Delayed weaning better for piglet welfare


More piglets per sow yields more income. This has been the trend for years and the simplest way to achieve it is to wean the piglets sooner rather than later. Piglets can be weaned at 21 days with specially designed piglet breeding spaces. Early weaning was the method of choice before animal welfare and reduction of antibiotics became more important. This is about to change.


BY JUDITH WANINGE, FREELANCE EDITOR, BOERDERIJ T


he early weaning trend is losing ground to the trend of delayed weaning at around 5 weeks, or 35 days. However, delayed weaning can have a mental impact on the top performing farmer because the


technical results drop. When the litter index decreases with 0,20 and the number of weaned pigs per sow decreases by 2, it may leave the farmer feeling rather deflated. With constantly chasing optimum performance, every momentary dip at the farm may feel like failure, a sow farmer also needs


Pros and cons of delayed weaning


Pros • improvement of the piglet’s and finisher’s welfare • less unwanted behaviour in piglet and finisher • less use of antibiotics • delayed weaning yields more vital piglets • less space needed for breeding piglets • less rounds in the finisher barn


Cons • litter index decreases • keeping less sows, without investing in barn space • technical results go down, which has a negative mental impact on the sow farmer


• relatively more farrowing pens needed • yield of sow farm is put under pressure


Weaning later and more space after weaning gives better results in piglet rearing and fattening.


▶ WEANING | JUNE 2020 27


to be able to defend himself to other farmers and to the bank as well.


Using antibiotics The public debate about pig mortality and the use of antibi- otics accelerates the need for change. One part that has a positive influence on all of this is the weaning age. Research has shown that delayed weaning reduces stress and leads to more resilient piglets. The average weaning age in Scandina- vian countries is 35 days and they boast the lowest use of an- tibiotics in Europe. However, Dutch research carried out by Wageningen Livestock Research shows that piglets that are weaned later, at 7 or 9 weeks, show less unwanted behaviour, such as tail biting, ear sucking and flank biting.


PHOTO: HANS BANUS


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