Swine production (4401)

Fall 2009

Course Listing/Description

(4:3:2) Prerequisite: ANSC 3307, 3401, 3402 (majors only) or consent of instructor; may take only one of the above concurrently. Understanding pig biology, management of the pig's environment and genetics to maximize profits. Include genetics, nutrition, reproduction, housing, herd health, and management practices. Laboratory and field trips. F. (Writing Intensive)
Levels: Undergraduate - TTU
Schedule Types: Lecture, No Credit Lab

Instructor:

John J. McGlone, PhD

Professor

Animal and Food Sciences

Animal and Food Sciences Building, Room 204

Texas Tech University

Lubbock, TX 79409-2141

john.mcglone@ttu.edu

1-806-742-2805, ext. 246

TTU Pork Industry Institute web page: www.pii.ttu.edu

Swine Production class web page:
http://www.depts.ttu.edu/porkindustryinstitute/Swine%20Production%20class/animal_science_4401%20front%20page.htm

Staff at New Deal Swine research farm:

Stanley Harris, Manager, 746-5170

Eduardo Carrasco, 746-5170

Class and lab:

Lectures: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday - 9 until 9.50 (Rm: AFS 223; Distance Ed)

Lab: Tuesday – 12:30 until 2:20 (Texas Tech University Swine farm – New Deal or Meat Lab classroom)

Class materials:

Text book: ‘Pig production: Biological principles and applications. 2003. by John McGlone and Wilson Pond. Available at the University book store.

The PowerPoint slides and lab notes will be put online. If students miss a class or lab (without an excused absence) they will have to get the notes from a class mate. More is covered in class than is in the PowerPoint presentations.
Students are required to purchase one pair of coveralls or other suitable clothing to be worn at the farm to be used for the duration of the semester.
Students are required to purchase one pair of rubber boots to be worn at the farm to be used for the duration of the semester.
Students must not have been in contact with any other pigs/pig farm in the 72 hours prior to contact with the university pigs at New Deal.
If students have fever, they should not come to class, nor should they be in contact with pigs.

Learning Outcomes:

v To understand all aspects of pig production practices in the United States and in other countries.

v Demonstrate the ability to communicate clearly and concisely the different aspects of pig production discussed in class.

v Learning outcomes will be assessed through quizzes, written papers, exams, involvement in discussion, and participation in group projects.

University policies:

Attendance:

v Be on time for class (class starts at 9 am on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays) and be on time at the farm. All students are to be at the New Deal farm by 12:30. The lab will start at 12:30 and attendance will be taken in labs.

v Please turn off cell phones and put them away.

v If you are going to be absent from a lecture – please tell the instructor ahead of time.

Legitimate Absences:

Written documentation for legitimate absences for missed exams must be provided prior to anticipated absences. Approval must be obtained ahead of time for an exam to be taken at a time other than the scheduled time. Illness or family emergencies must also have written documentation. Notify the instructor as soon as possible. In case of immediate, extreme emergencies notify the Dean of Students Office and your academic advisor and they will notify all of your instructors for you.

A student who intends to observe a religious holy day should make that intention known to the instructor prior to the absence. A student who is absent from classes for the observance of a religious holiday shall be allowed to take an examination scheduled for that day within a reasonable time after the absence. A student may not be penalized for the absence but the instructor may respond appropriately if the student fails to complete the assignment satisfactorily.

ADA Statement:

Any student who, because of a disability, may require special arrangements in order to meet course requirements should contact the instructor as soon as possible to make any necessary accommodations. Students should present appropriate verification from Student Disability Services (AccessTECH). No requirement exists that accommodations be made prior to completion of this approved university procedure. Classroom accommodations will be made for students with disabilities at the request of the student.

Scholastic Dishonesty:

It is the aim of the faculty of Texas Tech University to foster a spirit of complete honesty and high standards of integrity. The attempt of students to present as their own any work not honestly performed is regarded by the faculty and administration as a most serious offence and renders the offenders liable to serious consequences, possibly suspension. Scholastic dishonesty includes but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, collusion, falsifying academic records, misinterpreting facts, and any act designed to give unfair academic advantage to the student or the attempt to commit such an act. Further information can be found in the Student Handbook.

Assessment

Quizzes:

Ten quizzes will be given throughout the semester. Quizzes will consist of questions in any format. Quizzes cover any material that has been covered in class or assignments or readings outside of class prior to that quiz; quizzes are comprehensive. Quizzes may all also contain information covered in lab and material presented by quest lecturers. Students that leave the class immediately after taking the quiz (before the end of the lecture) will get a 0 for that quiz. Quizzes will only be able to be made up by students with excused absences.

