FERMENTED FEEDING IN PIGS FOR INTESTINAL HEALTH.

Liquid feed is a great way to ferment protein-rich, home-grown fodder such as rape seed oil meal, peas and field beans or recycle liquid co-products from the human food industry into pig feed. Liquid feed for pigs comes into two varieties. Non-fermented and fermented. Non-fermented is mainly used and is simply a matter of mixing the cereals or complete feed with water and minerals. It takes around 2-4 minutes of mixing time (sometimes up to an hour). The fermented version takes much longer to prepare, a few hours to 6-12 hours on average. The latter is of particular interest as it is known for its positive effect on intestinal health and Salmonella control. Especially in line with the pressure on using antibiotics to treat digestive disorders in pigs and the tight margins in the pig industry, fermented liquid feed is gaining interest. Denmark has been a large user of fermented feed, mainly to control Salmonella as part of their strict national control plan for Salmonella reduction in the Danish food chain. However, the use of fermented feed is not the way to go for all pig farms, It really depends on the type of farm and whether critical points can be met to make this type of feeding a successful one. Since the announcement of the ban on the use of antibiotics as antimicrobial growth promoters in the feed of pigs in 2006 the investigation towards alternative feed additives has augmented considerably. Although fermented liquid feed is not an additive, but a feeding strategy, the benefits cannot be undermined.