRC supported presenters at APSA and paid special tribute to the students who he described as “enthusiastically aspirational in all cases and scientifically inspirational in many cases”.

Ms van Breda, who received $2000 for the awards, acknowledged the assistance of University of Sydney colleagues, Andrew Ginn, Om Dhungyel, Jonathan Iredell and Michael Ward.

She said that Australia’s pig industry experienced outbreaks of pre and post weaning diarrhoea caused by E. coli and this was linked to reduced growth rates, high medication costs and high levels of mortality and morbidity.

“Antibiotics are often used for treatment at weaning, but E. coli can develop resistance over time, which is concerning for effective control of E. coli disease,” she explained.

Also at APSA, Cherie Collins of Pork CRC Participant, Rivalea Australia, received $1000 for the best poster on a Pork CRC supported project, for her poster ‘Aerosol disinfection from weaning: a pilot study to assess the impacts on clinical signs of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae’.

Dr Collins acknowledged the work of Peter McKenzie, Sam Beer, Kirrily O’Halloran and Anke Woeckel, who assisted her with the pilot study.

Pork CRC APSA awards to inspired scientists

1. Pork CRC supported PhD candidate at Sydney Uni, Lechelle van Breda, won Pork CRC’s ‘Best Presentation and best first time presentation’ award at APSA. 2. Dr Cherie Collins of Rivalea Australia, received $1000 for the best poster on a Pork CRC supported project at APSA.

1

2

By BRENDON CANT, BCA PR Pty Ltd

25-26 May 2016Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre

Broadbeach QLD

“Inspiring Transformation”

Save the date!2016 PPPE

Proudly supported by

Attendance assistance packages available for Australian Pork

Limited members

Sponsorship packages available for concurrent and plenary

sessions, social events and event material – get in quick!

Trade exhibition booths selling fast.

For more information visit www.pppe.com.au

19

NEWS

If Australian producers are looking at ways to protect their profits from diseases, pests and weeds, their next step should be to visit farmbiosecurity.com.au to view the latest videos that cover the important aspects of biosecurity training, planning and recording and managing feral animals and weeds.

Videos are one of the tools provided by the Farm Biosecurity Program, a joint Plant Health Australia and Animal Health Australia project, to generate awareness about good on‐farm biosecurity practices.

The latest videos ‐ ‘Train, Plan, Record’ and ‘Feral Animals and Weeds’, focus on the importance of biosecurity training for staff and family members, creating a customised biosecurity plan, the critical role of record keeping and managing feral animals and weeds.

All of these actions are simple, yet vital, steps to minimise the biosecurity risks to your farm.

Duncan Rowland, Animal Health Australia’s Executive Manager Biosecurity Services, said the videos include practical advice, tips and interviews with real‐life farmers, demonstrating the biosecurity measures they implement on their properties.

“Many producers are concerned about crop and livestock destruction caused by feral and wild animals, but many do not realise the biosecurity risks they bring as carriers of diseases, pests and weed seeds.

“These videos show the mitigation measures to address those risks when managing these unwanted intruders,” Mr Rowland said.

Alison Saunders, Plant Health Australia’s National Manager for Horticulture, said that many producers spend a lot of time and money controlling weeds on their properties.

“It’s important to not just control weeds in a paddock, but also the areas surrounding crops and along fence lines

Secure your farm with new biosecurity videosand property boundaries.

“This is because weeds and volunteer plants next to a crop can act as a haven for pests and diseases between seasons and a source of infection for the next season’s crop,” Ms Saunders said.

“To be effective, biosecurity should be part of day‐to‐day activities. The growing suite of Farm Biosecurity videos has something for anyone looking to improve aspects of biosecurity on their farms.

“That’s what the Farm Biosecurity Program is all about: providing up‐to‐date, relevant information for all Australian producers,” Ms Saunders said.

Earlier videos in the series covered the biosecurity risks associated with people, vehicles and equipment and moving anything onto or off your property. To view all the videos in the series go to: farmbiosecurity.com.au/videos.

Pan Pacific Pork Expo 2016 will present the latest information and equipmentThe Pan Pacific Pork Expo (PPPE) is just around the corner. Don’t miss your chance to be where the Australian pork industry gets together to share experiences, explore the latest technologies and equipment available from around the world.

You’ll also be able to listen to the latest information available on a range of topical subjects presented over a two-day event. The PPPE is not only a great source of information, but is regarded as a valuable industry networking opportunity.

The 2016 PPPE will be held from May 25-26, 2016 on Queensland’s Gold Coast. For those who wish to attend, registration is now open through www.pppe.com.au. In the near future, you will be able to book accommodation and flights, for those looking to secure their place early.

