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Swine Production – AN SC 476 Winter 2013
1. Course description:
AN SC 476 Applied Swine Science
*3 (fi 6) (second term, 3-0-3). Evaluation of swine breeding, feeding, housing management, and disease prevention practices that optimize production efficiency and animal well-being. Laboratories involve analysis of production practices with a view to optimizing efficiency. Graduate students may not register for credit (see AFNS 576). Credit will only be given for one of AFNS 576 and AN SC 476.
Prerequisite: AN SC 200 or consent of Instructor.
2. Instructor:
Soenke Moehn Office: SRTC Phone: 492-0945
E-mail: [email protected]
Office hours: Tuesday 10 to 11 am, and by appointment 3. Teaching Assistant:
n/a
4. Lecture Schedule
Tuesday 11:00 - 12:20 Rm 1-06 Ag/For Thursday 11:00 - 12:20 Rm 1-06 Ag/For
5. Lab Schedule Tuesday 14:00 - 16:50 Location varies.
6. Course Objectives:
To familiarize students with the structure and functioning of swine industry and swine
production facilities. To provide students with the knowledge necessary to assess and improve swine production.
7. Lecture Outline: Lectures will cover all aspects of Swine production. Pig-related topics will cover breeding, housing and management, animal welfare and health, growth, meat quality and nutrition. The context of pig production will be addressed in lectures about structure of the swine industry and its relation to other sectors, economics and marketing and impact on environment.
8. Laboratory Outline:
The laboratory will start with demonstrations of swine management and research practices at the SRTC, and represent 3 minor assignments. Further minor assignments will take place in 1- 06, Ag/Forestry Centre. One major assignment will be related to a field trip, or consist of a term
paper/term papers (see also ‘Field Trips’). Minor assignments will be due at the start of the next lab; late assignments will not be accepted and marked zero. Due dates for major assignments will be set in consensus with the class.
Potential Danger:
Working with any large animal can be dangerous if you do not receive proper training and pay attention while working with them. During labs at the SRTC, students will be under constant supervision of SRTC staff or the instructor. Students will only asked to handle animals if they feel comfortable doing so. Students must not interact with the pigs without supervision.
9. Current topics assignment (10 marks)
Objectives: Familiarize the class with issues currently affecting the swine industry. Allow students to gain experience in preparing and giving a presentation.
Students must discuss 1 current topic during the semester. Any topics of the Banff Pork Seminar during the last 4 years are acceptable as possible current topics. See Advances in Pork
Production 20087 to 2012. For a complete articles of topics for these years see the Proceedings at http://www.banffpork.ca/proc/ . Topics will be assigned during the lecture on January 8, and agreed upon no later than January 15. Topic approval may be discussed after class, by email or by appointment.
The CURRENT TOPICS will be a group presentation. The group will prepare a 1-page
summary of their presentation to be handed out to class one week before the presentations. The assignment requires a presentation of no more than 20 minutes in class on a current issue or topic in swine production. Presentation should be divided equally between students in a group.
The oral presentation in class should be a short summary of the topic. Give the class sufficient background to understand what it is about and why it is important for us to know about it.
Presentations should NOT exceed 20 minutes. 10 minutes will be given for questions at the end of the presentation.
Marking will closely follow the guidelines for student competition evaluation as published by the Canadian Society of Animal Science. See
http://www.csas.net/uploads/CSAS_Handbook_Feb_2008.pdf
p 39-40, 43. Participation in discussion of presentations will be part of the marks.
10. Field trip
The planned field trip exceeds the time allotted to this course. Therefore, participation is voluntary, although students are strongly encouraged to take the opportunity offered. The field trip will be discussed during the introduction to the course (Jan. 8). Every effort will be made to clear the student’s absence from other classes during field trips. If the class does not agree to participate, the field trips will be replaced by a term paper.
11. Method of evaluation
Throughout the term, raw marks will be assigned to reflect performance on each component of the course. Letter grades will be assigned only to the final distribution of mark totals. There are
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no predetermined cut lines for final grade assignment. All marks are not final until approved by the Departmental Chair of the Teaching and Learning committee.
The final exam will be Wednesday, April 17, 2013, from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon in class room Ag/For 1-06.
100 Marks Total:
Presentations: 15
Midterm exam: 20
Final exam: 35
Minor assignments: 20 Major assignments: 10
Samples for exams
Sample questions for the midterm exam and a sample for a final exam can be found at:
http://www.ales.ualberta.ca/afns/ansc476.cfm
12. Texts
The course content will be based on current scientific literature, class notes, and two books. A purchase of these two books (see below) is not required for the course.
National Research Council. 2012. Nutrient Requirements of Swine. 11th Edition. National Academy Press, Washington, DC.
