Feeding pigs is the single most expensive aspect of pork production
accounting for as much as 70% of total costs. Surprisingly, at least 50% of
these feed costs can be attributed to providing energy to the animal, thus
making energy financially the most important nutrient. As such, it seems
logical to investigate the energy systems used to best meet the energy needs
of the animal. Similar advancements for other nutrients, including protein,
have previously been explored and are now largely accepted in North
America. For example, many nutritionists have accepted and are formulating
diets on the basis of standardized ileal digestible amino acids and the ideal
protein concept. However, for energy, many North American nutritionists
continue to formulate diets using digestible or metabolizable energy systems
(DE or ME) as opposed to more advanced systems, such as net energy (NE).
Potential reasons why have been previously discussed by Patience et al.
(2004) and Patience and Beaulieu (2005), and some of the reasons include:
• energy is a much more complex nutrient than others as it is derived from
numerous dietary sources,
• there is a lack of data about the energy contents of specific feed
ingredients used in North America,
• there is a lack of research data to support the use of advanced energy
systems, or
• simply having comfort in using DE or ME systems.
Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify the benefits of using an NE
system, and then to provide an outline for implementing NE into commercial
production