Agricultural fairs provide one of the last frontiers, and largest stages, for showcasing livestock agriculture to the public. However, public funding, attendance revenue, animal biosecurity, and public health concerns are all aspects worthy of conversation and increased research attention given the interaction between livestock animals and the general public in fair and festival settings. A prominent social media listening and data analytics platform was used to quantify online and social media chatter concerning agricultural fairs during a 27-month period. A general search for online media referencing agricultural fair keywords was designed; social and online media mentions of agricultural fairs (n=2,091,350 mentions) were further queried according to their reference to livestock, fair food, or the major agricultural product producing species of dairy and beef cattle (n=68,900), poultry (n=39,600), and swine (n=31,250). Numbers of search results were found to be seasonal and Twitter was the single largest domain for all fair-related results; in contrast, the majority of livestock-related media was generated by news sources rather than from Twitter. On a weekly basis, the percentage of fair livestock mentions with specie specific reference was highly variable ranging from 0-86.8% for cattle, 0-85.7% for poultry, and 0-76.9% for swine. In addition to quantifying total search hits or mentions, the positivity/negativity of the search results were analyzed using natural language processing capabilities. The net sentiment quantified is the total percent of positive posts less the percent of negative posts, which results in a necessarily bounded net sentiment between -100% and +100%. Overall net sentiment associated with mentions of agricultural fairs was positive; the topics garnering the highest positive sentiment were fair food and cattle (both 98% positive). Online discussion pertaining to agricultural fairs and swine was overall positive despite references to swine flu outbreaks. In conclusion, livestock and animal products had positive net sentiment over the time period studied, but there are multiple aspects of agricultural fairs worthy of further investigation and continued vigilance, including zoonotic disease risk and public perceptions of livestock industries.

The current experiment was conducted to determine if the dosage or timing of exposure to diets containing high deoxynivalenol (DON), a mycotoxin in a variety of feed ingredients, causes performance loss in nursery pigs. In total, 448 mixed-sex nursery pigs [initial BW = 6.18 ± 0.97 kg] weaned at 21 ± 1 d were allotted to 112 pens, with 4 pigs per pen, in a randomized complete block design. In a 3 x 2 + 1 factorial arrangement of treatments, diets with DON were fed continuously (CONT), at weeks 1 and 3 (WK13), and weeks 2 and 4 (WK24), targeting DON at 1.25 ppm fed (MED), or 2.5 ppm (HIGH), plus the positive control (CONTLOW) for 28 d. All pigs were fed a common, low DON diet from d 28 to 42 to complete the nursery phase. Pen weight and feed intake were measured on d 28 and 42 to calculate ADG and ADFI. Regardless of timing, d 28 BW decreased (P < 0.01) with feeding MED or HIGH diets compared with CONTLOW and markedly decreased (1.57 kg) in the HIGH. This was a response to the decreased ADG (P < 0.01) and ADFI (P < 0.01) from d 0 – 28 in MED or HIGH compared with CONTLOW and with HIGH compared with MED. Similarly, on d 42, performance metrics - BW (P < 0.01), ADG (P < 0.01), and ADFI (P < 0.01) were decreased in MED or HIGH compared with CONTLOW, with a 1.95 kg. decrease in BW in the HIGH compared with CONTLOW. A dose-response to DON was evident whereas, timing of exposure did not affect the performance metrics measured on d 28 or 42. Ultimately, exposure of nursery pigs to levels of DON over 1 ppm results in loss of performance, regardless of exposure timing.

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A total of 2,164 pigs [DNA610 x DNA241; initially 100.7 ± 2.14 kg body weight (BW)] were used in a 54.1 ± 3.85-day study to determine dietary strategies to limit average daily gain (ADG) in late finishing pigs raised in a commercial environment. Mixed-sex pens (20.0 ± 0.85 pigs/pen) balanced by initial BW and gender ratio were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 dietary treatments fed ad libitum with 27 replications each: (1) Nutritionally replete corn soybean-meal control (CTRL), (2) Treatment 1 with 21% reduced lysine and other amino acids (AAR), (3) Corn/vitamin/mineral diet (CVM), and (4) Treatment 3 fed for 21 days then switched to CTRL. Data were analyzed as a randomized complete block design using a linear mixed model. Relative to CTRL, feeding AAR or CVM for 21 days reduced ADG (P < 0.001), average daily feed intake (ADFI; P = 0.005), and gain-to-feed (G:F, P < 0.001). Over 55-days, AAR and CVM diets reduced (P < 0.001) cumulative ADG, ADFI, G:F, and final BW compared to CTRL. Transitioning to CTRL diet from CVM diet after 21-days increased ADG (P < 0.001) and improved G:F (P < 0.001) from day 21 to marketing compared to 55-day CTRL, AAR, and CVM; nevertheless, the compensatory CTRL period was insufficient for the 21-day CVM fed pigs to fully compensate resulting in reduced cumulative BW, ADG (P < 0.001) and poorer G:F (P < 0.001) than the 55-day CTRL. All holding strategies decreased (P < 0.001) carcass yield, hot carcass weight (HCW), and loin depth compared to CTRL. Utilizing a CVM diet for 21 or 55 days increased (P < 0.001) backfat compared to CTRL or AAR. In summary, utilizing lysine deficient or corn/vitamin/mineral diets can limit ADG along with poorer G:F. Transitioning to a non-holding diet after feeding a corn/vitamin/mineral diet for 21-days resulted in compensatory gain, but reductions in growth performance and carcass traits remained evident.

A total of 606 sows (PIC 1050) and their progeny (PIC 1050 ×280) were used to determine if feeding gestating and lactating sows a proprietary strain of Pichia guilliermondii as a whole-cell inactivated yeast product (WCY; CitriStim, ADM Animal Nutrition, Quincy, IL) improves sow and litter performance in a commercial production system. Once confirmed pregnant at d 35 post-breeding pregnancy check, sows were fed a basal gestation control (CON) diet (0.55% SID lysine) or the control diet fortified with 0.15% of the WCY replacing corn in the CON diet. Dietary treatments were also fed in lactation (1.05% SID lysine) once sows were moved into farrowing crates on approximately d 112 of gestation until weaning. Sows supplemented with WCY in gestation and lactation had increased total born piglets by 0.45 pigs (P < 0.04), piglets born alive (14.27 vs. 13.85; P < 0.04), and, therefore, heavier born alive litter weights (P < 0.001) compared to CON fed sows. A greater post cross-foster litter size (P < 0.001) meant that litter size at weaning was increased by 0.54 pigs when sows were fed WCY compared to CON (P < 0.001). However, litter weaning weights and 21-d adjusted litter weaning weights were similar (P > 0.158), although numerically greater, for WCY fed sows. Pigs from CON fed sows were 0.35 kg heavier at weaning compared to pigs from WCY fed sows (P < 0.001). This increase in weaning weight of pigs from CON fed sows is partially explained by their 0.93 d longer lactation (P < 0.001) and may also be due to the smaller litter size throughout lactation. The percent of litters treated for scours decreased from 38.3 to 14.2% when sows were fed WCY (P < 0.001). The distribution of birth and weaning weights was not impacted (P > 0.2461) by treatment. In conclusion, feeding gestating and lactating sows a proprietary strain of Pichia guilliermondii as a whole-cell inactivated yeast product increased the number of pigs born and weaned, and decreased the prevalence of scours during lactation.