FEED FOR THOUGHT ▶▶▶
A mother’s view on piglets R
ecently, I celebrated my fourth Mother’s Day and cannot be- lieve my son Arthur will be turning 5 in July. You may or may not know my motherhood story. During the end of my sec- ond trimester I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia and hospi-
talised. Arthur was born at 27.5 weeks of gestation and, like his mother, he has been quite resilient and now is thriving. I wanted to write this piece in honour of all the mothers in the world and especially the ones in the swine industry. We each have our own stories and our own chal- lenges. I postponed motherhood for my career, but at the same time there is so much I have learned as a mother that makes me a better professional, with the biggest trait being empathy. But as a nutritionist, my journey has also made me reconsider the op- portunities we have not yet discovered in maternal and neonatal nutri- tion for pigs. For starters, we know that low birth weight pigs have a lower survivability and are not optimal performers. But I challenge us to question this reality: “Is that because of predetermined factors or missed interventions via the sow or piglet?” As more research is done from birth to slaughter, we are also realising that changes made to the sow or the piglet early in life can have lasting effects, either positive or negative, later in life. • Pigs tend to have underdeveloped lungs. If we developed boxes for low birth weight pigs and a way to deliver surfactants to our chal- lenged pigs, would we greatly reduce their mortality?
• Caloric consumption was a main nutritional focus of the [neonatal in- tensive care unit] NICU staff for all neonates once they could consume and process milk. Regardless of maternal milk or milk supplement, most babies received an extra 100 calories per feeding. With milk crates, boxes, etc., could we create a more energy-enriched sup- plement for at-risk pigs and a system designed for them, not for a pig three to five times their size?
• Gestational age versus birth date. Many mothers celebrate one month, two months, etc. But as a NICU mother you are trained to think differently and cannot track your baby’s mile- stones on the same scale as for a full-term baby. For the low birth weight pigs that survive, are we putting them on a growth curve that is incorrect? Not every pig is average, thus we need to develop better systems to manage them to their curve, rather than the average.
For those that have kept up with my columns, thank you. You can see that my perceptions and ambitions have changed based on my reflections as a NICU mother and I challenge you to do the same. How can you create something better for our industry? To my fellow mothers, thank you and remember that I will continue to support you as professionals in the swine industry.
34 ▶PIG PROGRESS | Volume 36, No. 5, 2020
Casey Bradley For Casey Bradley, growing up on a mixed swine and crop farm in Southwest Michigan eventually led to a successful career in swine nutrition. She currently spends her days as president of the Sunswine Group.
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