Swine nutrition
Ingredient quality
Some fungi molds in grain can produce harmful compounds called mycotoxins. Pigs consuming mycotoxins above their tolerance level will face health and reproductive problems. Submitting samples of contaminated feeds to the laboratory can help you manage your feeding practices and prevent mycotoxin toxicity in your pigs.
Read how mycotoxins harm swine health and reproductive performance.
Monitoring feed quality from purchase to when the pigs eat it is key to successful pork production, including quality control when mixing your own swine feed.
Alternative ingredients
Feeding value and energy prediction of DDGS with differing oil content
Oil content of corn distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) doesn’t affect growth performance and carcass traits of grow-finish pigs if the sources have similar metabolizable energy (ME) content. But reducing the oil content of DDGS improves pork fat quality.
Using crude glycerol in sow diets
Including up to 9 percent crude glycerol in lactating sow diets likely doesn’t affect sow performance compared to a typical corn-soybean meal diet.
- With more research, microalgae have the potential to change the sustainability of animal and food production systems.
- Their rapid growth and nutritional content may be valuable for use in swine diets in the future.
- Microalgae could be an alternative feed ingredient that helps support growing populations
Feeding strategies
Keeping track of water intake to monitor pig performance
Water quality and availability for our animals is commonly taken for granted. But water is the nutrient needed in the largest amount by swine.
Formulating farm-specific swine diets
One diet cannot meet the needs of all pigs in different swine operations. It is recommended to modify your feeding program specific to your farm.
Good gut health can help prevent disease in swine
- Gut microflora, diet and increases in pathogens interact in swine digestion.
- Formulating diets is a key tool for maintaining gut health and preventing intestinal disease, especially when using less antibiotics.