Investing in a pig’s early life pays off
Early life nutrition influences the overall performance of a pig, with the results being seen in the grower/ finisher phases. Investing in early life quality nutrition will translate into positive economic results and a better health status of the animals.
By Michiel Vandaele, Trouw Nutrition Benelux and István Bessenyei, Trouw Nutrition Global Marketing
O LIfeStart Mikiwean Babymilk Days 1 Milkiwean Precoce 14 21 weaning Control Milkiwean Precoce Days 2 21 Pre-starter 25 Starter 35 42 Pre-starter 25 Starter 40 42 20 PIGLETS - JULY/AUGUST 2016
ffering a milk replacer next to a sow’s milk in the first two weeks after birth and investing in a premium pre-starter diet around weaning (such as the LifeStart programme) provides short, middle and long term benefits; heavier
finisher pigs, more homogeneous batches and economic gains by investing in early life. Light weight piglets benefit the most from this nutritional strategy, as recent trials have shown. Sow prolificacy has improved over the past years, which has led to an increase in litter size and a higher variation in weight. Alongside the increase in litter size, there has also been an increase in the number of light weight piglets. These light weight piglets pose an economic disadvantage to the
Figure 1 - Trial setup and interventions in early life.
farmer, due to their higher risk for diseases and mortality. Nutrition and management in early life steer the within-batch homogeneity, the growth and survival rate in the nursery phase and overall performance. The rapid advancement in sow prolificacy prompts a change in the philosophy on how to raise pigs. The idea of using supplementary feeding in early life for ‘problematic’ litters but not for the complete groups deserves a review when aiming for profitability in this changing swine market.
Benefits under field conditions Previous trials have demonstrated the long term economic benefit for the farmer of providing piglets with a LifeStart com- pared to standard practice. The next step is to demonstrate the benefits of investing in early life under field conditions, in dif- ferent parts of the world, to highlight the importance of early life and how investing in the first six weeks of a piglet’s life is of substantial benefit. In this study, the benefits of a LifeStart programme under field conditions in Belgium were investigated. The trial set-up as detailed in Figure 1, followed 50 litters (Danbred x PIC 408) from birth up to slaughter. Half of the litters were provided
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