Articles - Nutrition

The provision of trace minerals at the correct level and in their organic form is essential for the modern hyper-prolific sow: they have been shown to increase litter size, the quality of the piglet at birth and weaning and weaning weight and to reduce sow lameness and premature culling.

The factor that is completely ignored is that newly weaned piglets develop edema; they retain water in their tissues above what is normal and this explains the abnormal gain of the piglet in the first days after weaning.

The nutritional expected benefit of these products is very high but every precaution must be taken, especially to prevent introduction of PED and spreading of ASF.

Piglets have little difficulty finding the feeder but piglets that were not exposed to creep feed during lactation do not recognize the feed as food when weaned.

Fertility problems with variable reproductive performances were detected. Also, ear and tail necroses appear in nurseries, and continuous diarrhoea cases and rectal prolapses in the fattenings.

Growth models can be a useful tool for decision making, allowing us to consider, simultaneously, multiple variables and showing us trends when facing different alternatives.

Pigs in a commercial environment are consistently exposed to (sub) clinical infections and stressors, and systemic responses to such challenges significantly reduce the growth potential of modern pigs.

At a moment in which the prices of the raw materials, although they are giving us a break, are still very high, it is essential to take some time to think about the use of enzymes in swine.

Different systems allow the sows to eat several times a day. In some of them we are the ones who decide, in other ones it is the sows.

The use of two different feeds for the sows in the farrowing quarters is not always easy at a logistical level.

The weaning-to-service interval is a short but vital period regarding the productivity of the sow.

Given the complexity of the problem caused by mycotoxins in pig production, we must come up with a preventive strategy in order to attain a contamination level that is as low as possible.

The hoppers and the feeders will condition our ability for attaining maximum feed consumption.

The feeding practices, the choice of the raw materials and the addition of additives have the potential of modulating the GI microbiota, reducing the energy cost for maintenance and also controlling the pathogenic bacteria.

This feeding system has a great return on investment, especially for the lactating sows, and even more in hot areas.

Constipation is one of the factors that are involved in pre weaning piglet mortality.

One of the most frequent recommendations for improving the feed consumption in sows during lactation is using pelleted feed instead of meal. Nevertheless, this recommendation is not very well supported by experimental evidences.

The performance decrease suffered by the piglets when weaned is one of the most worrying factors at the pig farms.

The piglets that suckle in the rear area of the udder start to eat feed before, and this would explain their better adaptation to the weaning.

The sow must be able to store enough calcium during the pregnancy to face the possible mobilizations during the lactation.

The decrease in the level of protein seems to be a promising strategy to increase the intramuscular fat, as long as the lysine level is adapted to the to the kind of pig used.

The success of the genetic improvement programs of the pigs in favour of a better growth and feeding efficiency and against the backfat thickness of the carcass has entailed a clear worsening of the organoleptic properties of the meat.

If the animals fast for some 12 hours before their loading onto the lorry we will reduce the compound feed consumption and we will improve the conditions of the transport to the abattoir. Nevertheless, adding up the transport and the waiting time at the abattoir we should not exceed 24 hours of fasting in total.

Albeit having similar determinants, the conversion index of the best (25%) and of the least efficient producers (25%) can differ in 0.42 points.