Minimizing Feed Costs for Improved Profitability

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Minimizing Feed Costs for Improved Profitability
Joel DeRouchey, PhD, Mike Tokach, PhD, Steve
Dritz, DVM, PhD, Bob Goodband, PhD, and Jim
Nelssen, PhD
K-STATERESEARCH and EXTENSION
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Feed Efficiency
High feed disappearance
Low ADG
Other factors
F/G Total feed delivered Weight
out Weight in
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Feed Efficiency
High feed disappearance
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What to do with high corn and soybean meal
prices?

• Dietary ingredients
• Evaluating alternatives
• Added Fat
• Synthetic amino acids
• DDGS
• Glycerol
• Whey
• Work with what you have Improve F/G
• Feed budgets and phase feeding
• Particle size evaluation
• Feeder management
• Genetics
• Watch market weights

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Alternative Feed Ingredients
Cost Processing Storage Quality Control Agronomics
Animal Performance
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Alternative Ingredient Sources

• Partial Replacements
• Distillers grains
• Most common but regional
• Fats / Oils
• 2.25 times energy as corn
• Use has dramatically reduced due to cost
• AV blends vs. only vegetable or choice white
  grease

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Alternative Ingredient Sources

• Wheat midds
• Bulk density
• Low energy - Monogastrics
• Bakery products
• Variability and availability
• Meat and bone meal
• Variability of product
• 5 10 of the diet
• Grain screenings
• Variability and potential mycotoxins
• Off quality grains
• Low test weight

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Feed Bridging Results in Pigs Out of Feed
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Determining the economics of adding fat to a
grain-soybean meal diet

• Increased cost of the diet
• F/G improvement with fat
• 2 improvement for every 1 fat
• ADG improvement with fat
• 1 improvement for every 1 fat (average)
• 2 improvement in early grower
• No improvement in late finisher

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Increasing dietary energy density with added fat
Analysis of field experiments

• 9 in field research facilities (total of 9,899
  pigs)
• Analyzed for the percent change in ADG and F/G
  per added dietary fat (using Proc Mixed in SAS)
• Model included
• Pig body weight
• Feed intake as a percentage of body weight
• Fat level
• Disclaimers
• Field data from 2 systems
• PIC 327 or 337 sires

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Calculator available at www.KsuSwine.org
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Added Fat Summary

• Remember that energy level drives ADG with high
  lean pigs in field conditions!
• Should I have fat in my diets currently?
• Long on space No
• Gain improvements not required while increasing
  feed cost
• Short on space Yes
• Evaluate net return and determine optimum level
  of fat by dietary phase.
• 2.5 for entire finishing 3.2 lbs heavier pig
• 5.0 for entire finishing 6.1 lbs heavier pig

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Using added fat for dust control

• A common practice to reduce dust in the barns is
  to use 1 added fat
• Current feed cost increase for dust control in
  finishing is 1.13 / pig from 50 to 250 lbs.
• Current feed cost increase for dust control in
  finishing is 0.75 / pig from 120 to 250 lbs.
• Simply cannot afford dust control in finishing
  diets

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Evaluating diet cost with low protein amino acid
fortified diets
Calculator available at www.KsuSwine.org
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DDGS - Growth Performance and Carcass
Characteristics

• Research is inconsistent when feeding DDGS on
  grow-finish pig performance.
• Several studies have demonstrated decreased
  growth performance levels above 10
• Other studies suggest feeding DDGS at levels up
  to 30 have no negative effect on growth
  performance
• However - negative results on carcass yield and
  fat quality are clearly demonstrated

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DDGS Effects on Yield
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Effect of DDGS withdrawal time on dressing
percent
JBS United, 2007
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What does the carcass yield reduction mean?
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Calculator available at www.KsuSwine.org
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Calculator available at www.KsuSwine.org
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DDGS - Summary

• Currently, feeding up to 20 DDGS is the
  generally the most economical in grow-finish
  diets in most situations
• These levels may or may not decrease performance
• How to handle yield impacts withdraw or ignore
• Feeding 20 DDGS should not by itself increase
  carcass IV values over 73
• However, feeding this level along with an
  unsaturated fat source more then likely will

