Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Thursday, January 3, 2019

Morning Session

 Joint session with NCCC42

1. The meeting was called to order promptly at 8:00 a.m. by the chair of S-1081, Dr. Merlin Lindemann, from the University of Kentucky. Lindemann and chair of NCCC42, Dr. Ryan Dilger from the University of Illinois, led the first session.  An overview of the agenda was presented and changes noted.

2. Current officers of committees were announced for S-1081 (Chair, Lindemann; Vice-Chair, Dr. Charles Maxwell from the University of Arkansas; and secretary, Dr. Mark Estienne from Virginia Tech) and NCCC42 (Chair, Dilger; Vice-Chair, Dr. Shengafa Liao from Mississippi State University; and secretary, Dr. Tayo Adedokun from the University of Kentucky). Others in attendance introduced themselves.  Names, institutions and e-mail addresses for those attending appear in Table 1.

3. Administrative advisors for NCCC42 and S-1081 were asked to make comments. Don Beitz, from Iowa State University, is administrative advisor for NCCC42 and is new to the post.  Beitz stated that a new project proposal was submitted by NCCC42 last fall and is currently under review.  Dr. Bob Godfrey, from the University of Virgin Islands, is the new administrative advisor for S-1081.  Godfrey announced that the new project proposal for S-1081 was approved and noted that the entire submission process had progressed in a smooth fashion.  Godfrey also noted that reports of the annual Meeting were due within 60 days of the meeting.

4. Because of the current Federal government shutdown, Dr. Charlotte Kirk Baer from the USDA was unable to attend the meeting and provide an update on NIFA. Lindemann stated that there is a possibility that NIFA will move out of Washington, D.C. and this was discussed.  Approximately 131 cities and universities have made proposals to relocate NIFA to their location.  Many people (e.g., land grant universities) are opposed to a potential move and many USDA employees have begun to look for jobs elsewhere.  Possible benefits of a move out of USDA include a location that is closer to stakeholders and decreased operating costs (rental agreements for the current location are soon to be renegotiated).

5. Dean Boyd from the Hanor Company, was invited to provide his perspectives on Current Hot Topics and nutrition research in the future. Prior to his addressing the group via telephone, Lindemann provided a summary of Boyd’s background.  Boyd is a University of Nebraska graduate with over 38 years of experience in academic and industry research. He was a faculty member at Cornell University for 14 years before leaving for PIC with the goal of expediting application of research findings into industry.  With a Genetics colleague, Boyd started a PIC research unit and studied amino acid utilization in pigs.  He collaborated with Drs. Etherton at Pennsylvania State University and Alee at the University of Missouri, and was an adjunct professor at both institutions.  The application of their work was synthetic amino acid use.  At the Hanor Company, Boyd developed research facilities in Illinois, Iowa and Oklahoma, and is an adjunct professor at North Carolina State University, University of Kentucky, and Iowa State University, and works with PIC genus and Alliance swine groups.                  

Boyd summarized how pig nutrition research has changed:  1) New scientists are highly trained and work at a very high level, 2) internal funds have decreased, 3) multidisciplinary research has increased (e.g., feed efficiency group), 4) Some research groups have developed small “armies” of people, 5) By today’s standards, University swine facilities are generally small so industry units must be utilized, and 6) Pace of research is high and must increase. 

In response to a question from Lindemann, Boyd stated that Industry-University collaboration is not a saturated market.  Industry looks primarily at personal relationships that are mutually beneficial.  Universities bring to the table: 1) Good minds, 2) Hands to do work, and 3) ability to iron out details.  Examples of companies with university research ties: Prestage, Iowa Select, Smithfield, Seaboard and Christensen Farms.  New Fashion Pork has worked with Kansas State University.

Dr. Chris Hostetler, from the National Pork Board, asked, “How do you counter the argument that we (Industry) can do the research ourselves?”  Boyd stated Industry and Universities must work together because no one else is interested in the type of work that needs to be done.  The seasonal infertility problem in swine has been largely resolved through University and industry collaborative research.  The National Pork Board has been great at identifying areas of research and developing ties between industry and universities.  He stated the Poultry Industry is a good example of what can happen if industry and Universities do not work together.  Most University Poultry Departments are gone so there are few places training Ph.D. students that can fill industry jobs.  The Poultry industry currently needs 6 Ph.D. trained individuals to fill jobs and there are no candidates.  Boyd says a problem is some Deans and Department Heads are “cell biology” types who do not understand the university mission and do not have an appreciation for applied research.  He is “down” on persons conducting science for science sake only with no production or application end points in mind.