Class Etiquette

The instructor expects senior students to show simple etiquette in class. This includes, the following, at least:

Be on time for class
Remove any hats during class
Wear shoes, shirts, pants or skirts that you would wear if you were on a job that included interacting with other professionals
Do not read the paper or read on-line material while in class
Do not check e-mail or web pages while in class
Turn off your cell phone
Do not eat in class. You may bring a drink if in a closed/covered cup
Be polite and professional to other students and to guests
Greet your fellow classmates and the instructor with a simple good morning or hello
Be attentive in class; participate in discussions
We are here to learn and we require a healthy, respectful positive environment

Violation of etiquette rules may result in loss of points or removal from class.

Attend Farrowing:

Each student must attend a sow-litter farrowing and assist with the birth of the litter. The farrowing schedule will be made available to the students. Students will be assigned a sow and given her estimated farrowing date. Students must check her delivery status and be present at birth of the litter. The litter birth must be recorded in still and/or video. The sow should be aided where necessary. Students will document an aspect of the piglet birth process as one writing/video assignment.

Students will be responsible for the following activities about their sow and litter:

Be present at birth
Dry off each piglet, ear notch it, weigh it, record the weight and time of birth and pig sex, and place it near a teat to suckle
At three (3) days of age, “process” the litter; this will include

Castrate the male piglets
Dock tails
Give supplemental iron injection (100 mg)
Provide antibiotics or vaccinations as directed by the swine herdsman

At exactly 21 days of age, weigh each piglet and the sow – this is weaning age, but the litters will be weaned a few days later according the farm schedule
After weaning, breed the sow by AI with farm staff help
Prepare a 1-page farrowing report, that includes the following information:

Sow pre-farrowing weight
Sow 21-day weaning weight
Sow weight change (growth or weight loss)
Time of each piglet birth and average interval between births
Sex of each piglet
Individual piglet birth weights, total litter birth weight and average piglet birth weight
Individual piglet 21-day weaning weights, total litter weaning weight, and average piglet 21-day weaning weight
Average piglet daily gain from birth to weaning
Causes of piglet morality
Preweaning mortality %
Indicate any vaccinations or treatments that the sow or piglet’s recieved
Short narrative on the birth process and the life of the litter, and general observations
Be sure to include a second sheet with your report that is the results of your Biosecurity audit
The Farrowing Report and Biosecurity Audit form are due:
November 2, 2009

YouTube Project:

Swine Production class is a writing intensive class. This semester, teams of students will prepare four videos and upload them to YouTube. For these projects, students must follow these steps:

Students will assign:

a primary writer/author, secondary and tertiary authors; the written script must list the authors in order of contribution (the one that contributes most will be the first author listed)
team members (videographer, editor, actors, etc.)

Write the script
Have script approved as technically correct
Shot video
Edit video
Upload video

Each video will have the following features:

In one of four categories (see below)
5 minutes or less in duration
Will contain more than one “scene” (ex., pigs, talking head, machines, interview, computer screens, animation, graphics, etc.)
Must contain key words TTU Swine Production 2009 and be up-loaded to the TTU Swine Production 09 channel.

Categories of Video (each group will produce one from each category):

Society Issue

World hunger
Environmental issues

i. Air quality

ii. Water quality

iii. Soil health

Animal welfare

i. Gestation sow housing

ii. Lactation sow housing

iii. Castration

iv. Transportation

v. Space during finishing

vi. Tail docking

Food safety
Diet-health issues with pork
Worker health or safety

How-to; hands-on pig husbandry having to do with piglet birth or litter processing
Science-based educational topic in the areas of:

Nutrition
Genetics
Meats
Reproductive Physiology
Environmental management (air quality, ventilation, temperature)
Waste management

Open to anything creative, for example:

Swine Influenza
Farm economics
Pigs as a biomedical species for research
Xenotransplantation
Husbandry tasks other than litter processing (ex., handling pigs, loading trucks, routine pig health checks, etc.)

Helpful hints about the YouTube Assignment

Sandy Gellner in the Department office (first floor of AFS) has a video camera you can check out.
Free and simple video editing software is available free online. See Picasa from Google. You can upload to YouTube directly from Picasa.
See the YouTube Handbook to gain video tips: http://www.youtube.com/t/yt_handbook_produce
Our channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/jmcglone09
Swine Production Fall 09
You will be provided with the password so you can upload your video (script must be edited and approved by the instructor before uploading)
Become a friend of our YouTube Channel

You can get help in the Library & Ag Ed

Grading of YouTube Project

The grading of the YouTube project will be according to the following criteria:

50% Script (technical correctness, writing style, understandability, creativity)

10% Student peer-review of final product

10% Length (4-5 minutes target)

10% Depth of topic covered

10% Creativity and entertainment/educational impression

10% Number of views on YouTube

-------

100%

Service Projects

Students may earn extra credit (up to 30 points) by participating in service activities (10 points per project) in the community related to feeding homeless and poor people. This service-learning approach should bring your expertise in food production, food safety and quality to less fortunate people. The instructor will give each student a list of volunteer opportunities at soup kitchens or food pantries in Lubbock. To be eligible for extra points, students must participate in food-related service, and provide a short (less than 5 minutes) oral report to the class and provide a very short written report that has your name, the service activity and a few sentences that describe the activity, along with your impressions of the situation.

