Articles - Nutrition

A gilt who has compromised limb health on entry to the breeding herd is more vulnerable to early removal as a result of lameness and more vulnerable to the negative production affects associated with it.

The transmission of PEDV through the feed supply chain is an example of a complex disease transmission pathway that triggered swine feed industry stakeholders to collaborate in understanding and addressing the risk factors.

Due to their higher energy, phosphorus and amino acids content when compared to corn, wheat and barley, DDGS are presented as a nutritional and cheap alternative feed in the animals diet.

A good diet is not enough to prevent post-weaning diarrhoea in the youngest, lightest animals, since they do not eat as much as they should.

The article suggests various environmental and feed program changes and assesses their effect on pig performance and feed cost.

The aim of the main nutritional strategies is to ensure a beneficial effect on the digestive flora of piglets and their intestinal health after weaning, thus reducing the risk of colibacillosis.

This article describes a new syndrome in pigs that causes external and internal birth defects, especially in the liver and heart.

The use of proven phytases in swine, is recognized to be an extremely useful tool for nutritionists not only in formulating more affordable feed without altering animal performance, but even improving it.

Interactions between nutritional strategies and prevalence / severity of GI clinical pictures caused by E. coli after weaning.

The difference in the conversion rate expected within a practical range of average particle sizes between 600 and 1000 microns can be of up to 2-4% between both ends.

The results show that digestibility of the same diets is indeed higher for gestating and lactating sows than it is for growing pigs.

We concluded an Edema disease episode, which is extremely unusual at this age.

Making use of the NET energy system for sows to formulate feeds makes it possible to achieve a smooth transition from gestation to lactation diets, which makes the transition period around farrowing easier for the sows.

The sharp increase in demand for meat by the population expected in the world in the coming years, means that there is an active search for alternatives, both from a social and an environmental point of view.

The nutrient requirements of the sow change during gestation and the feed provision must meet this demand; hence the need for phase feeding.

We are called because of sudden deaths in several integrated fattening farms.

Feeding growing-finishing pigs with daily tailored diets using precision feeding techniques is an effective approach to reduce nutrient excretion, without compromising pig performance or carcass composition

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.