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Gylcerol for swine diets

• Gylcerol is the resulting product of the
  bio-diesel industry
• Pure glycerol is a colorless, odorless, and a
  sweet-tasting viscous liquid (when fresh)
• Much less is known about its use in livestock
  feeding
• Currently numerous National Pork Board and state
  pork association funded experiments underway
• Fall 2007 price 0.06 / lb
• Current price 0.12 0.15 / lb

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Effects of glycerol and soy oil on growth
performance of growing pigs(25 to 55 lb)
Soy oil, quadratic P lt 0.07, glycerol and blend
linear P lt 0.06
Soy Oil,
Soy/glycerol blend,
Groesbeck et al., 2008
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Effects of glycerol and DDGS on growth
performance of finishing pigs(70 to 217 lb)
Duttlinger et al., 2008
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Effects of glycerol and fat on growth performance
of finishing pigs(170 to 220 lb)
Duttlinger et al., 2008
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Glycerol after 3 months in refrigerator
Fresh Glycerol on arrival
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Dried Whey for 15 to 25 lb pigs

• In recent trials at K-State with 15 to 25 lb
  pigs, removing the 10 dried whey from the diet
  lowered pig weight by 0.5 to 1 lb/pig (Bergstrom
  et al., 2007).
• The savings achieved by lowering feed cost was
  greater than the value of weight that was lost by
  using the more simple diet without a lactose
  source.
• Typically, dried whey must be priced at
  approximately 0.35 per lb to breakeven when
  comparing feed cost and gain.

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Dried Whey for 15 to 25 lb pigs

• Obviously, if a more economical lactose source
  could be found or the diets reformulated with
  another strategy to achieve the higher final
  weight without the increased feed cost, it would
  be beneficial.
• If a lactose alternative is not found however,
  the most economic recommendation would be to feed
  the simpler diets and accept the lower ADG
  resulting from the decision.
• Less drastic compromise
• Divide into 2 phases with the first diet
  containing lactose source while the second diet
  does not.
• Still maintain fishmeal and/or blood meal in both
  diets
• No pig over 25 lb should ever receive lactose in
  the diet

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Feed Budgets and Phase Feeding

• Follow budgets carefully
• Over budgeting simply increases cost due to
  overfeeding nutrients
• Under budgeting can limit growth by causing pigs
  to be deficient in nutrients.
• Additional diet phases can reduce feed costs

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Nursery feed budgets
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Do we still recommend split sex feeding?

• Can you fill a room/barn (feed line) with less
  than 7 days of age spread of one sex?
• If answer is no, you should minimize age spread
  rather than housing by sex.
• If split sex feeding, same diets can be used for
  both sexes with different feed budgets to account
  for higher F/G of barrows

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Every 100 microns F/G increases by 1.2
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Effect of Particle Size on Nutrient Digestibility
Particle Size Digestibility, Microns DM
CP Energy F/G

• lt 700 86.1 82.9 85.8 1.74
• 700-1000 84.9 80.5 84.4 1.84
• gt 1000 83.7 79.1 82.6 1.92

KSU, 1985
Based on pig performance and grinding
considerations, we recommend a particle size of
700 microns with a range of 600 to 750 microns
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Particle size Economics

• 1.2 change in F/G equals -
• 7 lbs of feed per finishing pig
• 0.68 change in current per pig feed cost
• Measure weekly on farm, monthly with lab

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One-Sieve Three-Sieve
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Accuracy of the One-Sieve Method
41 of Samples are within 100 microns
Baldridge et al. 2001
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Accuracy of the Three-Sieve Method
Procedures for three-sieve method available at
www.KsuSwine.org
95 of Samples are within 100 microns
Baldridge et al. 2001
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Effects of Decreasing Particle Size (700 microns)

• Increases particle surface area
• Allows for greater interaction with digestive
  enzymes
• Increased nutrient digestibility and decreased
  nutrient excretion
• Improved feed efficiency

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Disadvantages of Grinding Too Fine ( lt 600
microns)

• Increased dustiness
• Increases electrical costs
• Increased time
• Decreased feed flowability
• Increased gastric ulcers

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Basics Adjust the feeders frequently
Picture available at www.KsuSwine.org
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If your fingers dont hurt, youre not adjusting
feeders enough.
K-STATE
Proper Feeder Adjustment
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www.KsuSwine.org
Joel DeRouchey, PhD, Mike Tokach, PhD, Steve
Dritz, DVM, PhD, Bob Goodband, PhD, and Jim
Nelssen, PhD