THE EFFECTS OF COLOSTRUM ON PIGLETS.

Its of paramount importance that piglets take colostrum just after farrow,and the health benefits of protection and nutrient provision has always been the strong point. There is a new information that backs up the earlier fact that the exposure of piglet to colostrum is not short-term,but impacts the condition of the pig for life. The researchers, associated with the Ghent University, Belgium, published their findings recently in the Journal of Animal Science, and they state that proper colostrum intake in the early days of lactation has effects on pigs until later in life that are hard to overestimate. Short-term and long-term performance as well as mortality are also influenced. The long-term effects of colostrum intake on performance and mortality in pigs were analysed thus; a total of 1,455 live-born piglets in 10 commercial herds were followed from birth until 22 weeks of age. Pigs were individually weighed at birth, at weaning, at onset (intermediate weight), and during the finishing period (finishing weight) and colostrum intake was also calculated. The researchers fitted one linear mixed model to model the possible associations between colostrum intake and weight at the weaning, intermediate, and finishing periods. In addition to colostrum intake as the main predictor of interest, the scientists also tested other predictor variables, being birth weight, birth order, sex, breed and the interval between birth and first suckling. The scientists noted that Colostrum intake and birth weight were positively associated with weaning, intermediate, and finishing weights. Higher colostrum intake is more beneficial to weaning, intermediate, and finishing weights in piglets with low versus high birth weights. Colostrum intake significantly influences piglets' short-term and long-term performance and mortality. The colostrum yield is reported to be independent of litter size, sufficient colostrum intake per piglet is crucial, especially in hyperprolific sows. read more at pigprogress.net