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What is the best age for weaning piglets? (1/3)

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With this article we begin the publication of a series of three unpublished articles by José Barceló for pig333.com on the age at weaning. José gave us the articles a few days before his death. As a way of paying homage to him we have decided to publish them posthumously without any alterations.

If we had asked this question to veterinarians, specialized technicians and swine producers a few years ago, the immense majority would almost certainly have answered that the best age for weaning is at three weeks. However, there are continuous changes in swine production and its evolution questions this old belief with respect to the weaning age. In this article I will try to explain why in many production systems the weaning age is being put back to 28 days in order to achieve the objective of producing a minimum of 200 kg of weaned weight per productive sow and year. To achieve this objective a herd that weans at an average of three weeks (18 – 23 days) with an acceptable weight of 6.5 kg LW must wean 30.76 piglets/sow/year while the same herd weaning at 28 days (25 – 30 days) with a weight of 7.5 kg needs to wean 26.66 piglets/sow/year. For 27 – 30 days (in the case of weaning on more than one day per week) with 8.0 kg it is necessary to wean 25 piglets/sow/year.

Weaning is an enormous change for the piglet and a great change for the sow. First we are going to analyze the changes that the piglets undergo, then the changes that correspond to the reproductive sows, and to finish we will make an economic analysis.

The piglet

Basically there are two main changes:

  • Change of diet
  • Weaning stress

Change of diet

Milk is the ideal alimentation for lactating piglets, it represents an important contribution of essential nutrients for the growth of the piglets, it gives the piglets a certain immunity and stimulates their physiological development. If we compare milk with feed we can observe the following:

  • Milk production reaches its maximum at 21 days and it remains high up to nearly 5 weeks of lactation. Weaning at 25 – 30 days does not take place when the sow already produces less milk, but when the piglets are suckling when the production continues being very high (8 – 10 kg per day).
  • The nutritive value of milk is superior to that of the feed that is supplied in this phase (better quality/quality of components and greater digestibility).
  • When the sow has a normal/good production of milk, the piglet does not eat feed in the first 13 – 15 days of life. When weaning is at 3 weeks there is only one week for the piglet to adapt to the new feeds. Although feeds today have improved immensely in quality and digestibility, weaning at three weeks brings about an enormous nutritional stress since the majority of piglets have not adapted to the feeds and as a consequence their ingestion is dangerously low during the first days post-weaning. This fact involves a noticeable “catabolic state”, low growth, poor transformation rates and gastrointestinal problems (basically diarrhoeas). The consumption of feed when weaning is at four weeks represents 15% of the total ingestion in the days before weaning while it is equal or 5% lower than when weaning is at 3 weeks; in other words, between week 3 and week 4 the consumption of feed is tripled.
  • Milk contains certain quantities of IgA which gives it better protective qualities tan feed. On the other hand, the active immunity in the piglet is much more efficient at 4 weeks than at 3 weeks. Faced with these precocious infections, the so-called “immunity gap” is inferior at 4 weeks.
  • Enzymatic activity and intestinal development is superior at 4 weeks, this being an important factor to consider in the absorption and digestion of nutrients which affect growth and the transformation rate.

Weaning stress

The desciption of what the piglet goes through at weaning is a clear indication of the enormous stress involved. The following are changes that the piglet experiences:

  • Loss of maternal protection.
  • Change of living space and environment.
  • Mixing with groups of larger sized piglets (normally from different litters)
  • Change of diet and nutritional behavior:
    • Change from warm liquid diet to normally solid and dry.
    • There is a substantial change in the nutritive quality and composition (generally sudden contact with vegetal protein).
    • There is no collective communication at feeding.
    • The piglet stops suckling every 40 – 60 minutes.
    • The piglet stops receiving the defences from the maternal milk.

In short: the piglet must learn to “look after itself”. The stress is an additional factor which makes it difficult for growth continuation and for the absorption of aliments during the first 3 – 5 days after weaning.

The separation from the sow is accompanied by characteristic and loud cries (grunts/calls) from the piglet that are produced immediately after weaning. The frequency and tone of these “calls” has been used as a method to evaluate the level of stress suffered by the piglet at weaning. The piglets that are colder and that feed more poorly cry more loudly and more frequently. The frequency of the cries is higher at the beginning of weaning, however, the piglets that wean at 3 weeks make more “calls” (3.6 c/m) than those weaned at 4 – 5 weeks (2.3 – 2.9 c/m).

