“A practical approach on how to wean more”

South Africa

September 2015

Sanne Baden

Technical Service Manager - UK & Ireland

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Agenda. To get as many piglets weaned as possible $

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Litter Size Trend Litter size trend

• Trend on total born

Litter size trend

Wean Weight & PWM Trend

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• Public perception & staff morale. • Measurable outcome

Relevance of PWM $$$$$$$

Key indicator High PWM Low PWM

BA 11.2 11.2

PWM 15% 7%

Lost/Litter 1.68 0.78

W/L 9.52 10.42

PSY 23.32 25.52 (+2.20)

Total: R (ZAR) 480 /weaner

11.193,60 R (23.32 PSY) 12.249,60 (25.52 PSY) 1.056 R Profit

Value

Last slide showed:

• 1% reduction in PWM = 132 ZAR/1 %

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Preparing the farrowing.

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Room temperature at birth for sows

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Day of Birth:

• Min 21 C degrees

• Max 23 C degrees

Temperature Day 3+ for sows

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From day 3+

19 C degrees

TEMPERATURES FOR PIGLETS

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PIGLETS Keep them warm Or lose more!

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Body temperature changes

– At birth: 39oC as a minimum

– Immediately after birth, it drops to 37.2

to 35oC.

Creep Area/clean light bulbs

70

75

80

85

90

95

100

105

-12 -10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Tem

per

atu

re (

0F)

Inches from center

Effect of Bulb Cleanliness on Heat Produced 125W Infrared Heat Bulbs, Metal Reflectors Infrared Heat Bulb (1)

Infrared Heat Bulb (2)

Infrared Heat Bulb (3)

(1) New; (2) A little dirty; (3) More dirty

Farrowing and lactation are two of the most critical phases of a

sows life.

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Check every 20 min

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The Farrowing Process.

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• Piglets are usually delivered every 10 to 20 minutes

Lower the number of still born

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– Do not pull navel cords, to avoid massive loss of blood.

– Dry pigs off after umbilical

cord is broken (dry)

Give them a helping hand

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Make every effort to: • teach pigs how to find the underline • dry if needed • Prevent chilling

Feeding in Lactation

Sow Feeding Principle

PHASES

Weaning

1) Max Feed in

Gilts

2) Restricted Feed in Gestation

Birth

PHASES

3) Max Feed From Farrowing

to Next Breeding

Simple feeding program

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As much as she like

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PIC Sows are able to go over 10 kg/day

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• Day 5 of lactation – 4 kg

• Day 7 of lactation- 6-7 kg

• Day 14 of lactation – 8 kg

Daily routines

water

Sows up

Feed

ADFI

• Effect of higher room temperature: every degree above 21˚C reduces ADFI by 90g/day.

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4 L of milk per 1 kg piglet growth

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Over a period of 28 days in lactation she can be milking up to 1.5 time her own

body weight. Over 14 L/day

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Lack of Feed intake?

• High replacement rate (too many gilts farrowing at any given time).

• Illness in sows or litters.

• Room temperature (macro-environment) is too warm.

• Fresh water is not available. Feed is inaccessible or not palatable (feed is moldy).

• Hoof lesions.

• Shorter lactation.

• Retained placenta/piglet.

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Litter management

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“More is more”

2 Lamps/2 Mats/decreased the risk of overlaid

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6hrs 12hrs

Protective Colostral Antibodies

24hrs

All fostering should be done by this point

100%

50%

Teat order being established

18hrs

Timeframe for colostrum absorption

Colostrum level is only 50%

Timing!

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Colostrums' summery

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6 hours after = 50 %

12 hours after = 25 %

24 hours after = 0-1 %

Leave 8-10 piglets at the udder to keep it going

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Keep track of pigs fallen behind. Suggestion

12 pegs hanged up= 1 foster sow to be made!

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Keep track of pigs fallen behind. Suggestion

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Fallen behind

HAS been

moved

Treatment dirrehea

Treatment leg

2-step foster sow

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Take the biggest of the new farrowed

litters

4-7 days old

Min. 21 days old for

weaning

Record to know where to put the effort!

Day Laid on Hunger Weak born Other (record reason)

1 Environment check! Pigs

are seeking the warmest area

Colostrums management Energy level pre-

farrowing.

Stress. Constipation.

2 environment Lack of milk. Colostrums

management

3 environment Lack of milk. Management

4 - Management. Milk yield

5-6 - -

7-8 -

9-10 -

11-13 -

14-16 -

17-19 -

20-23 -

24-26 -

27-30 -

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Take home

• QUESTIONS? Check the sows regularly through farrowing

Clean & warm environment

Colostrums to all as quick as possible

Keep track on piglets fallen behind

Move piglets before it is to late

Full feed for optimal production –High milk yield & Next

litters performances

Find your potential and pick the lowest hanging

fruit

Weaning....a perfect start!

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3 key points

Feed intake

Environment

Water

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Piglet survival

A perfect start

• Coming from a known environment to a new environment

• Liquid feed to solid feed (milk to dry)

• Digestibility change from high to low

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Pigs coming in

• Minimize mixing

• Remove the 5-10 % lowest quality pigs to hospital pens and feed cruel

• Sort after Small, Medium & Large

• Pull out fallen behind pigs to hospital pens

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Get it right from the start

Clean Disinfect Dry

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Clean vs. dirty

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AIAO, Uncleaned

Buildings

DLG (gm/day) DLG (gm/day)

Weaners 595 515 15.5

Growers 1 643 597 7.7

Growers 2 736 712 6.3

Finishers 671 621 8.1

Wean-to-Sale 658 619 5.9

AIAO, Cleaned

Buildings

Cargill, C., and Banhazi, T. (1998) Proc 1st IPVS 3, 15.

