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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:
Precision Feeding for Gestating Sows- Results of a Commercial Trial
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by student on July 26, 2018
Authors: Laetitia Cloutier, Agr, M.Sc., Patrick Gagnon, Ph.D., Genevieve Berthiaume, B.Sc., Leonie Morin-Dore, M.Sc.
Reference: Canadian Hog Journal Summer 2018
Summary: The first part of the project focused on determining the nutritional and economic impacts of precision feeding. In the initial portion of this study they determined that during late gestation and for gilts precision feeding would be beneficial as lysine requirements are important during these times and conventional feeding struggles to meet these needs. They also determined that precision feeding would be able to minimize the surpluses on multiparous sows reducing the cost of feeding by approximately $3/sow per year.
The second aspect of this trial was completed in a commercial setting, where they aimed to validate the effects of precision feeding on growth performance, productivity and cost of feeding sows. Economically, they determined that the gain from precision feeding is limited to the reduction of feeding costs of approximately $3/sow per year. There was no observed impact on the condition of the sows or the performance of their piglets.
It is still possible that precision feeding could improve performance of gilts. This is yet to be validated.
Precision Feeding for Gestating Sows- Results of a Commercial Trial