Exams:

A mid-term oral exam and an optional final exam will be given. The mid-term and final exam will be oral exams. The mid-term exam will cover the class material from the first lecture until the lecture before the mid-term. The optional final will be comprehensive and include all lectures, DVDs and textbook information. The mid-term and final will include material from lectures, labs, DVDs, and guest lectures.

Grades:

Item	Points	%
Quizzes	200	40
YouTube writing	100	20
Mid-term oral exam	100	20
Attended farrowing & Farrowing Report	100	20
Total	500	100
Optional final exam	100
Variable points +/-	Service, Etiquette, Participation, Attendance up to 200 points

A = 90 -100 %

B = 80 -89.9 %

C = 70 -79.9%

D = 60 -69.9 %

Below 60 % = Fail

General Schedule for Fall, 2009

Faculty on Duty: August 24
Registration: August 25 – 26
First Class Day: August 27
Holidays: Sept. 7, Oct. 12 – 13
Nov. 25 – 27
Last Class Day: December 9
Final Exams: December 11 – 16
Commencement: December 18 – 19

2009 Fall farrowings:

Sept 1-2; Oct 1-2; Dec 10-11

Class schedule

(Schedule may change throughout the course of the semester)

Wk	Day	Date	Class and lab topic	Chapters	Comments
1	Fri	28-Aug	Intro to class; Current status of industry
2	Mon	31-Aug	Biosecurity & continued introduction	NPB	DVD
	Tue	1-Sep	ACUC Training & Tour farm; Litter Processing		ND
	Wed	2-Sep	Pig domestication and early history	1, 2
	Fri	4-Sep	USA pig industry benchmarks	NPB	DVD
3	Mon	7-Sep	Holiday; Labor Day
	Tue	8-Sep	NPB & PQA+ Certification, Sherrie Niekamp, NPB		Q #1 Guest, ML
	Wed	9-Sep	Pig Anatomy & Physiology; Society Issues	3, 4
	Fri	11-Sep	Society Issues
4	Mon	14-Sep	Breeding & Gestation Mgt & Sow Housing Calculator	14, NPB	DVD
	Tue	15-Sep	Farrowing Management; Blood collection	NPB	DVD, ND
	Wed	16-Sep	Show pig panel discussion; Denny Belew, http://www.belewfarms.com) Stanley Young, Past President of TXPPA (http://www.texaspork.org/) Todd Beyers (http://www.beyersfarms.com/contact.html)	7	Q #2
	Fri	18-Sep	Pig Biology – Blood sampling; anatomy	4
5	Mon	21-Sep	Farrowing Management	18, NPB	DVD
	Tue	22-Sep	Field trip to show pig producer farm; Kyle Stephens from Canyon or Denny Bellew in Tahoka (12:30-5 pm)		Travel
	Wed	23-Sep	Pig Biology – Reproduction	5, 17	Q #3
	Fri	25-Sep	Breeding & Gestation Management	14, NPB	DVD
6	Mon	28-Sep	Records/PPSY
	Tue	29-Sep	Breeding sows & boar collection		ND
	Wed	30-Sep	Nursery & Grow-finish management	15, 19	Q #4
	Fri	2-Oct	Nursery & Grow-finish management	NPB	DVD
7	Mon	5-Oct	Farrow litters; no in-class meeting
	Tue	6-Oct	Farrow litters; no in-class meeting
	Wed	7-Oct	Farrow litters; no in-class meeting
	Fri	9-Oct	Farrow litters; no in-class meeting
8	Mon	12-Oct	Fall break -- no class
	Tue	13-Oct	Fall Break -- no class
	Wed	14-Oct	Joe Wolfe from Cargill	6	Q#5
	Fri	16-Oct	Hogzilla; feral pigs
9	Mon	19-Oct	Growth, Development and Survival	8
	Tue	20-Oct	Seaboard Foods presentation		ML
	Wed	21-Oct	Creating a comfortable microenvironment	13
	Fri	23-Oct	Ventilation & Management	NPB	DVD
10	Mon	26-Oct	Mid-term oral exam
	Tue	27-Oct	Ventilation controls & Transportation		ND
	Wed	28-Oct	Waste management	16	Q #6
	Fri	30-Oct	Pig Husbandry & Stockmanship Effective handling of pigs	NPB	DVD
11	Mon	2-Nov	Managing the breeding herd Farrowing Reports due	17	Q #7
	Tue	3-Nov	Record keeping systems & Farrowing Reports Discussion	ML	ML
	Wed	4-Nov	Managing sows and piglets	18
	Fri	6-Nov	Swine Caretaker	NPB	DVD
12	Mon	9-Nov	Managing sows and piglets		Q #8
	Tue	10-Nov	Swine nutrition laboratory & lecture		ND
	Wed	11-Nov	Management of growing pigs	19
	Fri	13-Nov	Swine disease recognition & treatment	NPB	DVD
13	Mon	16-Nov	Swine Diseases Dr. T Brooks	20	Q #9
	Tue	17-Nov	Assessing pig health – walking the pens, sow body condition scores, lameness evaluation & Euthanasia		ND
	Wed	18-Nov	Swine Diseases Dr. T. Brooks
	Fri	20-Nov	YouTube editing time	No class
14	Mon	23-Nov	YouTube editing time	No class
	Tue	24-Nov	Pork Production safety system	NPB	DVD
	Wed	25-Nov	Thanksgiving
	Fri	27-Nov	Thanksgiving
15	Mon	30-Nov	YouTube Presentations		Q#10
	Tue	1-Dec	Pig Necropsy @ Meat Lab		ML
	Wed	2-Dec	YouTube Presentations
	Fri	4-Dec	YouTube Presentations
16	Mon	7-Dec	Dr. Chance Brooks; Pork Quality	9
	Tue	8-Dec	Pork Sensory lab		ML
	Wed	9-Dec	Last class -- review
	Wed	14-Dec	7:30-10:00 am Optional Final Exam		AFS 223