Boyd is concerned about the attrition of applied research scientists.  He stated that today’s students are well trained in basic biology but also need to be cognizant of application.  He also stated that in general University facilities fall behind industry facilities in terms of size and technology.  Industry facilities are more current/up-to-date.  Carthage, Gorley, and Hanor facilities can be used for sow studies.  He is encouraged by new facilities constructed at some Universities, such as South Dakota State University.  Boyd stated he is also concerned about funding for graduate students which is costly.

Boyd provided his thoughts on where he sees swine nutritionists at Land Grant Universities fitting in.  Provide basic science but with application in mind.  Then industry can conduct the applied research.  He gave as a good example of this “team” approach Dr. Eric van Heugten’s fat quality and gut work at North Carolina State University.           

Boyd ended with a brief summary of what he thinks are key research needs:  “real-time” ability to determine nutrient content of feedstuffs (as an example of need he described the content of DDGS being all over the board).  He sees a need for continued work on synthetic amino acids in weaned pigs including Val, Met, Iso, Lys, Trp, etc., and on growth promotion.  Specific questions include what constituent acts as a growth promotor in soybeans?  Does it have anti-inflammatory effects? Can high soybean meal levels be used for disease mitigation?  Other research needs include work in oxidative stress and the microbiome.  

6. Joel Brendemuhl, from the University of Florida, announced potential dates for next year’s (2020) meeting were January 7-8 (travel day of January 6) or January 6-7 (travel day of January 5).

The session was adjourned at 9:45 a.m.

S-1081 Break-out Session

1. The S-1081 session was called to order at 10:20 a.m. by chair Lindemann. Those present were Drs. Lindemann, Maxwell, Estienne, Brendemuhl, Crystal Levesque from South Dakota State University, Eric van Heugten from North Carolina State University, and Lee Chiba from Auburn University. Also attending was Dr. Bob Godfrey, new S-1081 administrative advisor, and Dr. Chad Risley from Berg+Schmidt.  

Lindemann reviewed the approval process for the most recently submitted project proposal (S-1081).  Lindemann thanked Godfrey for his assistance during the project review and also for his willingness to attend the meeting.  For Godfrey’s benefit each committee member briefly described facilities at the home institution.  Lindemann.  The University of Kentucky swine facility near Versailles, KY opened in 2001 and is in good shape.  Capacity is 80 – 100 sows and Lindemann noted that the facility supplies the University of Tennessee with pigs.  Estienne.  The Virginia Tech- Tidewater Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Suffolk, has older swine facilities, most of which were constructed in the 1960’s.  Capacity is 96 sows, but the unit currently batch farrows 40 – 50 total sows and supplies the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine with pigs on occasion.  The Suffolk facility is approximately 275 miles from the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg.  A new swine facility to replace the existing swine center on campus has been approved and will be located off-site at the Kentland farm.  Levesque.  South Dakota State University has a 2-year old swine facility the bill for which was recently paid in full.  The main unit near campus is spaced for 150 sows and 10 miles south of town is a 1,200-head wean-to-finish unit.  Van Heugten.  North Carolina State University has a 200-sow farrow-to-finish facility that was constructed in 1987.  Thirty-two to 40 sows farrow monthly.  A 200-sow, farrow-to-finish research facility is also located in Plymouth, NC that batch farrows under the supervision of Dr. Mark Knauer.  There are 5 hoop barns at a research facility in Rocky Mount, NC that maintains the antibiotic-free sow herd originally housed at the University of Kentucky.  Finally, the former Swine Evaluation Station in Clayton, NC, can accommodate grow-finish trials with 99 pens (6 pigs/pen).  Research facilities are serviced by a recently constructed feed mill.  The University Animal Science Department has 5 nutritionists, a reproductive physiologist, and a geneticist working in the swine area.  Maxwell.  The University of Arkansas swine facility has 150 PIC sows with 30 to 35 farrowing every seven weeks (6 to 7 farrowing groups per year).  Maxwell noted that research is facilitated by an outside statistician that returns analyzed data in just a few days.  Chiba.   Originally with 5 units, Auburn University now has one swine facility with 70 to 90 sows, 20 of which are of Mangalitsa genetics.  The unit has 18 farrowing crates and 18 nursery pens.  Brendemuhl.  The University of Florida once had three swine units and 6 to 7 faculty conducting swine research.  Today there is only one unit with no active swine research program.  A handful of sows farrow every 5 to 6 weeks and are used primarily for teaching.

