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Industry Partners
Prairie Swine Centre is an affiliate of the University of Saskatchewan
Prairie Swine Centre is grateful for the assistance of the George Morris Centre in developing the economics portion of Pork Insight.
Financial support for the Enterprise Model Project and Pork Insight has been provided by:
Optimizing dietary electrolyte balance to improve sow performance
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by student on June 11, 2018
Author: Pieter van Wijck, Nutrition Partners Inc. Canadian Hog Journal Spring 2018.
Summary: Dietary electrolyte balance (dEB) is the difference between the positively and negatively charged ions within the feed. It is a widely accepted concept in the dairy industry used to enhance performance during reproduction and lactation. During gestation it is important to feed a feed with a higher electrolyte balance which will cause the sow to store calcium within her bones. At farrowing a lower electrolyte balance should be utilized to cause calcium mobilization from the bones. Following farrowing a higher electrolyte balance is needed during lactation in order to optimize milk production and increase weaning weights. Overall, implementing a feeding regimen that effectively utilized the dEB principle can positively effect your bottom line. This is done by improving reproduction and decreasing the percentage of stillbirths and preweaning mortality.
Optimizing Dietary electrolyte balance to improve sow performance