The PPPE occurs every two years, with the 2014 exhibition heralded a huge success, with more than 560 delegates consisting of pork producers, industry experts, students and media.

The 2014 theme ‘Forward Thinking: Creating Opportunities’, rang true throughout the exhibition. The two-day event featured over 58 trade exhibition booths and provided the perfect opportunity for delegates to network with key industry stakeholders, especially during the extended exhibition hours and during both the Industry Cocktail Party and the Happy Two Hours social functions held within the Exhibition Hall.

The 2016 PPPE hopes to build on the success of previous events. The theme, ‘Inspiring Transformation’ will direct the flavour of the exhibition. The topics for both the Plenary Sessions and the Concurrent Sessions have recently been released. The Plenary sessions, held on the first day will focus on; ‘Technology Inspired Transformation’ and ‘Consumer Attitudes Towards Agriculture’.

The second day will include the concurrent sessions, with three key topics and the fourth component a Workshop run by Chris Richards and

Associates. The three topics are: ‘Advances in Production – How to get that one extra piglet?’, ‘Transforming Science into Practice’: and ‘Converting Research into Money’. A Workshop will be conducted by Chris Richards and Associates on the second day with the topic to be announced soon.

Speakers for these sessions will be announced in the New Year, however it can be confirmed a huge name has agreed to be part of the Plenary Sessions. Keep an eye on the website for more information.

For companies that wish to be part of the 2016 PPPE, whether it be through exhibitions, presentations and sponsorships, the PPPE prospectus is now online at www.pppe.com.au.

For those producer members of APL there will again be member support packages available to assist with transport and accommodation.

For further enquiries contact Jess Hooper-Chase: 02 62708832 (direct line) or email: Jess.Hooper-Chase@australianpork.com.au

20

HEALTH FEATURE

The human role in African Swine Fever spread

Mobile.......0428 637 717Phone.....(02) 9974 2704Fax..........(02) 9974 2705

www.axonmachinery.com.auAXON

SPREADER SIZES: 6-40 TONNES

• HEAVY DUTY DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

• IDEAL FOR ALL TYPES OF MANURE & COMPOST

• WILL ALSO SPREAD LIME & GYPSUM

• EMPTY LESS THAN 4 MINS

• AN EVEN SPREAD WIDTH UP TO 24 METRES

MANURE SPREADERS

Project4:Layout 1 21/03/14 12:22 PM Page 1

Is African Swine Fever a threat to Europe’s pig production? The answer can be found at Germany’s Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut. For scientists Dr Klaus Depner and Dr Sandra Blome, the virus has few secrets left. “Most problems are a matter of human misbehaviour,” they say.

If there is one take-home message to report after having spoken to two of the leading scientists on African Swine Fever, it should be that the major threat with regard to the virus is not the virus itself, but how humans deal with it.

Dr Klaus Depner, head of the International Animal Health Team at the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI) on the island Riems in northern Germany, has to admit that even he as expert needed some time to understand the disease.

“I have worked for about four years in Africa in the 1990s which is where I first encountered the disease, albeit under African conditions. I really started actively observing it when it came to Georgia in 2007. My biggest mistake was that I copy-pasted all my knowledge about Classical Swine Fever (CSF) to African Swine Fever (ASF). But one has to forget about CSF when studying ASF. The mechanisms of the disease transmissions are not the same.”

His colleague, head of the German national reference

laboratory at the FLI, Dr Sandra Blome, comments. “In both cases the pigs get very sick and the losses are exactly the same. If I had two infected pigs next to each other, I would not be able to tell the difference on the basis of clinical signs. I would only know which virus infected the pig once I have done the diagnosis in the lab.”

Same name, same clinical signs, but ASFv has a different way of behaving and spreading. Such is the lesson that the two learned having worked on ASF intensively since it appeared into Europe having been first introduced in Georgia and Armenia in 2007, after which it spread through Russia and Ukraine to get a presence in the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) and Poland as from 2014.

Two virus spreading modelsTrials at the FLI showed that there is no difference in

the way the ASF virus affects wild boars or domestic pigs. Logically, one of the major questions that the researchers had when ASF was introduced in 2007 in the Caucasus was: how would the virus spread and behave in wild boars?

“Essentially, we had two hypotheses. The first one was that the disease in wild boars would die out due to the high virulence of the virus,” said Dr Depner.

“Roughly, the animals get sick four days after infection,” added Dr Blome.

“Usually death will follow within three to six days. This means that almost all infected hosts will die very quickly, which means that the virus will cease to exist very soon because it kills its host. In that case, we would not have to worry, ASF would do its job extinguishing itself,” said Dr Depner.

