Figure 1 - Piglet weight distribution.
300 350 400 450 500
100 150 200 250
50 0 3.6400 4.6967 5.7533 6.8100 Weight (kg) Figure 2 - Within-litter weaning weight distribution.
The sow is incredibly sensitive to taste and it has been pro- posed that diet palatability can have a positive influence on feed intake. To investigate this, a trial was conducted using hyperprolific sows assigned to 2 treatments, (T1) a control diet and (T2) the control diet with 500g of an appetite stimu- lant added (Krave AP), with 100 sows per treatment. Litter size was standardised to 15 piglets by cross fostering within 48 hours after farrowing. Pigs were weaned at 23 days and no creep feed was offered. Results of sow performance are shown in Table 1. The signifi- cant increase in feed intake for the sows receiving the appetite stimulant led to greater milk production whilst allowing the sows to maintain body weight and backfat thickness at wean- ing. Weaning to oestrus interval was found to be the same as the control group indicating that this increase in milk produc- tion was not at the expense of body condition. Piglets from the sows receiving the appetite stimulant had sig- nificantly higher average weaning weights than the control groups and weight distribution for all piglets (Figure 1). The ef- fect of the treatment on weaning weight variation within litters is shown in Figure 2 and was dramatic with 90% of piglets weighing over 6kg at weaning for the appetite stimulant group compared with 41% of piglets in the control group.
Conclusion Adding Krave AP to the diet of lactating sows improved litter liveweight and uniformity at weaning, whilst maintaining sow body condition. Weaning weight has a significant influence on the subsequent performance and the efficiency of the growing pig. Maintaining body condition at weaning can have a positive influence on sow reproductive
60%
Piglet Weight: <4.00 kg
<4.01 - 5.00 kg <5.01 - 6.00 kg
50%
<6.01 - 7.00 kg <7.01 kg
58.71% 7.8667 8.9233 9.9800 Control krave 500 g/t avg: 7.31kg avg: 5.89kg
42.47% 40%
31.64% 30% 28.19%
20% 14.80% 12.76% 10% 8.53%
1.79% 0% Control 0.12%
0.99% 500 krave
performance and longevity. All of which are factors that contribute to a productive and profitable pig unit and are benefited by the simple addition of Krave AP to lactation feed.
References are available upon request ▶ WEANING | JUNE 2020 35
% Piglets
No of obs
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