2. Objectives contained in the new S-1081 project were briefly discussed. The three objectives are to determine reproductive effects of feeding sows boron (objective 1; Maxwell or Lindemann to serve as coordinator) or phytogenic additives (objective 2; Chiba or Lindemann to serve as coordinator).  Objective 3 is to determine reproductive effects of phase feeding gestating sows and the coordinator is Levesque.  Levesque stated that Objective 3 is underway at South Dakota State University and sows are receiving a constant 12 g lysine/day throughout gestation; 12 g lysine/day until increased to 17 g/day in late gestation; or 12 g lysine/day and then “pulled back” to 7 – 10 g/day (adjusted based on parity) early/mid gestation.

3. A project outside the S-1088 objectives was discussed. The study would determine amino acid and fatty acid composition in sow milk.  Kevin Touchette with Ajinomoto will assist with milk amino acid analyses and Risley from Berg+Schmidt will facilitate fatty acid analyses.  Basically, 20 to 50 sows at each participating station would supply 50-mL milk samples at two times during lactation.  Samples would be lyophilized and shipped for analyses.  Sow breed, parity, litter size, litter ADG, diet composition, lactation weight change, and feed intake would be recorded.  Stations expressing an interest in participating were University of Arkansas, South Dakota State University, Virginia Tech, University of Kentucky, and North Carolina State University.  Lindemann agreed to initiate protocol development that will be distributed to those interested.

The session was adjourned at 12:15 p.m.

Afternoon Session

Joint session with NCCC42

1. Dilger called the meeting back to order at 1:15 p.m.

2. Hostetler gave an update on the National Pork Board. He stated that due to budget reductions there would be no production data report or scholarships for 2019.  Hostetler described the change in pork marketing from a “Business to Consumer Model” to a “Business to Business Model”.  In other words, advertising will not be focused on the consumer in a grocery store but rather businesses such as McDonalds that purchase large quantities of pork.

He described the potential of social media.  One You-tube content provider has 800,000 followers.  The following message went out on that medium:  1) Cook pork to 145° F, 2) Pork is versatile, and 3) Pork is delicious.  In response, the google searches in response to the message can be monitored, for example, after reading that message do people google search “Pork recipes”?  Moreover, what is subsequently purchased at the store can be monitored.

The National Pork Board’s research priorities include: 1) Nutrition, and 2) Pig Survivability.  Hostetler provided these statistics in regard to pig survivability:  9% still born, 17% pre-weaning death, 6.5% nursery death loss, 4.0% grow-finish death, and 2.0% dead at plant.  This issue is to be resolved by a consortium approach led by Jason Ross at Iowa State University.  Funding of $1.5 to 2.0 million will be provided to 16 faculty members at three universities over the next 5 years, and will include research, outreach, and training.  A focus for 2019 will be technology for monitoring pigs.

3. Risley, general manager/CEO for Berg + Schmidt America, LLC, provided an update from the non-ruminant committee of AFIA. He has a great deal of experience in the animal feed industry, having also worked for Continental Grain- Wayne Feeds, Chr. Hansen, A/S (involved with Bioplus 2B), and Lucta USA, Inc.

Risley reported AFIA is involved with education and training and major issues of concern include: Animal Feed Safety, Ingredient Availability, Trade and Sustainability.   

AFIA has a new website and Risley encouraged attendees to visit (www.AFIA.org).

AFIA CEO Joel G. Newman is retiring.  Overall, AFIA is financially sound.

AFIA activities include High Producing Sow symposium in Atlanta, GA; AFIA/Kansas State University collaborative training; Ingredient Purchasing meeting in May, 2019 in Orlando, FL; and, a liquid feed symposium in September 2019.

Rod Cooper is executive director for I-Feeder.  Funding/contributions to I-Feeder has been poor.    Role of I-Feeder is to promote general feed research and advocacy; research focused on receiving support from the U.S. Capitol; securing data; and education programs.  Examples of I Feeder projects include a survey of animal welfare in production systems employing non-antibiotic-fed animals; Salmonella in feed samples; and feeding life cycle analysis.  A new project focuses on the effect a declaration that all animal feed must be from non-GMO sources would have on the feed industry.

