Duration: 10/01/2011 to 09/30/2016

Administrative Advisor(s):

NIFA Reps:

Non-Technical Summary

Statement of Issues and Justification

Issue/Justification

Pork production systems in the United States and globally have changed considerably over the course of the past five years, with change driven primarily by a combination of economic (increased feedstuff costs, stagnant domestic demand, and an oversupply of pigs) and societal (zoonotic influenza concerns, state-based animal welfare legislation and initiatives, and an increased perception of consumers showing a desire to know how/where their food is produced) issues. In many cases, swine producers have persevered through these tough conditions; however, the swine industry, like all livestock-based food producing segments, continues to face an uncertain future with regard to maintaining economic viability in the presence of known and unknown future challenges related to animal welfare and production system standards and technologies. Coupled with continued reductions in federal- and state-based funding for land-grant scientists and research facilities within most university settings, future impactful research will come as a result of the pooling of resources and talented research personnel across state and global lines. Renewal of the existing NCERA-89 Multi-state collaborative research project offers an opportunity to lead the U.S. swine production sector into the next decade by building on an excellent track-record of current, issues-based, and forward thinking applied swine management and animal welfare research and outreach efforts that have been adopted by the U.S. swine industry in the past. The progression from development to implementation of a new technology cannot be completed without the middle step, evaluation. New technologies can be evaluated in various ways by many different entities within the swine industry. Large, coordinated pork production systems can evaluate a technology within their production system and determine whether the technology is valuable. Typically, these results are not public information. Commercial companies can evaluate management practices and technologies on their client's operations but the results may be viewed as biased or not relevant to producers in other regions of the country. In addition, independent pork producers can evaluate a technology on their operation but often do not have the expertise, time, or equipment to conduct a scientifically valid study. So, the NCERA-89 committee plays an important role in providing unbiased, research-based knowledge to the pork industry domestically and internationally.

The NCERA-89 committee has traditionally focused on applied swine management issues related to animal welfare, production efficiency, and standards of production. Proposed and existing challenges to common animal rearing conditions and practices (i.e. space/feeder/waterer allowance, animal care and well-being in relation to pig housing alternatives in all stages of production, alternatives to castration, tail docking, etc.) will require sound science to understand and implement the alternatives being suggested. History suggests a very strong commitment by the NCERA-89 group in taking a proactive approach toward identifying and solving critical swine production, management, and animal welfare issues. Committee members represent a broad discipline base with specific technical and research training in nutrition, facility design and ventilation, animal care, animal behavior, economics, and general management. Cooperative, coordinated research among experiment stations permits evaluation of technologies in research units located throughout the U.S. and Canada. In addition, the majority of committee members are experienced extension educators that are actively involved in state and national educational program development and delivery.

The NCERA-89 committee has a long history of conducting successful cooperative research across universities and with support and funding from industry partners. Much of the research findings reported by the NCERA-89 committee have been implemented in the United States and globally including recent research related to elevated levels of vomitoxin in swine nursery diets (in cooperation with NC-42), swine feeding practices across pig size, and continued work to assess optimal pig housing standards. Renewal of the NCERA-89 committee, in a critical time for maintaining the competitive balance of the U.S. swine industry globally, will optimize resources within and across institutions while meeting stakeholder expectations. The committee continues to challenge the industry and producers to be better animal stewards and to encourage necessary change based on sound scientific as well as general ethical responsibilities. Failure of the U.S. swine industry to maintain strong research and technical aspirations will ultimately lead to movement of swine production to other nations and lead to reliance on others to provide U.S. citizens with a safe, wholesome, high-quality, and affordable food supply.

Objectives

Procedures and Activities

NCERA-89 committee members, due to their of extension responsibilities and industry contacts, are uniquely positioned to identify research priorities across the swine industry and to complete collaborative research that occurs across universities using both university and commercial facilities. The flexibility to involve commercial collaborators and facilities expands the opportunity to position research that addresses swine production from the breeding herd through to the finishing stage of production. It is the continued commitment among NCERA-89 members to identify and address applied and basic swine industry issues, as evidenced by the research and outreach endeavors that have been completed through the committee in the past, that drive the successful nature of the committee as a whole.

Using a relatively standardized template, the committee has developed research and subsequent outreach programs in a timely manner. Identified research priority areas are championed by a committee member who then assumes leadership in the development of a final protocol that is distributed, discussed, and finalized with agreement among all participating stations. Study coordinators collate data from all stations, conduct statistical analysis of data, and form an initial interpretation of the results for review within the committee. Ultimately, the project coordinator prepares abstracts and full-length papers for publication. Below are some of the salient points contained within our research protocol template for nursery and finishing swine.

