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...
Dietary Omega 6 to Omega 3 Ratio Impacts Nursery Pigs More Than Omega 3 Intake Alone
Weaning is a stressful time for the piglet as there are environmental, nutritional and social stressors along with an undeveloped immune system. Post-weaning growth lag is commonly seen with reduced growth rates and increased susceptibility to pathogens that can trigger inflammatory responses. Omega 3 fatty...
DON in Swine Diets
Fusarium mould contaminated grain has been on the rise due to cool wet summer weather. The mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON or vomitoxin) can be produced when fusarium moulds contaminate cereal grains. Other livestock are not as sensitive to DON as pigs are with the guideline being...