Blome, however, points to the fact that ASF virus is not that contagious. High viral loads are found in blood, but saliva or faeces contain less virus. “We overestimated the contagiousness of African Swine Fever. The disease moves very slowly. When looking at affected wild boar populations, most of them have not been significantly reduced. The virus doesn’t spread that quickly at all.”

The second model the researchers thought of was of how rabies spreads in foxes.

“Rabies has been absolutely fatal in foxes, it kills all of them. And it has been spreading rapidly from east to west. We thought we might see this phenomenon, with a fast movement of disease. But ASF did not behave like rabies with foxes,” Dr Depner.

Dr Blome added, “Wild boars shed the virus mainly when they are very sick and in the final stage of the disease. When the animals have high fever it’s in their character to stay where they are.”

“So what we have here is a virus that is very stable in its environment without fast movement. It neither dies out, nor moves. Undisposed carcasses of infected wild boars remain infectious for a long time in the environment and become a source of infection for healthy animals,” said Dr Depner.

The human roleStill, ASF did spread from the Caucasus to the Baltics

and Poland. The question now is how. Soft ticks and insects are unlikely to have transmitted the virus, the scientists say. In fact, they have little doubt identifying about the real reason behind most of the ASF outbreaks: negligence.

Participating in recent ASF monitoring missions in

By VINCENT TER BEEK, Editor Pig Progress

21

HEALTH FEATUREWindhoek. He also worked for the FAO in Rome, Italy and the DG-Sanco in Brussels, Belgium. Since 2010 he has headed the International Animal Health Team within the FLI’s Institute of Epidemiology.

The Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut is the German federal research institute for animal health with a major advisory function for the country’s ministry of agriculture.

With five locations spread out over Germany, the main building in the island Riems focuses on viruses in all kinds of production animals. The facility has trial sites in very many different levels of biosecurity and is certified to do all kinds of trials to learn more.

Diseases which are studied in pigs include Foot-and-Mouth Disease, Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea, Classical Swine Fever and African Swine Fever. Apart from pigs, the institute uniquely also has wild boars and warthogs on-site especially to learn more about the effects of ASF.

Warthogs are difficult to keep in captivity and are even likely to attack. Wild boars in captivity – although genetically largely the same as pigs, are still capable of attacking people.

For all your livestock needs

Vegetable Protein Meals,

Animal Protein Meals,

Vitamins and Mineral Premixes,

Feed additives and Supplements,

Custom and Standard Millpacks,

Animal Health and Husbandry.

Suppliers of Elite nutrition and solutions

Ph: (02) 9609 7922Fax: (02) 9609 7923

Kym: 0439066054Luke: 0439066006

kym@nationalfeedsolutions.com.auluke@nationalfeedsolutions.com.au

Eastern Europe, Depner has a good idea of what has likely occurred.

“Often it was a matter of human misbehaviour. What happened is that infected meat made it to the market. When many pigs started to die, they were sent to slaughter. Pig prices dropped, cheap meat entered the market and the meat made its way into homes – and into suitcases. This is how the virus dispersed. The virus spread along the main roads, the transport routes. This spread bears a 100% human mark,” he said.

“We’ve seen examples of farms that said to apply tight biosecurity and still got infected with ASF. After careful examination it turned out that the biosecurity measures were by far not so efficient as declared,” said Dr Blome.

Humans can be identified as having aggravated the situation ever since as well. Since wild boars have often been thought to be spreading the virus, in several countries attempts were launched to eradicate them – with the result that sounders were chased across borders, the researchers say.

In addition, the occurrence of ASF in the Baltic states Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, bear a significant human characteristic. The virus can maintain itself in the country’s wild boar population as without humans wild boar cannot survive so far north.

“The density of wild boars was established artificially in the Baltic states by humans, for hunting purposes. For survival, the wild boars are completely dependent on humans, as temperatures in winter can reach as low as -20°C for weeks. So feeding does take place to keep the animals alive,” Dr Blome explained.

Any reason to worry?Germany also has a flourishing – naturally occurring – wild

boar population, so in theory it would be a great country for ASF to spread in the wild boar population. Despite 600,000 heads having been hunted last year, the numbers only appear to grow. Still, ASF shouldn’t worry pig producers in Europe, as long as proper biosecurity is taken into account. Changing clothes, working hygienically and making sure nothing from the outside reaches the inside. With limited backyard farming and no swill feeding allowed in the EU, the pig industry would have to be safe from ASF.

