Secrets of successful piglet feeding after weaning.

Secrets of successful piglet feeding after weaning.Feeding piglets after weaning remains a challenge for most producers, whereas buying the best possible feed is merely the first step. Post-weaning feed intake has always been rather low compared to genetic potential for growth in early-weaned pigs. This costly problem is attributed mainly to early weaning at 3 weeks, as opposed to natural weaning at about 8 weeks of age. Under most commercial conditions, weaned pigs invariably experience some degree of appetite depression. This increases production cost and reduces growth performance through the finishing stage, affecting profitability in a negative way. It is not uncommon for pigs to starve for as long as 3 to 5 days after weaning, whereas others may start eating a few minutes after placement in the nursery building. Research has repeatedly demonstrated that low feed intakes during the early post-weaning period severely limit future growth potential, increase temperature and management requirements, intensify morbidity and mortality, and reduce turn over of facilities. The following generic rule may be applied to understand this issue: For every 100 grams of extra feed intake per day during the first week post-weaning, body weight increases by at least 2 kilograms at the end of the fourth week post-weaning. All or some of the following are used successfully in profitable operations: 1) Management. This may be rather obvious, but it cannot be overemphasized how important hygiene and management are in creating an environment for maximal post-weaning performance. Increased bio security, an aggressive farm-specific disease prevention program, improved pig/human flow and continuous staff training are essential parts of a professional nursery site. Well-trained managers are the most valuable and sometimes the hardest-to-find assets. 2) Diet digestibility. Feed intake generally increases with improving digestibility of the diet. This is a well-known fact, and it is the main reason why most piglet diets are fortified with cooked cereals, milk proteins, fish meal and simple sugars like lactose and sucrose. Although such diets are more expensive than simple diets (based on maize and soybean), the benefits are tremendous in terms of improved performance and health during the whole grow-out period. Ingredients of poor digestibility pass rather intact along the gastrointestinal tract to the large intestine where they promote bacterial proliferation that invariably leads to diarrhea.