Feeding the modern sow; the next step

Feeding the modern sow; the next step ir. P.R.T. Bonekamp Swine Specialist EMEA Brasil, December 2015 Modern swine farming does not differ that much from the past as the main goal is still to produce as many as piglets possible from sow production, raise healthy animals and make the business profitable through maximum efficiency. Nevertheless, knowledge about feed, genetic improvement, legislation and increased raw material prices have pressed the production even more. Therefore, improvements have to be made to cope with the current challenges. One category in swine production, which is in scope of many researchers these days and is also the heart of the swine production is the sow. The modern hyprolific sow is a need in current sow farms to profit from the increased number of piglets born, but this also asks for different approaches in management (housing and feed), feed contents and more veterinary challenges. From genetics reproductive figures are increasing. This is shown in the number of piglets born and weaned (Danish PRC, 2014). Looking at the total cycle of the sow, typical problems occur at the moment the sow is not well supported in gestation. Too many dead born piglets, too low birth weight of the piglets with less viability. Around birth the number of piglets will influence the birth process by an extended process, without the correct feeding less quality colostrum and lower intake of colostrum by the piglets can occur. Consequently, more mortality in the first three days after birth and less uniformity within and between litters until weaning when the sow is not fed according to her needs throughout lactation. At weaning nutritional deficiencies can lead to too low body condition with increased number of days weaning to oestrus, less pronounced mating behavior, lower number of matured and less uniform follicles and higher risk of re-heats after mating. Summarizing, there is still a lot to do in sow feeding and nutrition to improve the quality of the piglet. Following content of the article will highlight essential elements and feeding phases important in making the next step in feeding the modern hyprolific sow. Feeding phases in gestation Feed formulations are based on least cost calculations, however this should be led by the requirements in the different phases of the sow cycle. Modern sow production is already taking this in account by feeding different levels of feed (quantity) and/or in combination with specialized early- or late gestation feed. During pregnancy, maintenance represents 75 to 85% of the total requirements and is affected greatly by environmental temperature and activity of the animals. Requirements for total uterine gain are low, but they increase with advancement of pregnancy. In addition, the daily energy requirements during

pregnancy depend on the amount and composition of maternal weight gain and on the previous lactation body weight loss (Noblet et al. 1990). From genetic advices no feeding schedule is the same, there are even quite large differences in quantities and content of feed. Nevertheless, all companies are advising the following phases: 1. Mating pregnancy check: Focus on development of the fetal and uterine tissue in combination with condition loss recovery for second and older parities. 2. Pregnancy check 70 days pregnancy: Development of organs, skeletal tissue and muscles of the piglets in combination with less predominant condition recovery of the sow 3. 70 days pregnancy birth: Main fetal growth and no condition loss of the sow. This whole period of pregnancy is actually a preparation phase for good born piglet quality. In figure 1, it is shown by McPherson et al. (2004) that the fetal growth is mainly increasing from day 70 of pregnancy onwards. The question is, are we feeding the sow enough in particular the last phase of gestation and around birth? Figure 1. fetal weight development during the gestation period What is piglet quality? Before going into more depth of specific feed elements for sow nutrtition and its influence on piglet quality it is important to define piglet quality. Eventually, each farmer is happy to see good quality piglets, but this perspective should be measurable to see improvements from sow nutrition. According to Leenhouwers (2002) piglet survival or quality is influenced by the feed strategy in gestation and lactation period. This will have influence on piglet development in the sow, the birth process of the sow and colostrum production and intake by the piglets. Measurements to quantify the quality of piglets is by weighing the birth weight and measure the survivability after 3 days post birth. According to Baxter et al. (2008) there is a possibility to score the piglet vitality directly after birth, indicating the influence of the birth process on the survivability:

0 = No movement, no breathing after 15 s. 1 = No movement after 15 s, piglet is breathing or attempting to breathe (coughing, spluttering, clearing its lungs). 2 = Piglet shows some movement within 15 s, breathing or attempting to breathe. 3 = Good movement, good breathing, piglet attempts to stand within 15 s. Moreover, there are practical figures known of birth weight in relation to survivability. Piglets weighing below 1000 grams at birth only have 30% survivability. With the increasing number of piglets born and their survivability importancy of weighing litters is increasing to adjust feeding strategies in high prolific sow nutrition. Protein and amino acids End gestation and around birth particularly the udder and fetal tissue ask for more proteins (McPherson et al. 2004). Moreover, with the development of more lean meat sows, for genetic potential of pig growth, the maintenance and body condition loss ask for more protein requirement as well. According to Goodband et al. 2013 data suggests that the amino acid requirement in late gestation increases to a much greater extent than the energy requirement. This knowledge provides a potential opportunity to improve reproductive performance if these requirements are met in adjusted feed formulations or feeding schedules. In the research of Zhang et al. 2011, increasing digestible lysine levels in the period 30-100 days gestation improved piglet quality. Both litter weight and average birth weight increased of the piglets and even colostrum protein content increased. Moreover, it was shown that the sow itself benefits as well by having more backfat and body weight development, which means more reserves for lactation. In practice more and more focus is set on the amino acid requirements of sows. By having the possibility to use more than 1 phase feed during gestation (2 or even 3) amino acid requirements can be more specified in the periods it is needed most; early gestation and late gestation. Moreover, gilts still develop body mass during their first gestation period and therefore need a different amino acid to energy profile than older parity sows. Fiber One of the most important raw materials and nutritional aspects of sow nutrition is fiber. The ability to ferment fiber in late small intestine and large intestine is much higher for the matured sow in comparison to piglets and grower/finishers. According to Duane Reese (1997) there are things to take in mind when using fiber in sow diets: - Evaluate the economics of feeding fibrous feeds by calculating total feed cost/sow/year (cost of feed/ton x tons/sow/year), not just feed cost/ton. - Sows fed high-fiber diets must eat more feed to meet their energy requirements, while energy content drops in the total feed.

- Digestion coefficients for high fiber ingredients are greater than those obtained with growing pigs. - Dry matter, gross energy and fiber utilization is increased when particle size is reduced. However, to overcome stomach ulcers it is wise to keep bigger particles in the feed. - Sows fed restricted quantities of a bulky diet require more time to eat their ration. This is beneficial in group housing and/or to overcome stereotypic behavior. More recent research work on fiber also shows beneficial effects on the birth process, which is essential for good quality born piglets. In the research of Loisel et al. 2013 an increased fiber diet (7,6% vs 3,3% Crude fiber) late gestation improved the birth process with 25 minutes. Consequently, the colostrum intake of the piglets improved and duration for the piglet to go to the udder directly after birth decreased. Not in every market fiber sources are common use. However, improvements made with modern high prolific sows by feeding more fiber gives opportunities to improve sow fitness and piglet quality. Fat and Fatty acids In sow lactation diets more concentrated energy sources are needed to supply the energy. Besides high starch materials like maize and wheat, fat is the most important energy source. Sows are the most sensitive on palatability around farrowing and during lactation. One of the elements causing negative effects are degraded raw materials, especially oxidated fats. Therefore, quality of fat is very important, but also the source of fat. In the study of Quiniou et al (2010) the use of palm oil or linseed oil had influence on the duration of birth. Linseed oil fed late gestation had a positive influence on the duration of the birth process and litter size. Moreover, fish oil is known as an often used fat in late gestation and lactation diets in benefit of piglet quality. Rooke et al (2001) found more active piglets when fishoil was used in end gestation feed and transition diets. This was confirmed by Adeleye et al. (2013) in which not fishoil, but specifically the omega 3 fatty acid DHA (C22:6) was tested. By feeding this end gestation piglets were more vital and were quicker at the udder and faster in drinking colostrum. Again this is confirming the importance of more specific feeding in sow nutrition, especially when physiologically the biggest changes occur for sow and piglet. Vitamins As a general nutritional content vitamins are needed as a maintenance for sows. But it is often forgotten how big the need is around the high productive processes like birth, lactation and mating for extra vitamins. Especially, in the situation of oxidative stress. Vitamins like E and C in combination with selenium are the drivers to reduce the oxidative stress by catching the free radicals and balance the process again. In the study of Kim et al. (2013) it is clearly shown that the oxidative stress around birth and the first days post birth is high. However, the vitamin E content in Blood is the lowest during that period.

