Feeding Straw to Sows in Late Gestation. Benefits to Processing?
Behavioural problems due to restricted feeding in sows may be reduced and litter and sow performance during lactation may improve by feeding fiber-rich diets. The composition of the fiber (proportion of soluble to insoluble fiber) and dietary inclusion rates may cause these results to vary....
Using Creep Feeding as a Strategy to Improve Post Weaning Feed Intake and Piglet Growth
Environmental, social and nutritional stressors are present in weaning of piglets which often leads to weight loss and increased risk of disease. Creep feeding involves providing highly palatable and easy to digest feed to nursing piglets to decrease feeding issues at weaning. Research in this...
Does the Inclusion of Lyso-Lecithin (Lecired) Improve the Growth of Newly Weaned Pigs?
Weaning is a very stressful period for piglets, with dietary changes being one of the great stressors. They are transferred from an 8% fat liquid milk diet to a 5% fat dry diet that has a much lower digestibility so dietary fat supplements do not...
Managing Feeding to Reduce Feed Wastage in Lactation
The largest cost associated with producing pork is feed. Feed wastage and spoilage may occur in lactating sows as they can be fed up to three times a day to maximize litter performance and feed intake. Electronic feeding systems are now commonly used as they...
Fermented Soybean Meal for Newly Weaned Piglets
Soybean meal is limited in its inclusion into young piglets diets as it contains a variety of anti-nutritional factors. Fermentation of soybean meal improves digestibility of nutrients, including amino acids, though variability occurs in this process. This experiment compared fermented soybean meal to standard soy...
Using Exploratory Behaviour to Increase Pre-Weaning Creep Consumption
Previous experiments showed how feeder type but not enrichment resulted in a greater frequency of visits to the tray feeder and a higher rate of disappearance for creep feed. Creep feed is important as it may help with the stressful transition of weaning and the...
Can Flaxseed Replace Antibiotics in Nursery Diets?
Social, nutritional and environmental stressors are involved in weaning and can activate an immune response in piglets. To solve this, they are often fed a low level of antibiotics. This is being phased out by Health Canada so alternative strategies are needed to help the...
Successfully Feeding Lentils to Finishing Pigs
The world's leading exporter and second largest producer of lentils is Saskatchewan. If 10% of lentil production is not acceptable for export, there would be plenty to feed pigs. Nutritional values were measured and diets were formulated for growing and finishing pigs. The maximum inclusion...
Stimulating Exploratory Behaviour in Piglets: Effects on Pre-Weaning Creep Consumption
The abrupt change from a liquid to solid diet causes stress at weaning, along with a new environment and a different grouping of pigs. This often reduces intake for a few days and increases risk of mortality and disease susceptibility. The goal of using creep...
Feeding Mycotoxin Contaminated Grain to Swine
In Western Canada, moulds commonly produce chemical mycotoxins in grains and grain by-products. Over 400 different mycotoxins are known, though not all of them affect pigs. Mould in a sample does not always mean a mycotoxin is present, and mycotoxins do not always show with...