All these arguments lead us to believe that with respect to the piglet it seems reasonable that weaning at an average of 28 days is better than at 21 days. First, the difference in weight in piglets weaned between 3 and 4 weeks is 0.5 – 0.9 kg per piglet in favour of those weaned at 28 days. The productive data of piglets weaned at 4 weeks are better for its future productive performance of posterior phases. This efficiency in the weaning phase (weaning – 20 kg LW) is expressed by an improved growth of 5 – 10%, improved transformation rate of 1 – 5%, and improved mortality rate of 20 – 60%. In the fattening period, in field tests of industrial production systems with many animals, we have seen that an improvement in weight at weaning of 0.5 kg leads to an improvement of 1.5 – 2.5 kg at the same age at the end of fattening when the slaughter weight is 100 kg LW. All this leads us to conclude that a suitable weaning weight for the optimum performance in the growing and fattening phases should be at an average minimum of 7.5 – 8.0 kg, with no more than 10% of the animals weighing less than 6 kg LW. This objective is achievable by weaning at 28 days and is very difficult if weaning is at 21 days.

Author’s note: I would like to express my gratitude to PigChamp Pro- Europa and to Servicio Técnico de Cefusa for supplying the field data without which it would be difficult to make the arguments expressed in this article.

Article Comments

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19-Feb-2014grieves chipanamagrieves chipanamaam very grateful for your tips on pig management, pls when ever are post and latest send to me . sending
19-Feb-2014grieves chipanamagrieves chipanamaam very grateful with your tip am new pig managements you is eager to lean more about piggery
19-Feb-2014grieves chipanamagrieves chipanamaThanks for your tips ,keep me posted when ever you have latest tips leaner,from Zambia.
02-May-2014thebe monnapulathebe monnapulagood articles and easy to understand keep it up, I will visit da sites time again
02-May-2014coslight farmcoslight farmwhen should one start selling his pigs and at what age
08-Jun-2014tim taylortim taylorthanks for info on weaning. very informative
18-Jun-2014 JBat what age & wt. start selling piglets for fattening?
01-Mar-2015 mikerockI am a small producer (15 sows) and sell piglets to families for raising for their own meat. We wait until piglets are 2mos old before they go. Piglets are reserved when they are born. Buyers usually are first-time pig owners so piglets must be hardy on their own.
12-Jun-2014 gbrex2014thanks for info.. very helpful
08-Aug-2014edmundedmundam very grateful to get this site about pigs is my first time in this lesson but i can see a light in future about pigs especially here in Tanzania
13-Dec-2014Anthony AjahAnthony AjahWonderful article. Keen it up
13-Jan-2015 mvzgerardomorenthanks for this article .very good .and is good for the involution uterine
21-Apr-2015 Albert_TuThank you so much, it is very useful for me
10-Sep-2015RodahRodahThanks for the nice tips.
02-Oct-2015christonchristonQuite instructional to my pig farming
25-Jan-2016Samson Yamkana Samson Yamkana This is very educative
26-Jan-2016 austinmlowokaI support the weaning age of 28 days than 21 days however the average weight depends on the feeding and feed nutritional balance.
27-Jul-2016George C Mandona George C Mandona Good notes and hope to learn more since I am new in pig farming.
06-Oct-2016Mutuaruchiu KaburuMutuaruchiu KaburuA very educative page.
24-Nov-2016Moses Moses Great article with owsome highlights but how can one ensure that the appropriate weaning weight correspond with the appropriate weaning period/time (28-30 days)
11-Jan-2017SimonSimonAm also glad to learn about this weaning of piglets as early as 3weeks.. In Uganda we have been told unless a piglet is 2 months can't be weaned... Thanks I will try at 4weeks I see the results ..
22-Apr-2017rayrayis there a table for the feeding scheme
21-May-2017Nelson  Apayao  beginnerNelson Apayao beginnerMaximum appreciations! Thanks very much for this education.God bless your works.
23-May-2020 taiwooluremilot gains from this article. Thanks.
08-Jun-2020 reysbel18thanks for the information. It will help me a lot to prepare my sow when weaning time comes especially those piglets to have proper diet.
01-Jul-2020 ulla.ketola_1This is very important, when we talk about better piglets quality!
08-Jul-2020 juho.riuttamakiagree.
08-Jul-2020 juho.riuttamakiWery good article. I see much diffrence weaning age in my slouhgtery farm. I have 2 farms and both farms take pigs straight to weaning and i see so much diffrence 21-28days.
08-Sep-2020 Lonewolfi will put this in to action and gain from this very important article. Rest on Jose barcelo
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