The nutrition committee of AFIA has determined that the following are areas in need of research:  sustainability; antibiotic-free feeding; novel proteins; nursery pig performance and impact on future performance; heat stress; food safety; foreign animal disease and entry via feed; novel ingredients; sow mortality; microbiome; and immune function.

4. Dilger reminded attendees to investigate the new DSM award to be presented at the Mid-west meeting of ASAS. The closing date is January 15, 2019 and information can be found at the DSM and ASAS websites.

5. Attendees presented brief station reports: Brendemuhl (Florida); Chiba (Alabama); Estienne (Virginia); Lindemann and  Adedokun (Kentucky); Levesque and Dr. Tofuko Woyengo (South Dakota);  Maxwell (Arkansas); van Heugten and Dr. Sung Woo Kim (North Carolina);   Layi Adeola (Indiana); Dr. Mike Azain (Georgia); Dr. Scott Carter (Oklahoma); Dr. Tom Crenshaw (Wisconsin); Dilger (Illinois); Dr. Rajesh Jha (Hawaii); Liao (Mississippi); Dr. Yanhong Liu (California); Dr. Phillip Miller (Nebraska); and Dr Anoosh Rakhshandeh (Texas Tech).   

6. Dates for next year’s meeting were again discussed.

7. Dilger adjourned the session at 5:09 p.m.

Friday, January 4, 2019

Morning Session

S-1081 Break-out Session

1. Lindemann called the session to order at 8:00 a.m.

2. New officers for 2019 were announced: Maxwell from University of Arkansas, Chair, and Estienne from Virginia Tech, Vice-chair. Brendemuhl made a motion that Robert Dove from the University of Georgia be elected secretary for 2019-2020.  The motion was seconded by Levesque and passed unanimously.

3. The milk study discussed on the previous day was again discussed. A sample would be collected and freeze dried and then split.  Fatty acid analyses would be conducted at the University of Georgia (Azain) and Lindemann will discuss amino acid analyses with Touchette.  Risley stated that Berg+ Schmidt would likely contribute $5,000 for support of fat analyses.

4. Data from the S-1061 copper study were discussed and Lindemann supplied copies of tables.

5. Lindemann also discussed a project that would determine the effects of a second injection of iron given to pigs before weaning on hematology and nursery growth performance. In addition to Kentucky, stations with an interest in participating were Arkansas (Maxwell); North Carolina (van Heugten); South Dakota (Levesque); and Virginia (Estienne).

6. Maxwell asked that committee members please provide suggestions for next year’s meeting.

7. Crystal led further discussion of the late gestation feeding objective and noted that it is likely that altering lysine during gestation will likely impact performance during second and subsequent parities but not first parity.

8. Estienne will discuss with Dr. Sherri Clarke-Deener regarding her interest in participating in S-1081.

9. Brendemuhl announced that there are tentative plans to tour the nutrition facilities at Disney’s Animal Kingdom after next year’s meeting.

10. Session adjourned at 9:30 a.m.     

Joint session with NCCC42

1. The session was called to order at 10:00 a.m. by Lindemann.

2. New officers for next year were announced: S-1081, Maxwell, chair, Estienne, vice-chair, and Dove, secretary; and NCCC42, Liao, chair, Adedokun, vice-chair, and Woyengo, secretary.

3. Lindemann and Dilger gave summaries of the meeting activities for S-1081 and NCCC42, respectively.

S-1081. Newly approved objectives include reproductive effects of dietary supplementation of sow diets with boron or phytogenic compounds, and phase feeding during gestation.  Levesque is coordinating the phase feeding study and commented that it was a three treatment study over at least two parities (Critical point) and if any members of the NCCC42 committee had an interest in participating to please contact her.   Lindemann then described two “side” projects the S-1081 group plans to conduct: 1) Amino acid and fatty acid composition of sow milk at two different days of lactation, and 2) Effects of an additional iron injection 4 days prior to weaning on nursery performance in pigs.  There would be two treatments and matched pairs of pigs would be employed.

NCCC42.Dilger announced that the Bakery Meal Composition manuscript had been published during 2019.  The superdosing phytase manuscript (lead author is Marcia Shannon at the University of Missouri) is in draft status.  Analyses for further study of Bakery Meal are on-going.  The committee decided to take a “step back” on the Microbiome study.  A preliminary experiment at 13 stations will be conducted.  A fecal loop sample will be collected and sent to Miller for analyses.  Hans Stein from the University of Illinois is overseeing a calcium to phosphorous ratio survey of commercial growers with 100 to 200 samples being sent to the University of Illinois for analyses.