Biosecurity Laboratory and Audit Development Project

Biosecurity is critical to commercial pork production. A biosecurity program keeps out diseases that may infect pigs or people. The biosecurity program also must work in concert with the worker health and safety program. People that work with pigs as their full time job must be careful to avoid contact with other pigs on other farms or in public venues (ex., fairs). In addition, we now know that people can catch zoonotic diseases that can infect the pigs (ex., SIV).

An audit is an objective tool to measure performance. In this case, students will develop a written audit instrument in EXCEL. The audit document must fit on one page and be legible. Use 12 point font or larger.

Include points for each item, and a total score of 100. Propose a % pass rate. Indicate if some audit points, if not met, are automatic failure.

To begin, view the NPB Biosecurity DVD. Take notes and capture the key components of a biosecurity on a farm. A blank form will be turned in with Quiz #1. The form will be graded, then students and the instructor will make adjustments as a group. When students farrow their sows, they will complete the biosecurity audit and turn it in with the farrowing report.

Keep in mind these factors in developing the biosecurity audit form:

We want to protect the pigs from

Incoming pigs’ diseases
Vermin (rodents, insects, birds)

We want to protect the people from zoonotic diseases
Sanitation and hygiene are important
Building structures are important
Standard operating procedures are important
Quarantine and disease prevention are critical
A herd health program is critical
Knowing what diseases are present and what we do not have on the farm is important
The form should be simple, clear, objective and 1 page

Blank Biosecurity Audit Form is to be handed in with Quiz #1

A completed Biosecurity Audit For is to be turned in with the Farrowing Report

Commonly Transmitted Porcine (Swine) Zoonoses

Disease	Causative Organism	Probable Means of Spread to Man	Prevention
Brucellosis	Brucella spp.	Swine body fluids; occupational exposure	Wear protective clothing and gloves when handling blood, tissue, urine, and aborted fetuses; avoid contact through cuts or breaks in the skin.
Campylobacterosis	Campylobacter spp.	Occupational exposure; fecal contamination; mainly food and water borne	Use good hygiene practices, handwashing, sanitation; wear protective clothing (gloves) when handling infected animals
Erysipeloid	Erysipelothrix Rhusiopathiae	Occupational and recreational exposure	Prevent skin wounds; wear protective clothing (gloves) while handling infected animals; cleanse skin wounds promptly with soap and water
Leptospirosis	Leptospira spp.	Occupational and recreational exposure to urine; waterborne	Use protective equipment (gloves), avoid skin or mucus membrane contact with urine, or moist soil or vegetation that may be contaminated with animal urine
Salmonellosis	Salmonella spp.	Fecal contamination; occupational exposure	Good sanitation, along with good personal hygiene, avoiding stress, and using salmonella free feed, is very important; thoroughly wash hands after animal contact
Yersiniosis	Yersinia spp.	Ingestion; recreational exposure	Use good hygienic practices, especially handwashing

Commonly Transmitted Porcine (Swine) Zoonoses

Leptospirosis