piglet nutrition optimized for life-time health and...
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Piglet nutrition optimized for life-time health and performance - preweaning
Theo van Kempen, Ph.D. Application and Solutions Centre Adjunct Prof., North Carolina State Univ.
Piglet mortality as the Achilles heel of swine production?
• Trial request to animal care committee • Hypothesis
• Supplemental milk improves piglet quality and decreases mortality in large litters
• No-brainer, right? • Animal care committee deemed it unethical!
• Trial proposal rejected…
www.schnitkemper.de | 2
Social concern is becoming visible
| 3 Rutherford, 2011
Neonatal mortality Priority for action • All causes high • Chilling high • Starvation high • Injury high • Low birth weight medium • High variation medium • Disease medium
Piglet mortality is eating away at genetic progress
• Mortality eats away at progress
• Progress IS being made • But is it enough?
| 4 Rutherford, 2011
Increased litter size comes from small piglets
• Increasing litter size also shifts weight distribution downward
• More small=problem piglets • The increase in litter size comes
from pigs <1.4 kg
| 5 Quesnel, 2008
Mortality strongly affected by piglet size
• Body weight at birth is strong predictor of survival
• Small pigs more prone to hypothermia and starvation
| 6 Leenhouwers, 2003
Increasing litter size results in less colostrum per piglet
• Colostrum production is independent of litter size
• Larger litters means less colostrum per piglet
• Target: 160 g/kg BW • 40% of piglets don’t
achieve this
| 7 Decaluwe, in press; Devillers, 2007
C
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igle
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Litter size
Not only social, but also economic concern
• Poorly performing pigs have low margin over feed costs
• If they make it to market…
| 8 Nutreco R&D
Can we get understanding of problem, and develop solutions that fit management?
| 9
Primary cause of problems: mom can’t handle the birth process
• Labor is hard work • The sow, poorly prepared, becomes exhausted
• Suffocates piglets
| 10 Herpin, 1996
Proof: O2 supplementation of piglets helps
• Oxygen supplementation after birth gets piglets on their feet faster
• Not practical!
• True solution is to prepare the sow as a top athlete…. • How to do this in practice??
| 11 Zhang
Supplemental milk for large litters an important aid
• Piglets use supplemental milk as ‘desert’
• Ensures that all pigs eat till their bellies are full
• Already on first day of life! • Especially important for
weaker or shy pigs that can’t compete at the udder
Source: www.schnitkemper.de Nutreco R&D | 12
Supplemental milk for large litters an important aid
• Piglets use supplemental milk as ‘desert’
• Ensures that all pigs eat till their bellies are full
• Already on first day of life! • Especially important for
weaker or shy pigs that can’t compete at the udder
Source: www.schnitkemper.de Haus Dusse | 13
Supplemental milk for large litters an important aid
• Piglets use supplemental milk as ‘desert’
• Ensures that all pigs eat till their bellies are full
• Already on first day of life! • Especially important for
weaker or shy pigs that can’t compete at the udder
Source: www.schnitkemper.de Nutreco R&D
Meta-analysis based on 9 field studies
| 14
Supplemental milk shows short- and long-term benefits in field
• Key benefit • More uniform litters at weaning
• Additional benefit • Better transition to solid feed
• Reduced time to market!
| 15 Roucou, Wassink Cooper, 2001
Creep a valuable tool for teaching piglets to eat post-weaning
| 16 Nutreco R&D, 2013
• Creep feeding did not affect the number of feeder visits
• But creep feeding increased the number of visits with intake
• Pigs don’t recognize feed • Yoghurt and Creep facilitate
adaptation
Poor quality piglets are shy: cause or effect?
• Poor quality pigs behave different • More fearful of new things
• Feed presentation??
| 17 Nutreco R&D: Paredes 2013
Poor quality piglets fail to compensate for stress period
• Poor pigs show normal efficiency • Unable to compensate for earlier
stressor
Nutreco R&D: Paredes 2013 | 18
Minimum birth stress and nutritional support for the weak for maximum lifetime health and performance
• Conclusions • Perinatal mortality a serious concern
• Birth process to be optimally supported
• Piglets can be helped to better recover from the birth process • Yoghurt an important aid with life-term benefits • Creep facilitates transition around weaning
• Piglets that suffer growth retardation don’t show many deficits
| 19
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