4. Report should be circulated to committee members within 40 days of meeting for review and comment.

5. The joint committees voted 16 – 3 in favor of meeting on January 7 and 8, 2020 with Monday January 6 a travel day. Brendemuhl announced tentative plans for a tour of the nutritional facilities at Disney’s Animal Kingdom after the 2020 meeting is adjourned.

6. Dilger will approach Dr. Gary Cromwell, Professor emeritus at the University of Kentucky, about authoring a manuscript describing the history of the NCCC42 project.

7. After a motion by Adeola, the joint committees thanked Hostetler for National Pork Board funding of the meeting breaks. After a motion by Crenshaw, the joint committees thanked Lindemann and Dilger for leading the meeting and Brendemuhl for his organizing meeting accommodations.

8. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 10:49 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Mark J. Estienne, Ph.D.

Secretary, S-1081

January 14, 2019    

Because the S-1081 project is new and was approved just this past fall, much of the 2019 annual meeting was spent discussing specific details of the experiments that will be conducted to accomplish the objectives.

Objective 1: To determine the effect of boron supplementation on the reproductive performance of sows.  In this experiment, boron, as sodium borate pentahydrate will be fed to sows at 0, 5, and 25 ppm of supplemental boron.  Dietary treatments will be imposed continuously during both gestation and lactation for two parities.  Stations that will participate in the experiment are Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky and Virginia.

Objective 2:  To determine the effects of phytogenic feed additives on the reproductive performance of sows.  Diets containing: 1) no antibiotic or phytogenic feed additive (negative control); and, 2) essential oil (Chios Gum Mastic) at one or more levels during breeding and lactation.  Stations that will participate in the experiment are Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Dakota, and Virginia.

Objective 3: To determine the effect of altered gestational feeding of sows on sow productivity and longevity.  Sows will be assigned to one of at least 2 gestational feeding programs that include a control (constant intake from breeding to day 110 of gestation or increased feed allotment in late gestation), and an altered phase feeding program (focused on altered lysine:energy ratio in early and late gestation).  Work on this objective has already begun in South Dakota.  Other stations that have committed to this objective are Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, and North Carolina.    

Short-term Outcomes:

Across objectives, we will be able to determine if sow reproductive efficiency is affected when sows are administered one of the respective feeding strategies or alterations.  Where results are positive, increases in sow productivity will increase producer income.  In addition to effects on reproductive measures, of particular interest will be the effects of dietary treatments on pre-weaning death loss of pigs.  In the U.S. swine industry, pre-weaning death rate in pigs averages over 17%.  If for example, phase feeding sows results in a 1% reduction in pre-weaning mortality, adoption of this strategy nationwide would result in more than 1 million additional weaned pigs without an increase in average litter size.       

Outputs:

The S-1081 project is new and was approved just this past fall.  Specific experiments are just now beginning on the majority of research stations, thus there are no publications to report.  However, members of the committee did publish a referred paper during the past year, relative to a previous multi-state project (objective 2; S-1044):

Carter, S.D., M.D. Lindemann, L.I. Chiba, M.J. Estienne, and G.J.M.M. Lima.  2018.  Effects of inclusion of spray-dried porcine plasma in lactation diets on sow and litter performance.  Livestock Science 216:32-35

Activities:

Because the S-1081 project is new, there are no activities to report.  However, members of the committee did statistically analyze data relative to a previous multi-state project (objective 3; S-1061) and a manuscript has been prepared for submission to Translational Animal Science:

Tsung-Chen, T.  G. A. Apgar, M. J. Estienne, M. Wilson, and C. V. Maxwell.  2019.  A cooperative study assessing reproductive performance in sows fed diets supplemented with organic or inorganic sources of trace minerals.  Translational Animal Science (to be submitted) 

Milestones:

To have sows from the participating stations on dietary treatments appropriate for the three objectives by January, 2020.    

Impacts:

The S-1081 project is new and specific experiments are just now beginning on the majority of research stations.  

Carter, S.D., M.D. Lindemann, L.I. Chiba, M.J. Estienne, and G.J.M.M. Lima.  2018.  Effects of inclusion of spray-dried porcine plasma in lactation diets on sow and litter performance.  Livestock Science 216:32-35