FEED FOR THOUGHT ▶▶▶ Functional nutrition opportunities A
s many of my avid followers know, my son Arthur was born prema- ture (29.5 weeks of gestation) and has faced early health challenges and developmental delays. Now he is at kindergarten, and we are facing other behavioural and transitionary challenges. Traditional
medicine wants me to use an off-label generic blood pressure medicine to con- trol his “mood swings”, but my training has sent me down the path of functional nutrition and implementing concepts like the Feingold diet. But what does this have to do with swine nutrition? There are some key ele- ments that we have yet to implement or only inconsistently incorporate into our nutritional programmes: 1. Comprehensive understanding of the medical, nutritional and biological history of the animal 2. Consistent and continuous nutritional and biological monitoring. There is mounting evidence in the scientific literature that an individual’s me- tabolomics are influenced as far back as their grandparents’ nutritional and/or medical history. Yet we may alter the feed budget for a weaned pig based on average wean weight, for example, as we are primarily concerned with filling the delivery truck. There is even mounting evidence to support higher levels of soybean meal in weaned pig diets under a disease challenge, such as Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome, but when we hit “optimise” in our formulation systems, it spits out the cheapest diet. Let’s take it a step further. We consistently monitor oral fluids, blood and/or necropsies for disease, but I am unaware of anyone monitoring nutrient levels in their animals except in the case of mulberry heart disease or broken bones. We could also combine the silos of data we have from production, the feed mill and veterinarian diagnostics to create a functional nutrition picture for the swine industry. Genetics has been able to improve the number of piglets born alive, average dai- ly gain and feed conversion ratio within our herds but has not been able to touch mortality. We can get more pigs out of a sow, but I doubt we are getting many more pigs to market. A system with 28 pigs/sow/year (PSY) with 5% wean- to-market mortality is putting just about the same number of animals on the rail as a system with 30 PSY and 10% wean-to-market mortality. But the industry seems to have become comfortable with losing 20–30% of its pigs over the production cycle. Furthermore, the future seems just around the corner for the use of artifical intelligence and tech- nology in the barns that include sensors, cameras and cool employ- ee optimisation apps. But we are limited to handheld near infra-red spectrometers (NIRs) and in-line NIRs in nutrition today. To truly make functional nutritional programmes for our swine herds, it is going to take all parties to share data and discuss the path forward. Are you ready to join me in revolutionising how we think of nutrition and health today for the swine industry? Or will you stay in the camp and prescribe Arthur the generic off-label blood pressure medicine that could have multigenerational impacts?
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 Sun- swine Group.
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