ANFS251 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Bran, Fish Meal, Skimmed Milk
15 Aug 2018
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Nutrition: 6.1- Swine
1. Intro
a. Monogastric omnivore
b. What nutrients the swine need for each stage of life
2. Gilt Development
a. Weaning
i. Can take place anywhere between two
to six weeks of age
b. Growing/ finishing period
i. The pigs are full fed and are allowed to
consume all they want to eat up until 5
months of age
c. Pigs are marketed
i. Around 5 ½ months of age
ii. This timing is good for producers to determine which gilts they want to keep
for breeding purposes and which they want to sell
d. Breeding
i. Should be removed from self-feeder (where they can eat all they want) and
be fed only 6-7lbs of food a day
ii. They are bred after their second or third estrus cycle
iii. They are usually bred between 7 ½ and 9 months
e. Gestation
i. Limit feeding so that the gilt does not become over fed
f. Farrowing
i. Once the gilts are in their last stages of birth they are allowed to be full fed
(self feeder)
3. Pre-Breeding
a. If thin at breeding, they may be flushed by full-feeding for 1 to 2 weeks prior to
breeding
i. increases the number of eggs ovulated
ii. reduce feeding level again after breeding
1. returned to 4-6 pounds of food a day
4. Gestation
a. Nutrient requirements of the pregnant sow are low, particularly during the first 2/3
of gestation.
b. The majority of fetal development occurs during the last month
of gestation
c. Normal gestation length is between 114 and 116 days
5. Gilts still growing too!
a. Young gilts are still growing and should be fed to get to their
full size
b. Sows should be fed at a level to accommodate growth of the
fetuses and placenta
c. Gilts should be fed to gain more of their own body weight as
they have not reached mature size.
d. Targeted pregnancy weight gain should be 75 to 85 lb for
sows and 100 to 110 lb for gilts.
6. Too much feed?
a. Costly and wasteful
b. May have smaller litters
c. More farrowing difficulty
d. More likely to crush piglets
7. Too little feed?
a. Pigs smaller and weaker at birth
b. May not have sufficient body stores to produce sufficient milk
c. May be too thin at weaning
d. May not return to estrus
8. Gestation
a. attempts to devise a system for self-feeding of sows have met with limited success
b. sows carry RFID ear tags, so they can be identified by the feeding station to receive
their individual feed ration
i. this was bad and sows were able to outsmart the system
c. hungry and bossy
d. if the sows are group fed, they have individual stalls to eat alone
e. recent interest in use of supplemental fat at high levels in sows' feed during late
gestation
i. birth weights improved slightly
ii. benefit attributed to a higher fat level in the colostrum & milk
iii. slight increase in milk production
f. double benefit
i. the piglets have more calories that they are consuming from moms milk
ii. more milk available to them
9. Farrowing and poop
a. Constipation
i. associated with poor feed intake during transition
ii. If sows stay on feed constipation will generally not be a problem
b. Laxative diet
i. add wheat bran or dried beet pulp to the diet at levels of 10% to 15%
ii. magnesium sulfate (Epsom salts) or KCl in the diet at levels of 0.75% to 1%
c. A buildup of manure can occur around the vagina, so the sow will not be able to
birth more piglets
i. It can also be extremely uncomfortable
d. Stop and observe the amount and consistency of manure by the sow to check its
health before you wash the shit away
10. Farrowing and antibiotics
a. High level of an absorbable antibiotic is recommended in the pre-farrowing and
post-farrowing diet.
i. reduce the incidence of MMA (mastitis, metritis, agalactia)
ii. make sure you take the sows temperature and monitor fever
iii. small amounts of the antibiotic may be transmitted to the pigs through the
milk