Meaning extra anti-oxidant effect added in the feed would help the sow to improve her status on health support. A review of Eder (2009) gives an overview of the effects of dietary L-carnitine supplementation on the reproductive performance of sows. Most studies performed show consistently that L-carnitine supplementation to a sow diet increases piglet and litter weights at birth and enhances growth of litters during the suckling period. There is evidence that carnitine influences the insulin-like growth factor-axis in sows and leads to greater placentae, which in turn improves intra-uterine nutrition. These effects may be responsible for higher birth weights of piglets. From own DSM research the use of the 25-OH vitamin D3 (Rovimix Hy D ) form in sow nutrition reduces the number of dead born piglets. Overall this was a reduction of 16%. The explanation is the beneficial influence of more available 25-OH D3 in the blood in the ca-metabolism. This improves the uterine muscle contraction during birth, making the process more comfortable for the sow. Moreover, research have shown 3% increase in birth weight and weaning weight of the piglets. Besides the standard vitamins needed for maintenance and growth, specific areas in the sow cycle ask for on top off vitamins to support high prolific production. Besides above mentioned specific nutrient requirements and raw materials, balance in the total feed is key to make a successful sow feed and feeding management. This asks for a more holistic approach in sow nutrition in which management, sanitary status and veterinary status are and should be combined. Overall there is enough proof made out of research from the past that sows need more specific feeding management and nutrition. However, with the higher prolific genetics current swine production is dealing with, the next step in feeding the modern sow have to be made. Therefore, willingness to change and more research is needed to take that next step successfully.

References: 1. Adeleye. Enhancing piglet survival and welfare in different farrowing systems. School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development Newcastle University 2013. 2. Baxter E.M. et al. Investigating the behavioural and physiological indicators of neonatal survival in pigs. Theriogenology 2008, 69:773-783. 3. Eder Influence of L-carnitine on metabolism and performance of sows. Br. Journal of Nutrition 2009, 102 645 654. 4. Goodband et al. Nutritional enhancement during pregnancy and its effects on reproduction in swine. Animal Frontiers 2013. 5. Danish Pig Research Center, annual report 2014 6. Kim et al. Improving efficiency of sow productivity: nutrition and health. Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology 2013, 4:26. 7. Leenhouwers et al. Fetal development in the pig in relation to genetic merit for piglet survival Journal of Animal Science 2002, 80, 1759 1770. 8. Loisel et al. Influence des fibres alimentaires données à la ruie en fin de gestation sur la production de colostrum et les performances des porcelets endant la lactation. Journées Recherche Porcine 2013, 45, 177-182. 9. McPherson et al. Growth and compositional changes of fetal tissues in pigs. Journal of Animal Science 2004, 82:2534-2540. 10. Noblet et al. Energy utilization in pregnant and lactating sows: modeling of energy requirements. Journal of Animal Science 1990, Vol. 68 No. 2, p. 562-572 11. Quiniou et al. Consequence of extruded linseed incorporation in sows and/or pigs' diets on performance. 61st Annual Meeting of the European Association for Animal Production August 23rd-27th, 2010 Heraklion, Crete Island, Greece Session 11 "Evaluation and use of alternative pig nutrient sources". 12. Rooke et al. The effect of feeding salmon oil to sows throughout pregnancy on pre-weaning mortality of piglets. Br. Soc. Animal Science 2001 73:489-500. 13. Reese, Dietary fiber in sow gestation diets A Review. Nebraska Swine Reports 1997. Paper 229. 14. Zhang et al. Effects of Lysine Intake during Middle to Late Gestation (Day 30 to 110) on Reproductive Performance, Colostrum Composition, Blood Metabolites and Hormones of multiparous Sows. Asian-Aust. J. Anim. Sci. 2011 Vol. 24, No. 8 : 1142 1147.