Lewis, A.J., L.L. Southern. 2001. Swine Nutrition. 2nd Edition. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
An excellent source of producer-oriented information about pig production is:
http://www.thepigsite.com
Government and pig producer organizations:
Alberta Agriculture, Food & Rural Development
http://www.agric.gov.ab.ca/app21/infopage?cat1=Livestock&cat2=Pigs
Alberta Pork Producers Development Corporation http://www.albertapork.com/Home.aspx
Prairie Swine Centre www.prairieswine.com/
Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Inititives http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/index.shtml Ontario Ministry Ag, Food & Rural Affairs
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/index.html
Ontario Pork
http://www.ontariopork.on.ca/
Canadian Pork Council (organization representing all producer groups in Canada) http://www.cpc-ccp.com/index-e.php
National Pork Producers Council (USA) http://www.nppc.org
Publications:
Western Producer – Current agriculture information for Western Canada http://www.producer.com/
National Hog Farmer (USA) http://nationalhogfarmer.com/
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13. Tentative lecture schedule for 2012, AN SC 476
Lecture
# Date Class
1 8-Jan Tues Course intro
2 10-Jan Thur Set up of production unit and Production units 3 15-Jan Tues Pig barns
17-Jan Thur No class – Banff Pork Seminar 4 22-Jan Tues Feed and penning
5 24-Jan Thur Gilts and boars
6 29-Jan Tues Farrowing management 7 31-Jan Thur Newborn piglet care 8 5-Feb Tues Growing-finishing pigs 9 5-Feb Tues PM Pig behavior
10 12-Feb Tues Animal welfare 14-Feb Thur Mid term exam 11 26-Feb Tues Breeds and breeding 12 28-Feb Thur Growth
13 5-Mar Tues NRC 2012 14 7-Mar Thur Nutrition
15 12-Mar Tues Transport, slaughter and marketing
16 14-Mar Thur Meat quality: guest lecture: Dr Heather Bruce 17 19-Mar Tues Guest lecture: Dr. Julia Keenliside
21-Mar Thur Field trip: Red Deer Pork Congress 18 26-Mar Tues Benchmarking
19 28-Mar Thur Production economics
20 2-Apr Tues Course eval - Alternatives in pig production 21 4-Apr Thur Pig Industry – international perspective 22 9-Apr Tues In barn environment
23 11-Apr Thur Environmental impact
13. Tentative laboratory schedule
Laboratories with lectures or assignments are in Room 1-06 Ag/For.
Meet at the South-West entrance of AG/FOR for field trips.
The information provided and skills developed in the lab sessions will be used in assignments.
Date Topic 8-Jan No lab
15-Jan Barn organization – minor assignment 22-Jan Breeding management – minor asssignment 29-Jan No lab
7-Feb Thursday, 9 am: SRTC - Piglet processing and unit management– minor assignment 12-Feb No Lab – midterm week
26-Feb Presentations
5-Mar Swine nutrition – NRC 2012 – minor assignment
12-Mar Guest presentation: feed industry perspective. Dr Vince Gabert, HiPro Feeds 19-Mar Meat quality – not yet confirmed
26-Mar No Lab – Field trip to Red Deer on Thursday– major assignment 2-Apr No Lab
9-Apr Q+A re final exam
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14. Policy on Deferred Examinations:
Missed Midterm Exam: If a student misses a midterm, a new time will be set between the instructor and/or student for the student to write the midterm. If the student does not write the replacement exam, it will be marked a fail with zero marks.
Missed Final Exam: Instructors can neither give permission to a student to miss the final exam nor grant a request for a deferred final exam. Students are encouraged to check exam schedules prior to making travel or event plans. The decision to grant a deferred final exam can only be granted by their own Faculty (e.g. ALES students go to 231 GSB to obtain an exam deferral, Science students go to 1-001 CCIS). The application and the documentation pertaining to the absence must be presented to the Faculty within two working days following the scheduled date of the exam missed or as soon as the student is able, having regard to the circumstances
underlying the absence. The student must seek the approval of the dean or designate of the student’s Faculty on the application for a deferred final exam. Please refer to:
http://www.registrar.ualberta.ca/calendar/Regulations-and-Information/Academic- Regulation/23.5.html#23.5
Acceptable reasons for an excused absence may include illness or bereavement, and unacceptable reasons include weddings, travel arrangements or being on vacation. The
University policy on deferred exams can be found in Section 23.3.2 of the University Calendar.
It includes specific instructions on how to obtain a deferral.
Please note: If deferred examinations become necessary, the instructor will seek a mutually agreeable date, within the bounds of the University or Alberta calendar, for the examination. If no agreement can be reached, a date for the deferred exam will be fixed by the instructor.
15. Policy on Electronic Devices:
Please note that electronic devices are restricted during examinations—only approved non- programmable calculators are permitted.
16. Code of Student Conduct:
“All students at the University of Alberta are subject to the Code of Student Behaviour, as outlined at:
http://www.governance.ualberta.ca/en/CodesofConductandResidenceCommunityStandards/Cod eofStudentBehaviour.aspx.
Please familiarize yourself with it and ensure that you do not participate in any inappropriate behavior as defined by the Code. Key components of the code include the following statements.
30.3.2(1) No Student shall submit the words, ideas, images or data of another person as the Student’s own in any academic writing, essay, thesis, project, assignment, presentation or poster in a course or program of study.
30.3.2(2) c. No Student shall represent another’s substantial editorial or compositional assistance on an assignment as the Student’s own work.”
17. Academic Integrity:
“The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect. Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code of Student Behaviour
(www.ualberta.ca/secretariat/appeals.htm) and avoid any behaviour which could potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence. Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University.” (GFC 2003)