In order to further reinforce this message, on parking places at the major inbound motorways in Germany, posters have been hung up in four languages to warn truck drivers not to throw garbage out into the environment.

Depner strongly rejects the suggestion, as if the European authorities would not be taking the disease seriously enough. He says, “We do not underestimate ASF, on the contrary, we do a lot of work! What we can also see is that every outbreak of the disease is reported – even stronger, in the Baltics and Poland, most of the outbreaks in domestic pigs were reported by farmers, proving that passive surveillance works very well.

“That goes to show that all the services are well-prepared, and that veterinarians and farmers are doing excellent work to contain the virus.”

Dr Sandra Blome is a veterinarian by profession. She studied at Leipzig University, Germany and specialised in animal disease control. From 2004-2008 she worked as a senior scientist at EU and OIE Reference Lab for CSF at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Hanover, Germany. Blome joined the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI) in 2008. She is now head of the German national reference laboratory for CSF and ASF.

Dr Klaus Depner graduated in veterinary science at the School of Veterinary Medicine, Hanover, Germany in 1988, after which he completed his doctoral thesis in virology. He spent four years in Namibia as head of the virology lab at the CVL in

22

NEW PRODUCTS

porkjournalServing the pork industry in Australia and New Zealand

Don’t miss out on a single issue of porkjournalFill out the coupon and send it in.To view copies of the magazine on-line go to our website www.primarymedia.com.au and click on latest issues

Send this completed form to: Poultry Digest, 22 George St,East Gosford NSW 2251. Ph: (02) 4323 0005

Please send me the next six issues of POULTRY DIGESTEnclosed is my cheque for: A$55.00 (inc GST) or A$80.00

for overseas. Send your email address for a digital version.Cheques are to be made payable to Primary Media in Australian $

Please charge A$ to my: (please tick appropriate box) VisaCard MasterCard Bankcard

Expiry date Signature................................

(Please print all your details in BLOCK LETTERS)

NAME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ADDRESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P/CODE . . . . . . . . . . .

Send this completed form to Pork Journal, 22 George St, East Gosford, NSW 2250. Ph: (02) 4323 0005

Please send me the next six issues of PORK JOURNAL

Send this completed form to Pork Journal, 250 Hawthorne Parade, Haberfield NSW 2045. Ph: 02 9797 2406

RATTOFF rat bait for rodent control in piggeriesCCD Animal Health has advised that the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) has approved a permit for the use of RATTOFF (zinc phosphide) Rat Bait Sachets around piggeries.

This permit was approved to provide piggery operators with an effective rat control alternative following the restrictions on use of the first and second generation anti-coagulant baits.

The APVMA permit came into effect on 29 October 2015 and has application in all states of Australia.

Key points include:• RATTOFF ZP (zinc phosphide) sachets have been approved for rat control around piggeries• They can be used as part of an integrated pest management program• External perimeter baiting of buildings can be used in commercial piggery operations• They should only be used only in commercial plastic bait stations• 4 to 10 sachets can be used per bait station – use higher rate where baits are rapidly consumed • It is also necessary to remove all alternative food sources, clean up feed

spills, cover feed bins • Collect and dispose of baited rats

RATTOFF rat bait sachets are a fast acting rodenticide, according to Peter Nicholson from CCD Animal Health.

“They control rats within a few hours of ingestion. The sachets kill the rat due to heart and respiratory failure, then rapidly degrades in the carcass.

“This greatly reduces the risk of secondary poisoning in non-target

species,” he said.The sachets consist of sterilised

wheat grains coated with preservative and attractants and they are available in 5kg and 10kg buckets.

For further information regarding this product, supply options, copies of the APVMA Permit or MSDS information please contact CCD Animal Health Customer Service on 1300 791 009 or your local CCD representative.

Breeding better pigsfor Australia

www.picaustralia.com.au

PIC AustraliaPO Box 39Grong GrongNSW 2652

Ph: 02-6956 2105Fax: 02-6956 2203

www.primegro.com.au

Primegro, a divison of Rivalea.

LESS WAIT.

145 days

105 kilosless than

MORE WEIGHT.

PRIMEGRO TERMINAL GENETICS lead to rapid growth and increased profitability.Superior growth rate gives you the choice – more weight per pig, or less time to market. Either way, increased efficiency and profitability are the result. To find out more, contact Matthew Tull – Primegro Business Manager on 0439 612 747 or (02) 6033 8340

Results are based on typical progeny growth performance achieved using Primegro Genetics grown under a high health environment and fed using the Rivalea Nutritional Program.

TRIAL OUR TERMINAL GENETICS

AND SEE FOR YOURSELF

Call us today!