Phileo launches the “Program Neonate” dedicated to the management of modern sows and their piglets.

The objective is two-fold: to increase the productivity of sows throughout their lives, and to improve the quality of their piglets.

Managing the productive life of the sow is a key factor in the profitability of the modern pig farm. Faced with continual developments in genetics, the market and farm management techniques, farmers must adapt and find new solutions to improve profitability. Phileo Lesaffre Animal Care has designed and developed this innovative programme in collaboration with experts in pig production. Among them is the veterinarian Vincent Dedet, who presented the challenges faced by today's farmers at the SPACE symposium (“For modern sows, modern piglets: what are the new tools to improve productivity?“).

Phileo’s brand new “Program Neonate®” "covers the three stages in the life of a piglet: the first two thirds of gestation, end of gestation and lactation," explains Géraldine Kuhn, EMEA Swine Business Chain Manager for Phileo in Europe. "It is an additional tool at the disposal of overall farm management in breeding units". Consistent with the Phileo strategy, the three solutions proposed under the programme are innovative and help to improve animals' health and performance: the reference probiotic Actisaf®, the premium yeast fraction Safmannan®, and the natural source of organic selenium Selsaf®.

The main objective of the “Program Neonate®” is to provide farmers with an effective response tailored to their needs. Following a detailed farm analysis and once the challenges have been identified, the technician, nutritionist and vet can recommend a special customised programme. On a case-by-case basis, the “Program Neonate®” suggests tailored solutions (see box on page 3) for each stage of piglet production. “The basic protocol comprises Actisaf® solution with targeted benefits based on the three stages of the cycle, supplemented if necessary by the action of Selsaf® and/or Safmannan® depending on the specific challenges facing each farmer,“ explains Géraldine Kuhn.

With its new “Program Neonate®”, Phileo delivers not only innovative, tested solutions, but also its expertise resulting from over ten years of research into pig health and nutrition. Specific tools have been developed for the different experts in the sector. "We have written a Technical Guide on optimising sow and piglet management, intended for vets and nutritionists," explains Anne Desmons, Global Product Manager at Phileo. "In the field, technicians use Phileo data sheets to present to farmers, depending on their individual situation, the results of the trials carried out as part of the programme. We have also developed a multilingual “Program Neonate®“ application which farmers can use to measure the economic efficiency of the programme and its impact on the farm's productivity indicators“.

The “Program Neonate®” is intended to provide farmers with modern methods for improving the farm's technical performance (litter size, weight of weaned piglets). What makes this programme unique is its long-term approach, extending beyond the first production cycle. The trial results* show that using the solutions continuously has a positive, cumulative effect on productivity. Specific examples on-farm include an improvement in litter weight at birth, rising from 1 kg in the first cycle to over 1.4 kg in the second. Similarly, the litter weight at weaning is also improved, with a three-fold increase between the first (+3 kg) and second cycle (+10 kg), equivalent to an additional piglet per litter for the Actisaf® sows compared with the control batch. In summary, the performance improvements increase with each cycle. “The major advantage of the new 'Neonate Programme®' is that it supports pig industry participants in the long term by helping them to optimise the sows' productivity throughout their lives,“ concludes Gildas Joalland, Global Marketing Manager at Phileo.

* Comparative experimental trial conducted on 71 sows (33 control sows, 38 Actisaf® sows) on an 800-sow farm sows in Northern Greece.