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Assisting newborn piglets to increase survival and growth
Pork Industry Calendar of Events
2022
FEB 23 – Queensland Pig Consultancy Group (QPCG) Industry Day ‘Building Resilience in a Changing World’ Toowoomba
APR 18-20 – United Pork America’s – Orlando, United States www.unitedporkamericas.com
APR 26-29 – Anuga FoodTec – Cologne, Germany www.anugafoodtec.com
MAY 15-17 – Pork Production, Poultry Information Exchange and Australasian Milling Conference (PIX/AMC) – Gold Coast www.pixamc.com.au
JUN 21-24 – International Pig Veterinary Society Congress – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil https://ipvs2022.com/en
AUG 19-21 – Kingaroy Baconfest 2022 www.kingaroybaconfest.com.au
2023
NOV 13-16 – Australasian Pig Science Association (APSA) Conference www.apsa.asn.au
How to supply event details: Send all details to Australian Pork Newspaper, PO Box 162, Wynnum, Qld 4178, call 07 3286 1833 or email: ben@collins.media
porknews.com.au
07 3286 1833
IT is essential to pro- vide assistance to pig- lets in order to max- imise their survival and growth.
poor immune protection, and this situation has worsened with the cur- rent use of hyperprolific sow lines.
death – is also greater in these litters due to over- crowding in utero.
lactation performance.
A gilt that is too thin – 12-15mm backfat thick- ness at the P2 site of the last rib on day 110 of gestation – has less milk-secreting tissue (pa- renchymal tissue) in her udder than a gilt with
fostering – will help de- crease piglet mortality.
Indeed, newborn piglets are most vulnerable due to low birth weights, lack of energy reserves and
The incidence of intra- uterine growth-restricted piglets – that are even more susceptible to
These IUGR piglets show a typical dolphin- like head shape because of undernutrition and have a poorer capacity for ingestion and utilisa- tion of colostrum after birth.
It is important to know that sows do not produce enough milk to sustain maximal growth of their piglets.
Figure 1. Typical dolphin-like head shape of intra- uterine growth-restricted piglets.
Table 1. Mammary gland composition on day 110 of gestation for gilts fed various amounts of a gestation diet to achieve low backfat (Low 12-15 mm), medium back- fat (Medium 17-19 mm) or high backfat (High 21-26 mm) at the end of gestation. 1 – Contains the epithelial cells that synthesise milk.
2 – Indicative of the number of cells present.
a b – Means within a row with different superscripts differ significantly from each other.
One must therefore maximise energy intake of pre-parturient sows.
Various nutritional strategies can be used in gestation and prior to far- rowing to help suckling piglets.
achieved by feeding varying amounts of feed throughout gestation – 1.30, 1.58 or 1.83 times the maintenance require- ments.
Primiparous sows should therefore have all their teats suckled for the first 48 hours after far- rowing in order to max- imise milk yield in the subsequent parity.
Supplementary feeding of the amino acid argi- nine in gestation may im- prove nutrient supply to the placenta and increase piglet birthweight.
Body condition is also important for colostrum yield.
Also ensure there are enough teats for all the piglets and if that is not the case, the use of nurse sows or providing artifi- cial milk can prove ben- eficial.
Feeding a source of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids such as fish oils in late gestation to stimulate foetal brain development and vigour of piglets at birth can decrease the in- terval between birth and first suckling.
Sows with moderate body conditions of 17- 23mm backfat produced more colostrum – 4.0kg versus 3.2kg – compared with fat sows with less than 23mm backfat.
Artificial rearing of a whole litter should only be used when piglets cannot be reared by their own dam, keeping in mind their growth rate will be slower than that of sow-fed piglets, taking five more days to reach market weight.
This is most important, knowing that the early in- take of 250g of colostrum is crucial for survival and growth of piglets.
Feeding during the transition period, starting on day 108 of gestation, has received quite a bit of attention recently.
Recent findings showed that body condition of gilts at the end of gesta- tion must be considered to achieve optimal sow
The amount of energy reserves of sows at the time of farrowing has a great effect on farrowing duration and on the inci- dence of piglet hypoxia and stillbirths.
The present situation of high litter sizes makes it crucial for producers to use specially adapted strategies that will assist the newborn and suckling piglets to attain optimal growth and survival.
17-26mm backfat.
This difference was
A teat that is not suckled in first lactation will produce less milk in second lactation.
This can be achieved in various ways – such as increasing energy intake (33.8MJ versus 28.2MJ NE/day), feeding a readily available energy source, feeding a high- fibre diet to prolong en- ergy uptake via hind-gut fermentation or feeding sows three times per day.
The above summarises a presentation made at the Australasian Pig Science Association bi- annual meeting held in Brisbane in November 2021.
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Farrowing duration and stillbirths were shown to increase if the sow had not eaten in the 3.1 hours preceding farrowing.
Lastly, management strategies during far- rowing and lactation are needed to maximise piglet performance.
Farrowing supervision and piglet assistance at birth – drying, placing close to a teat, providing an extra source of energy to low birthweight pig- lets, split-suckling, cross-
Chantal Farmer PhD, Agriculture and Agri- Food Canada.
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