Class of Pig %

Improvement

Dirty vs.clean..payoff

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ADG+ 50 g more per day in a total clean stable!

Chek list!

Ventilation/alarm check

Ventilation settings min/max

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Reminder! Hidden places.

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Dust on top of the

insulation? Any gaps?

Free access for the air?

Be aware of behaviour

Get it right

• Sensors are placed correct

• Humidity 65 %

• Comfort zone 30-35 C

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Natural ventilation

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•Free access from air coming in.

•Extra heat in winter month for small pigs.

•Curtains for breaking strong winds.

•Humidity is difficult to control: be aware of water usages, pressure, sprinklers

etc.

Temperatures

• Pigs should be laying down on the side without touching each other

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Temperature

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It can be expensive

• For every degree below the LCT pig looses approximately 10-12g per day.

• 1ºC below the LCT could cost 19.26 ZAR (1 £) in extra feed per pig.

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Temperatures effect on growth

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Space

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space

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830 g vs. 798 g/day= 32 g

more/day

Feeder space

• 2,5 cm/pig for weaners (want to eat at the same time)

• 5 cm/pig for grow/finisher

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Low feed intake? High FCR ?

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Low Feed intake high FCR?

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Pan cover: Nursery Day 1- max 3 70% Day 4-7 50% Day 7 to exit 40% Market Pigs 35%

Get the smallest started

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Great to avoid starvation and for hospitals pen .

85 % of the pigs will learn to eat and drink within the

first 48 hours

Cruel/Porrigde

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Keep it fresh. Gruel left for 24 hours had 650 times higher contents of E-coli !!!

Cruel/Porrigde

• Use starter diets

• Clean bowl and mix fresh gruel 3 x per day (2-3 Days)

• 230 g feed & 680 g H2O/15 pigs (1/3 feed + 2/3 water)

• 7,6 cm/Pig of feeder Space

• Feed no more than can be eaten within 30-45 min!

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Why? Less treatments!

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29.70%

19.40%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Mat Only Mat & Gruel

Trea

ts (%

)

Impact of feed intake on dirrehea

Feed intake the first week Risk of getting dirrehea. (odds ratio)

Under 1 kg feed/pig 33,6 times higher risk.

1-1,35 kg feed/pig 18,6

1,36-1,72 kg feed/pig 1,1

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Madec, F., N. Bridoux & A.J. Bounaix (1998). Measurement of digestive disorders in the piglet at

weaning and related riss factors. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 35 (1998) 53-72.

For every 2x a day you increase mat feeding… you will have to give 1.97% fewer treatments

12.6%

6.9%7.4%

11.7%

y = -0.0197x + 0.1457

R2 = 0.7612

0.0%

2.0%

4.0%

6.0%

8.0%

10.0%

12.0%

14.0%

Control 2x 4x 6x

Treatments

Pig

s T

reate

d (

%)

Mat Feeding Trial - Results

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For every 2x a day you increase mat feeding… there is 1.34% less death loss

5.14%

6.29%

3.14%

1.71%

y = -0.0134x + 0.0743

R2 = 0.7231

0.00%

1.00%

2.00%

3.00%

4.00%

5.00%

6.00%

7.00%

Control 2x 4x 6x

Treatments

Death

loss (

%)

Mat Feeding Trial - Results

Mat Feeding Trial - Results

26.46

26.93

27.68

27.31

y = 0.33x + 26.27

R2 = 0.6649

25.8

26

26.2

26.4

26.6

26.8

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27.2

27.4

27.6

27.8

Control 2x 4x 6x

Treatment

En

din

g W

eig

ht

(lb

s)

12 kg

12,55 kg

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8 12 25

ADG, lb/Day 1.012 0.946 0.902

No Visits/6h 13.88 10.60 10.32

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

0.84

0.86

0.88

0.90

0.92

0.94

0.96

0.98

1.00

1.02

1.04

# V

isit

s in

6 h

rs p

erio

d

lb/d

ADG in Nursery Wean-42 days, Bowl drinker. Sandler, 2008

Drinker to Nursery Pigs Ratio. Effect on Drinking Behavior and Performance, Sadler et al, ISU 2008

Pig per Drinker Impact

Water Flow Impact

Reducing Competition - Water

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No of diets and feed changes

• Meet the basic requirement on nutrition

• Test your feed changes vs growth (weighing-groups)

• Start feeding the piglets from day 10-14 in the farrowing houses and use this diet after weaning

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ADG week by week

Days after entering

Changing diets

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Diet 1 Diet 2

Diet 1

Diet 2

Day to day change is to fats for pigs to adapt the new diet and will increase the risk of

dirrehea

The feed change is done gradually and the pigs

hardly notice!

Is your feed doing the job?

date Day no No of pigs

Weigt in total

Avg weight/pig

Daily gain

Feed usages in period

Feeed/kg growth (FCR)

11.6.14 0 20 854,0 42,7

18.6.14 7 20 1.020,0 51,0 1.186 332 kg ***

25.6.14 14 20 1.180,0 59,0 1.143 345 kg 2,05

02.07.14 21 20 1.256,0 62,8 957 389 kg 2,63

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Take home • Clean environment

• Avoid mixing

• Use gruel and mat feeding for the first week and

continue if needed.

• Feed intake the first week will affect ADG

• Check the enviormet (ventilation,temp.curve,

humidity)

• Remove sick pigs to a hospitalpen.

• AI/AO if possible

• Make sure to keep the recommendations

• Check ALL pigs EVERY day!

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Thanks for your attention

Questions?

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