How do you personally save more baby piglets? I think that some of us have some tricks that we can share to help our fellow Hog Producers, Service Representatives, and Veterinarians to aid those in the Farrowing Barns to save, and wean, more baby piglets. I personally came across a great article by Larry Coleman DVM titled “Piglet Comfort Zone Is Crucial To Piglet Survival”. In it I found six concepts that were new to me that were about helping to save more Farrowed Piglets. Let me share this new information with you:
(1) Piglets have about one hour to get enough nutrition before it is too late, and they start to get chilled.
(2) Piglets should have “Comfort Zones” on both sides of the sow so they won’t get chilled, despite the direction they travel after they are born.
(3) The “Comfort Zone” should have its center at the center of the sow’s udder.
(4) Heat Lamps and Solid Black Mats provide the best “Comfort Zone” of 90 degrees to 95 degrees F.
(5) Towel Drying the piglets after they are born allows the piglet to have the traction they need to attach to a teat.
(6) Heat Lamps should be used until the piglets are weaned. Would you be willing to share with the rest of us, what tricks serve you well in the Farrowing Barn?
Comfort-Creep area and sow management during farrrowing is critical. Most important is to have an SOP for Day One care (or I refer to it as the birthing process). Below is the outline of the SOP I recommend:
The Objective: warm each piglet immediately and ensure adequate colostrum intake within 12 hours after they are born.
1. Prior to farrowing or after initial piglets are born record the 'teat count' with the number of functional teats with 2 functional glands in each teat on each mammary. The sow can not raise more piglets than the teat count.of the sow. This is important to know how many pigs can be placed - cross fostered on the sow.
2. Dry off each piglet with paper towels as sound as possible after being born
3. Clip the navel according to the farm protocol -and spray the tip of the clipped navel with Iodine
4. Sprinkle the piglet with Mistral powder and then place the piglet in a warming basket under a heat lamp for 5-15 minutes until they are warmed and strong enough to suckle (the time required is dependant on the strength of the piglet born)
5. Place the piglets on the sow
6. Record the times of when piglets are farrowed, most importatntly note the time of when the 1st piglet is born and when the sow has passed and cleared her placenta
7. Ensure Colostrum Intake for each piglet: After the farrowing is complete - do split suckling as soon as possible (within 24 hours) by placing half the piglets in a warming basket for at least one hour. Then place the other half the litter on the sow for 1 hour. Record the times In & Out on the Sow Card.
These steps will ensure that each piglet has the best opportunity to survive and thrive.
The Objective: warm each piglet immediately and ensure adequate colostrum intake within 12 hours after they are born.
These are the SOPs that I implement on large scale farms 4800 sows+
Lee Hartmann - technical consultant
i fully agree with john about the importance for piglets management, meanwhile, you also can adopt the following strategy for the nutrition management so that you have better sows fertility as well as more healthy piglets with better DWG: to use xtract6930 in sow feed by 100g/t feed from sow gestation 90 days until piglets weaning, then add Taktik X-IN into piglets feed with 100-150g/t feed from piglets weaning to 60kg body weight. It will be worthwhile for this investment, please try it.
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