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14 views3 pages

Ex 9

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for.unimportant.logs
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Zootechnics 51

Exercise 9
INTRODUCTION TO CURRENT ANIMAL PRODUCTION SYSTEMS II: RECORDS, PARAMETERS AND
BENCHMARKING

It takes Dimple the pig 100 kilos of feed to blossom from a weanling piglet to a 30-kilogram nursery
pig.

If Dimple would cost about 3500 pesos in her current state, and feed would cost 40 pesos a kilo,
would you say that she is an efficient pig?

There is a persistent anecdote that says doctors became doctors (or veterinarians) because they
were not good in math. Well, as it turns out, math is very important in the modern animal
husbandry world, especially in the food animal business. Here everything that an animal can do,
and how well it does it, is measured in numbers.

How much food Dimple eats in a day, and how much weight she gains daily, is called a record. It is
records which make the bulk of the paperwork on the farm, everything your animal does must be
religiously recorded-how much it gained weight, when was an animal bred, how many hens out of
your whole population have laid in a day, and so on. Records are tedious, but they are very
important; in dimple’s case, it allows you to calculate, based on above data, how much feed she
needs to gain a kilo of weight. This measure of output shows how well Dimple grows…being a
market hog it is her primary parameter.

A parameter, in food animal parlance, is a measurement of performance. It can be monitored to


know how well your animal performs. It can tell you anything from how well an animal gains weight,
or how well it can produce your needed output. Of course it differs from animal to animal for
example:
● Milk yield measures daily output of milk for a given dairy cow;
● Laying capacity measures how many of layer hens (out of the whole population) are laying
eggs at any given day;
● Piglets per sow per year (abbreviated as PSY) measures how many piglets are weaned from
your sow each year (about 2.2 – 2.5 farrowing cycles).

Most of these parameters are solved using records from your farm, that’s why diligent input (feed,
supplementation, breeding schedules, etc.) and output (eggs per day, piglets farrowed, daily gain)
recording is very important if you want accurate parameters. Accurate parameters, collectively, then
dictate how well your farm performs.
Aside from determining farm performance, records also give us an idea on the health status of the
farm. Remember that a good farm must not just have healthy animals, they must also perform at
their peak. A farm owner always assumes that only the healthiest animals perform at their peak;
therefore, any reduction on their parameters equates to impaired health.

Objectives:
After this exercise the students are expected to:
1. Know the significance of parameters and bench marking in modern food animal production.
2. Know the different parameters for different animal species and management systems
3. Understand the influence benchmarking plays in the modern animal farm setting.

Source of Data and Materials:


University Livestock and Poultry Projects
Internet, print media, books, journals
Laptop

What to do:
Activity 1:
● The students shall be divided with the same grouping and assignment in the previous
exercise. The students will research the parameters for their assigned practice and prepare
a short report (handwritten and powerpoint) to be presented next meeting. Take note of
the reproductive, feeding and production parameters.

Activity 2:
● The groups shall present their assigned farms with each member assuming expertise on the
reproductive, feeding and production parameters. Panel of experts will then be formed
based on their expertise and briefly discuss in the class the similarities and differences of
the parameters amongst the production systems they were assigned to

Guide questions:
1. Define the following terms:
a) Average daily gain

b) Feed efficiency

c) Backfat thickness

d) Wean to service interval

e) Conception rate

f) Mortality

g) Liveability

h) BCS

i) Volume of production

j) Net profit
2. Why is it important to maintain our farms at the highest performing standards?
3. Cite two examples where a given benchmark does not apply for a specific practice.
4. How can the maintenance of parameters benefit a.) The farmer; and b.) The consumer?

Activity 2:
● Create a conceptual framework or tree of the paths of products in dairy processing from
milk to milk products to products with milk.
● Describe 12 processed milk products (processing, storage, uses, etc) and provide an
original picture (may be packaged brands). 2 x 3; 3 pictures per page.

Guide questions:
1. Define the following terms:
a. Curd

b. Casein

c. Whey

d. Butterfat

e. Mastitis

f. CMT

g. Milking parlor

h. Pasteurization

i. Creaming

j. Homogenization

1. Cite examples of the direct and indirect prospects of Dairying.


2. Describe the current dairy situation in the country.

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