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Sow feeding management
An essential part of any strategy to optimize sow reproductive performance, increase efficiency of feed usage and lower culling rate, is to control weight and backfat gain during gestation and weight and backfat loss in lactation. This is best achieved by individually feeding each sow a well balanced diet, and basing daily feed allowances according to an estimate of sow bodyweight and backfat thickness.
A well-designed feeding program can help meet operational goals for sow farm efficiency and profit by minimizing feed waste and maximizing sow productivity. An effective sow feeding program starts with breeding gilts within the right window of weight and feeding them according to recommendations during their first gestation. This can help maximize the number of sows in ideal condition at first farrowing.
Additionally, knowing and maintaining an ideal sow body condition score is a key strategic area for long-term success. The body condition of sows in the barn is closely related to the profitability of the sow farm because it impacts sow longevity and reproductive performance. Keeping sows in the ideal body condition – not too fat and not too thin – is essential. A successful feeding program includes recording data and linking body condition to feeding so you can correctly adjust each sow’s feed ration.
Dr. Lee Johnston (University of Minnesota) talked about ways of increasing piglet birth weight in a clip from this Swine It interview with host Márcio Gonçalves....
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Listen to Professor Bruno Silva from the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil to know more! This video is part of a series of short educational videos, lasting from 5 to 7 min, that help to better understand the feeding behavior of sows and ways to modulate it.
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A Longer Adaptation Period to a Functional Amino Acid-supplemented Diet Improves Growth Performance and Attenuates Acute-phase Response in Salmonella Typhimurium-challenged Pigs
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The use of feed flavors offers the opportunity to improve the lactation and voluntary feed intake of sows. Listen to Professor Bruno Silva from the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil to know more!
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Dr. Steve Pollman and Dr. Joe Crenshaw discuss how the performance of the entire system begins and ends with the sow. Learn the importance of using benchmark data to develop solutions that reduce variation and improve productivity in today's sow herd....
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WHAT OUR PRESENTERS DISCUSSED: Dr. Steve Pollmann Benchmarking Sow mortality Seasonal effects on sow productivity Parity effects on farrowing rate & litter size Sow farm impact on wean-to-finishing results Dr. Joe Crenshaw Results of adding plasma in transition sow feed Reduced stillborn pigs Improved oxidative...
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Introduction A successful gestation feeding program is one that yields a large, vigorous litter of pigs and a healthy sow equipped with adequate mammary development and body nutrient stores to produce large quantities of milk for the suckling litter. Variations in body size, productivity, and environmental conditions dictate different daily concentrations of nutrients to satisfy the sow’s requirement. Models have been developed for sow nutrient requirements in gestation...
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INTRODUCTION Sows in transition from gestation to lactation are in a period of dramatic physiological change due to high nutrient demands of rapidly growing fetuses in utero, parturition, and lactation. These physiological changes require coordinated hormonal, nutritional, and management transitions to optimize piglet viability and postnatal growth (Theil, 2015). Inadequate preparation for these massive physiological changes could lead to increased stillbirth rate,...
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Introduction The U.S. swine industry is facing a significant change in production practices regarding gestation sow housing. Many pork producers across the United States are shifting from housing gestating sows in individual stalls to a group housing system. This is driven by animal welfare concerns, state legislatures, and food companies’ demands. Electronic sow feeding (ESF) is one option for feeding gestating sows within a group housing system. Electronic sow...
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Introduction Lysine is the first limiting amino acid in corn-soybean meal-based swine diets. In order to maximize efficiency in all stages of production, the requirement of Lys needs to be determined. In lactation diets, nutrients need to be supplied to support both sow maintenance and litter growth. Inadequate nutrient intake during lactation can cause the sow to be catabolic and cause increased sow body protein mobilization. Previous research has suggested a linear correlation...
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1. Introduction In the wild, weaning in pigs is a long and progressive process that occurs between the 9th and 22nd week of age, allowing piglets a gradual transition from milk to solid foods [1]. In addition, social interactions with the mother and experienced conspecifics may allow for a smooth transition to adapt to post-weaning feeding patterns [2]. In contrast, early weaning practices common in commercial pig husbandry occurring around 21–28 days of age depict an...
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1. Introduction Meat consumers have shown an increasing interest in purchasing products from more sustainable production systems that are considered more respectful of the environment and of animal welfare [1,2]. Those systems reduce the use of agrochemicals and fossil fuels, encourage the rescue of local animal genetic resources, and contribute to the strengthening of local communities [3]. This reorientation promotes the creation and consolidation of niche markets. Niche pork...
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Originally published on KSU Swine Day, Volume 1, Issue 7 Introduction The proper vitamin and trace mineral supplementation required to optimize performance, but also minimize unnecessary cost, is an area of limited knowledge for production nutritionists. Most commercial diets are formulated well above NRC requirement estimates to maintain a margin of safety needed...
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A Longer Adaptation Period to a Functional Amino Acid-supplemented Diet Improves Growth Performance and Attenuates Acute-phase Response in Salmonella Typhimurium-challenged Pigs
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1. Introduction Conventional swine diets contain substantial amounts of cereal grains (e.g., corn and wheat) and protein supplements such as soybean meal to provide pigs with the energy and nutrients they require. However, recent trends in the demand and supply of these conventional feedstuffs require swine producers around the world to seek low-cost alternatives such as cereal co-products from the biofuel and milling industries to feed their pigs, in order to reduce feed costs...
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Guys, what your thoughts about the inclusion level of canola oil in lactation sow diet? ...
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INTRODUCTION Yeast derivatives (YD) are widely used in animal nutrition as natural additives. YD contain glucomannoproteins, betaglucans and nucleotides complex derived by acid hydrolysis of the cell wall of yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae. YD can bind and inhibit pathogen bacteria like Salmonella Spp, Clostridium Spp and E. Coli, therefore promoting growth of beneficial gut bacteria. YD have been also associated with positive immunostimulation at gut level in different species....
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The loss of baby pigs before weaning is an enormous waste of resources. Recent data from 49 Kentucky farrow-to-finish swine farms indicate that an average of 80 percent of pigs born alive survive to weaning. Most of these losses occur during the first 23 days following farrowing. Feed Quantity The survival rate of young pigs improves as birth weight increases. In addition, birth weights are partially dependent on the amount of feed consumed by the sow during gestation...
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Trevor Smith (University of Guelph) talked about contaminated feedstuffs and their impact on gestating sows and piglets, during IPPE 2019 in Atlanta, USA....
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Potassium diformate (KDF) is a specifically conjugated acid double-salt (HCOOH HCOOK), patented by ADDCON and traded as FORMI on the European and world-markets. Potassium diformate has been approved in the European Union as a non-antibiotic growth promoter for use in diets for piglets, growing-finishing pigs and in sows. It was also registered as the first replacement for in-feed antibiotics world-wide. This article series describes the effects of KDF fed to sows...
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Introduction Lactogenesis is induced hormonally by a dramatic drop of progesterone (P4) concentrations which leads to a pre-partum peak of prolactin (PRL). In sows, impaired production of colostrum has been found to be related to a delay in the decrease of P4 concentrations during the pre-partum period. We assumed that this condition might affect also the quality of colostrum (IgG concentration). Our aim was to investigate the relationship between abnormally high P4 levels...
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