Getting weaners off to a good start
If you can avoid a depression in feed intake, you can maintain and improve performance in weaners – that was the key message given to producers by nutritionist Mick O’Connell from Devenish Nutrition.
And good performance post-weaning is reliant on four key factors – maximising sow milk output and weaning weight, pre-weaning feed intake, post-weaning feed and water intake, and diet selection, he said.
However, first and foremost, producers looking to boost weaner performance must ensure weaning is as stress-free an experience as possible.
Mr O’Connell said: “With weaning there is a huge level of inevitability – the sow is there one minute and then gone the next – and it’s a very instantaneous effect. So on weaning day if there is anything which can add to the stress of the animals, you need to try and remove that from the system.”
And when deciding when to wean animals, he recommended weaning when the litter weight is 90kg, at roughly 26 days old, with a view to increasing this weight by 11-12.5kg, 27 days post-weaning.
Feed and water intake
Feed and water intake is key to good weaner performance, and the more a piglet eats before weaning, the more it will consume after weaning, said Mr O’Connell.
He recommended creep feeding piglets, and said the time and money spent on this form of feeding was recouped in performance benefits.
And to stimulate creep feed intake, producers should start the system early on a “little and often” basis, and feed a highly digestible diet when the sow is active, he added.
In addition Mr O’Connell described water as the “forgotten nutrient” on many pig units, and said as an industry we often forget that water intake stimulates feed intake. He urged producers to ensure they were providing a clean and plentiful water supply to their weaners.
When selecting a diet for weaners, Mr O’Connell said producers should work with their nutritionist to select one which suits the animals on their system. And he said high specification diets offered better feed conversion.
Top tips for weaning success
- Avoid any stressors at weaning
- Encourage pre-weaning feed intake with creep feeding on a ‘little and often’ basis
- Don’t forget water intake drives feed intake so ensure a minimum water flow rate of 450ml/minute
- To boost post-weaning feed intake, ensure at least 9cm feeding space for every pig, and where possible try and use dry multispace feeders
- Don’t scrimp on quantity or quality of feed; go for farm-specific diets
Striving for early growth
Getting weaners off to a good start is crucial to the success of the 425 sow indoor unit at Alexander and Angell Farms, Gloucestershire.
And according to farms manager Roger Meadows, attention to detail is the key to the farm’s weaning regime, where piglets are creep fed and split into groups based on size rather than sex.
“One of the things we do is feed them creep from three days old. We start at just a handful and that builds up to ad lib creep feeding from a hopper at three weeks old,” he said.
“And when we wean them at 27 days we are aiming for them to weigh 8kg, and we separate the 30 smallest piglets and keep them in a separate nursery so they can be fed a little bit differently.”
Recording is also instrumental at the unit, and all piglets are given ear tattoos on their day of birth with a letter to signify breed and a number for week of birth.
“When we come to select these pigs, we run them all through a crush and record their weights against their ear tags, so we know exactly how heavy these pigs are for their age,” added Mr Meadows.
The aim is to reach 20kg at 55 days old, which is the equivalent of a daily live weight gain of 450g/day in the nursery accommodation; at present the group of small piglets is achieving 24.1kg at ten weeks old which equates to 417g/day liveweight gain in their specialist accommodation.
The average age of sale is 152 days at a weight of 99.3kg; this equates to an average daily live weight gain of 735g/day from weaning to slaughter.
“We are big believers in measuring and monitoring your performance, so challenge the status quo and don’t be afraid of change,” added Mr Meadows.
Outdoor weaners: stupid or sensible?
Outdoor pig production poses many challenges, namely the extremes of the weather, but through attention to detail weaners can get off to a good start, as Cameron Naughton shows on his 500 sow unit at West End Farm in the South West.
“Allowing the pigs to have separate air spaces is key. When I bought the current herd, all the weaners were in one building and they were all sick, and the only way I thought I could sort that out was to move the pigs outside into separate airspaces,” said Mr Naughton.
Piglets are creep fed for ten days prior to weaning, and all the pig houses are washed and moved to fresh ground in between batches. Weaned piglets are sorted into batches by size and sex – small, medium and large, and boars and gilts.
A two-tier feeding system is in place for weaned piglets, with one diet for large and medium pigs, and one for the smaller pigs.
Asides from providing a warm, clean environment with plenty ventilation, Mr Naughton said ensuring an adequate supply of water is essential for boosting weaner performance.
“Water is the biggest challenge, and we use water barrels which feed water into troughs with bite drinkers. They are easy to clean and help make sure all pigs can drink whenever they want. The barrel means there’s a reservoir of water when we get freezing temperatures in the winter,” he added.
Feeding probiotics to pigs – the next generation pig feed?
Pig producers could soon be able to boost feed conversion by more than 10%, as work begins on the development of the next generation of pig feed.
And it is work carried out by Denise Kelly from the Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health in Aberdeen, as part of the GutWEAN Project, which is driving this new development in pig nutrition.
“There is one key to driving immune development and that’s bacteria, and we are well on the way to developing the next generation of probiotics,” she said.
She said the microbiota found in the gut were crucial to the development of a piglet’s immune system, and without bacteria there is no immune system.
The GutWEAN project identified more than 600 strains of microbiota found in a pig’s gut, and trials were then carried out comparing the impact of different environments – outdoor and indoor reared with antibiotic intervention – on microbiota development.
Results showed indoor-reared piglets, given antibiotics, were more likely to develop proteobacteria (the “bad” bacteria in the gut), and those reared outside in a “dirty” environment had a much more developed immune system.
Certain strains of microbiota have since been isolated and are now being developed for use in a pig milk replacer, with initial trials showing an improvement in feed conversion of more than 10%.
“Microbiota are really important in controlling immune development, and with the knowledge that we have, we think we are ready to provide a next generation probiotic which will hopefully help producers to reach their targets,” added Prof Kelly.
Prove your pig farming credentials
Are you a pig producer already hitting the two tonne sow target? Have you employed technologies to do this and what is the secret to efficient production? If you are an efficient producer, who is passionate about the pig industry, then you may be an ideal candidate to enter the 2012 Farmers Weekly Awards.
Who you need to impress
Judging the Pig Farmer category this year are National Pig Association general manager Zoe Davies, Farmers Weekly’s Jane King and last year’s winner Stuart Bosworth.
According to Zoe Davies, the winning farmer must be someone who runs a fantastic business, understands and inspires their staff, and is always striving for improvements in productivity, welfare and customer focus.
How to enter
Entering the Pig Farmer category is straightforward. Visit http://www.farmersweekly.co.uk and enter by filling in the online form. If you don’t want to enter your own farm, nominate a family member or neighbour. Entries have to be in by 30 April 2012.