Three commercial swine farms with side-by-side 1100- head finishing units were fed two diets with varying protein levels. Odor threshold, ammonia and hydrogen sulfide were collected from the pit fans. The high protein (HP) treatment averaged 1420 odor units compared to 1035 odor units for the low protein (LP) treatment, reducing odor by 27% (P= 0.02). Reduction in H2S concentration was not significant, averaging 0.92 ppm and 0.59 ppm for the HP and LP treatments, respectively (P = 0.09). Concentrations of NH3 were 12.3 ppm and 9.1 ppm for the HP and LP treatments, respectively (P =0.10). Seasonal differences in H2S (P= 0.002) and NH3 (P=0.05) were indicated but the cause of this difference was not diet related and could be due to a number of seasonally-related operation attributes. This study demonstrates that dietary manipulation by addition of synthetic amino acids replacing soybean meal is a method pork producers can use to decrease the odor intensity of their pork production site.

Number of treatments for bovine respiratory disease (BRD) has significant consequences on economically important performance and carcass traits over the feedlot phase. In addition, it appears that genetics play an important role in the resistance to respiratory disease in Angus cattle.

The pork production industry is moving toward payment methods that are based on pork quality. To do so creates the need for collecting pork quality measurements. It is typically not cost effective to take pork quality measurements on all pork carcasses to determine quality payments for a pork producer. To determine a cost effective prediction of a pork quality grade for a producer it is necessary to know how many samples should be taken. Information is presented for the percent of pigs which will need to be tested for a 90 percent confidence level. These vary by pork quality measurement. It ranged from 10 percent for color to 62 percent for drip loss. The projected cost of obtaining a pH measurement on 2,000 hogs per week was $0.057 per hog.

iets containing on a dry basis 0, 24.9 and 47.0 percent modified wet distillers grains (DGS) for 186 days. Wet DGS replaced a portion of corn and supplement in a diet containing dry rolled corn, corn silage, tub-ground corn stalks and supplement. Steers were implanted initially with Component E-S and terminally with Component TE-S. Daily gains were not statistically different among diets. Steers fed 47% DGS consumed less feed and tended to be more efficient. There were no statistically significant differences in carcass weight, backfat, ribeye area, marbling score or yield grade, however feeding 47% DGS decreased the percent of carcasses grading USDA Choice from 83 to 72 and the percent of carcasses meeting Certified Angus Beef standards from 19 to 12. Establishing the value of each carcass using a grid pricing structure indicated the average carcass values of steers fed 24.9% or 47% DGS were respectively $7 more than or $38 less than the carcasses from the control steers. With price of DGS at 1.0, 0.75 and 0.50 times the cost of corn on a dry basis feed costs ($/steer) were 181, 165 & 151 (corn, $2/bu) and 246, 237 & 218 (corn $3/bu) for 0, 24.9 and 47.0% DGS, respectively with DGS priced equal to corn; 181, 155 & 134 and 246, 222 & 192 with DGS priced 0.75 times the price of corn and 181, 146 & 117 and 246, 208 & 166 with DGS priced 0.50 times the price of corn. This analysis indicated that high levels of wet DGS should not be fed when DGS is priced equal to corn, but the high levels can be fed at all prices of corn when the DGS is priced at 75% or less than the price of corn.

Carcass data from more than 38 thousand cattle was used to compare the called and measured yield grade in two different periods: before and after the slaughter plant incorporated another grader in the line to improve grading accuracy. The study shows that the graders accuracy significantly increased. The higher accuracy effected all yield grades, but most notably resulted in more called yield grade 4 and 5 carcasses. This analysis may be a forecast of the impact of instrument grading that will be more accurate than previously called grades.