1. All participating experiment stations must conduct a minimum of two replications.
2. Diets meet or exceed all NRC (1998) nutrient requirements and will be provided according to the recommendations of each station. Local grain and premixes are used.
3. Performance criteria to be measured are determined based on the scope of the experiment.
4. Extensive pig behavior and welfare assessments are included when sufficient extramural funding is secured. If extramural funding is not available, more cursory measures of pig welfare are included in the study.
5. All laboratory and behavior analysis procedures are performed at a common location.
6. Statistical analyses use a model that includes station, treatment, replicate, and the appropriate interactions.
7. Similar standardization is attempted for experiments involving breeding swine. However, due to a general reduced availability of breeding animals and facilities, the template is adjusted to the extent necessary to allow for the strongest statistical approach available when measuring breeding animals.

Expected Outcomes and Impacts

Projected Participation

View Appendix E: Participation

Educational Plan

PorkBridge® - Grow-Finish Educational Series annually address issues influencing pig health & welfare, space allocation & use, production & carcass measurements influencing economic and animal efficiency measures, as well as environmental control & management priorities. The PorkBridge® concept is in its fifth year and includes the following institutions: University of Minnesota, Iowa State University, University of Nebraska, South Dakota State University, Ohio State University, Purdue University, University of Illinois, Kansas State University, Michigan State University, University of Missouri, and North Carolina State University. Sessions are designed for accessibility across the U.S. and extend to other countries through the use of a toll-free telephone connection to expert speakers in topic areas. Participants receive a CD via U.S. mail one week before each session that contains a PowerPoint file that a noted expert will present over the phone on the appointed day. Participants' feedback indicates the delivery approach allows them to maintain nearly normal swine operation functions without travel, allows access for the entire farm crew in a single, lunch-time setting, and offers highly valued scientific information for a fraction of the cost of in-person attendance for the entire crew.


Sow-Bridge® - Breeding Herd Educational Series annually addresses scientific approaches for breeding, lactation, and general breeding herd management to improve economic, health, production, welfare, and general animal management factors in U.S. and international swine herds. Using a format similar to PorkBridge® and a group of member universities as the guiding entity, swine breeding personnel are provided access to leading scientists from the NCERA committee and other allied individuals via a phone-based program using CD-based PowerPoint files for visuals. In its fourth year, the program has been met with great success among the participants as a method to deliver high-quality material in a cost-effective manner.


The strength of the swine nutrition and management expertise within the NCERA-89 committee is fully evident in the roll out of the new National Swine Nutrition Guide (NSNG), a comprehensive education and extension effort by faculty from 9 Land Grant universities, the US Pork Center of Excellence and the United Soybean Board. The culmination of extensive collaborative among swine nutritionists resulted in the development of 35 up-to-date factsheets covering all phases of swine production. In addition, a computer-based diet formulation spreadsheet was developed to support dietary decision making within the industry.


Outreach activities are also clearly demonstrated within each individual state, where data from NCERA-89 collaborative research are disseminated through a significant number of methods. Today, every member of NCERA-89 contributes to the efforts of the U.S. Pork Center of Excellences Pork Information Gateway (PIG) project as either Domain Editors, factsheet authors and (or) factsheet reviewers. Nearly all committee members have established university-based web-sites to enhance access to NCERA-89 research findings, disseminated research through weekly/monthly e-newsletters, blogs, popular press articles, and university factsheet publications.


Throughout the existence of the NCERA-89 committee structure, outreach education has been a priority. The record speaks for itself and will continue with the extension of the NCERA-89 authorization.

Success Stories:


Basic and advanced Swine Ventilation Short Courses have been conducted in nine states representing over 80% of the hogs marketed in the United States through the coordinated efforts of personnel and concept-ventilation trailers located in the Midwest (Iowa, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Missouri), Ohio, and North Carolina. These courses were developed and conducted by NCERA-89 committee members. Advanced training, available due to industry partner funding, have allowed for more complex modeling of ventilation controllers and systems.


Eight regional National Swine Nutrition Guide training sessions have been held, involving 233 participants from 18 states, Canada, and Japan. Participants represented or influenced over 30% of the U.S. swine breeding herd and nearly 45% of the market hog inventory. A follow-up webinar was held after the 8 training sessions were completed to address any questions that may have surfaced after the training sessions. In addition, more than 600 copies of the Nutrition Guide have been sold for use in improving swine nutritional management in the United States.

Organization/Governance

The NCERA-89 committee governance will be directed through peer elections of officers. Annually, peers will nominate and select a Secretary. The Secretary will be responsible for maintaining minutes of the annual meeting and submission of required information to the NIMMS site. Annually, the previous year's secretary will move to President. The president will be responsible for managing the annual meeting process. Sites for annual meeting are determined within the committee, attempting to rotate the annual meeting location among the participating university sites.

Projects are determined through thorough discussions among the committee members. Collaboration is defined based on availability of resources within an institution that fit the needs of the project. Once projects are identified, a committee member takes leadership in official development of protocol, organization of participants, final summary of data from contributing stations, and ultimately a final manuscript for publication.

Literature Cited

Attachments

Land Grant Participating States/Institutions

AR, IA, IN, KS, KY, MI, MN, MO, NE, OH, PA, SD

Non Land Grant Participating States/Institutions

Southern Illinois University