Why treating only small piglets limits performance

It’s easy to see why people focus on the smallest piglets.

They look fragile, they struggle more, and they seem like the ones that need the most help. So using Tonisity Px only on these pigs can feel like the right decision.

At first glance, it makes sense. But in reality, this strategy often limits both performance and return on investment.

The mistake most farms make

Small piglets do benefit from Tonisity Px, but they usually represent only 10–15% of the litter.

Meanwhile, 85–90% of piglets are medium and heavy, and they:

• Drive most of the growth
• Represent most of the herd value
• Account for most losses in absolute numbers

👉 Around 70% of piglets that die before weaning actually come from these larger groups.

So focusing only on small piglets means leaving most of the real opportunity untouched.

A clearer way to see it 

Let’s simplify it with a practical example:

A farm weans 1,000 piglets.

• ~120 are small
• ~880 are medium and heavy

Even if small piglets have higher individual risk, most losses, and most performance potential, sit in those 880 pigs.

Now imagine two strategies:

• Farm A: targets only small piglets

Treats 120 piglets → impact is limited to a small portion of the herd

• Farm B: treats the whole litter

Treats all 1,000 piglets → captures value across the entire batch

Even if both improve survival, Farm B captures far more value.

What does that mean in real numbers?

In a field study (18-121-P-P), Tonisity Px delivered +17 extra weaned pigs per 1,000 born.

But here’s the key detail:

• Around 16 out of those 17 extra pigs came from medium and heavy piglets
• That’s the difference between targeting risk… and targeting real impact.

The key insight for producers

If Tonisity Px is used only on the smallest piglets:

👉 You are investing only in 10–15% of the herd
👉 But the 85–90% that drives most of the return is left unsupported

Watch the video to find out more!

Growth, survival and ROI come from the same place

Tonisity Px is not just about survival and “saving weak piglets”,  it’s about growth and whole-litter performance and that volume sits in the medium and heavy piglets.

When used across the litter:

• Mortality is reduced in all weight categories (up to 20% in heavy pigs)
• Medium and heavy piglets deliver the largest weight gains
• Early advantages carry through to nursery and finishing

This matters because:
👉 The pigs with the most growth potential are the ones that generate the biggest lifetime returns.

And that’s exactly what multiple studies show:

• Medium and heavy pigs gain more weight
• More pigs move into higher-value categories
• Fewer pigs fall behind

So this isn’t three separate benefits, it’s the same mechanism:

👉 Better early gut support → better growth → better herd economics

Final thought

Using Tonisity Px only on small piglets may look like a way to reduce costs.

In reality, it’s a false economy.

The real value comes from improving performance across the whole litter, where most pigs are, where most losses occur, and where the biggest gains can be captured.

Tonisity Px is not just about saving a few piglets.
It’s about producing more full-value pigs, more kilos, and stronger overall performance.

If you’d like to explore the data, trial results or practical application on your farm, feel free to contact us:

📩 info@tonisity.com