Needs and challenges of pre- and post-weaning piglets
The most challenging time in the life of a piglet is just after birth and around weaning. Through focused management and the right nutritional strategies, pre- and post-weaning mortality can be reduced, and performance optimised.
By Jacob Dall, technical & R&D manager, Vitfoss/ViloFoss I
n Denmark, creep feeding for many years has been considered ‘the evil stepchild’; something that was done, but at the same time the cost was kept at an absolute minimum. The philosophy was, that feeding the piglets pre-weaning did not affect mortality; the only purpose
of creep feeding was to stimulate the digestive tract to produce digestion enzymes in order to prepare for the transition into feeding with no or low milk content at weaning. However, this perception has been changing over recent years, helped by the large litters of Danish sows, and increasing challenges to keep an acceptable pre-weaning mortality rate.
The piglet must survive the first hours Birth weight is of significant importance for the survival of the piglets. Research shows that if birth weight is below 1 kg,
Feeding strategy for milk products
For optimal nutrition and growth in the farrowing unit, the piglets should be offered a milk product. This can be done by liquid milk products, in bowls or in continuous flowing cup systems. ViloFoss research has shown that even in products with a high content of lactobacillus, there is a significant growth of potentially pathogenic bacteria within a very short time after administering the milk in a bowl at farrowing room temperature. Dry alternatives such as the ViloFoss MilkCap offers a nutritional and hygienic way to supply high quality milk products to the piglets with minimum labour. As part of the MilkCap is heat treated wheat starch, it also offers a soft adapta- tion to start digesting vegetable products. When the piglets reach six days of age, an actual creep feed should be offered. This can be done in either dry or liquid form for quicker introduction. Due to hygiene, the liquid creep feed should be in bowls and with the same focus on hygiene like with the milk products.
14 PIGLETS - JULY/AUGUST 2016
mortality increases to 30-50%. With birth weight below 0.5 kg, mortality rate is as high as 70-100%. This can be partly explained by the fact that the time from birth to first colostrum intake increases and that the body temperature of the newborn pig decreases, if birth weight is below 1 kg. More well-known is the fact that a sufficient intake of colostrum is essential for the survival of a piglet. The literature describes 200-250 g of colos- trum per piglet as a sufficient amount, as more does not increase survival. Piglets are born with very low energy resources, which is why it is crucial that they do not get cold, and have an energy uptake as fast as possible. 24 hours after birth, piglets with no milk intake, but in a warm environment, still have 80% of the resources remaining, whereas piglets that are kept in a cold or wet environment only have 5% of the energy resources they were born with, left – hence a higher chance of dying due to cold/energy deficiency. With even smaller piglets, it turns out that some piglets are not able to utilise the energy resources from birth, as this mecha- nism depends on the hormone IGF1. The role of this hormone in these piglets seems impaired, not necessarily due to a lack of hormone, but due to less sensitivity to the hormone. This caus- es the piglets to reach a state of energy deficiency very fast. Supplying PigletSaver, an oral paste administered to weak pig- lets as soon as possible after birth and again 12 hours later, increases the sensitivity to IGF1 instead of supplying more energy as most other products do. This enables the piglets to fully utilise the energy resources already in the body, and allows the piglet to achieve a sufficient colostrum intake.
The transition to feed Once piglets have started suckling, they soon need to learn how to eat. They must be offered a feed that suits the develop- ment stage of the gastrointestinal tract, supplies nutritional composition, as well as being appealing, palatable and stimu- lates further feed intake. The piglets’ ability to produce digestive enzymes in the first weeks of life are somewhat different from later on. During the
PHOTO: JORIS TELDERS
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