Piglets weaned

Traditional piglets are weaned at 60 days of age, and the sows have less than two litters per year. In order to increase the annual productivity of sows, early weaning techniques were applied to weaned pigs and weaned at 3 weeks, 4 weeks and 5 weeks after birth.

The benefits of early weaning

(1) Shorten the sow's litter size and increase the number of litters per sow. The traditional piglets are suckled for 60 days. The sows have 1.8 litters of litter and 16 litters. Piglets are suckled for 45 days to 50 days, and sows have two litters per year. Piglets are breast-fed for 30 days to 35 days, and sows are abreast with 2.2 litters or more; about 20 piglets are bred.

(2) Save feed and increase piglet feed utilization. After weaning piglets can directly use feed, not limited by each milk, piglets developed neatly. Feed intake of feedstuffs for piglets is 50% to 60%. The feed conversion rate of feedstuff through mother milk is only 20%, which is twice as high as feed efficiency of sow feeds after secondary conversion and milk production. According to research, 20% of energy is lost for each conversion. Since early weaning increases the number of litters per year and the number of bred piglets, it is possible to reduce the number of sows to be reared, and to eliminate low-yielding sows, thereby saving feed. Early weaning can also reduce sows’ weight loss and reduce sow feeding.

(3) According to the nutritional needs of piglets, diets are prepared and allowed to freely feed without affecting the lactation of sows.

(4) Improve labor productivity and reduce feeding costs. Early weaning of piglets, shortening the breeding cycle of sows and raising the number of sows to be bred each year, thereby reducing the amount of sows to be reared, can save feed, speed up pig house turnover, increase the utilization rate of pig houses, reduce feeding management personnel, and improve labor efficiency. This will reduce the cost of raising piglets and increase the economic benefits of sows.

(5) The early weaning technique changed the production of litters in the past season to give birth all year long, so that the finishing pigs were listed on a balanced basis throughout the year.

Early weaning at the early weaning age refers to piglets weaned from 3 weeks to 5 weeks of age. The earlier the weaning, the greater the blow to the piglet and the longer the recovery time after weaning. After weaning at 3 weeks of age, the piglets recovered to weaning weight in 10 days to 14 days, 4 weeks of age weaning required 9 days to 10 days, and 5 weeks of age weaning took 5 days to 8 days. Three to five-week-old piglets have passed the lactation peak of the sow, and they ate approximately 60% of the total sow's lactation. They obtained certain nutrients from breast milk and their autoimmunity was gradually enhanced. As early feeding piglets have already been able to feed on feed, the ability of the piglets to adapt to changes in the external environment has increased. At this time, weaned piglets can live independently. The postpartum uterus recovery of sows takes approximately 20 days, and the uterus of the weaned sow before 3 weeks of age has not fully recovered. Even if the sow is estrous after weaning, the conception rate is not high, embryo embryo death increases, and the number of litter size per litter decreases. From the analysis of the sow's body condition, piglets were weaned from 3 weeks to 5 weeks of age. Production practice shows that in southern China, 4 weeks of age, weaning at the age of 5 weeks in the northern region is appropriate.

Weaning method Weaning is a big turning point in piglet life. Weaned piglets are at the peak of growth and development, but their digestive function and disease resistance are weak. After weaning, piglets turn to feeds that rely on mother's milk to feed on their own, and at the same time lose their environment. Due to a series of stress factors, piglets often suffer from loss of appetite, mental anxiety and slow weight gain within 2 weeks after weaning. Even if the weight drops to form a stiff pig, we must pay attention to weaning methods and post-weaning feeding management. Modern pig production requires piglets to grow and fatten their pigs in an all-in, full-out manner. The piglet is required to wean at once at the weaning age and the sows and piglets are removed from the delivery room at the same time. The traditional method of feeding is to adopt a method of gradually weaning. The number of suckling pigs is reduced day by day and the total weaning is completed in the first 3 to 4 days before weaning. Regardless of the method of weaning, we must reduce the sow’s concentrate and green feed before weaning, increase raw material appropriately, control drinking water, and reduce sow’s lactation.

Frequent problems with weaned piglets Weaning means that piglets no longer receive nutrients through breast milk. Piglets need an adaptation process (usually 1 week), which is commonly referred to as "weaning off." During this period, piglets will have a series of problems if they are not properly managed.

Negatively-weaned weaned piglets have poor appetite within a few days after weaning due to weaning stress and insufficient feed intake, resulting in not only an increase in piglet weight, but a decrease in weaned piglets. It usually takes 1 week for the piglets to regain weight. The growth and development of piglets during the first week after weaning have an important effect on their growth performance throughout their lives. It has been reported that for every increase in weaning piglet weight by 0.5 kg, the number of days required to reach the marketed weight standard will decrease by 2 days to 3 days.

Diarrhea Weaned piglets usually develop diarrhea, which manifests as loss of appetite, increased drinking desire, and yellowish-green diarrhea. At the start of diarrhea, the tail tremors, but the rectum temperature is normal, the ears cyanotic, after the death, the body can be dehydrated and the small intestine is full.

Occurrence of edema disease in piglets edema occurs in the second week after weaning, the incidence rate is generally 5% to 20%, the mortality rate can reach 100%. It manifested as tremor, dyspnea, dyskinesia, and death within hours or days. At autopsy, the contents of the stomach were abundant, mucosal edema of the greater curvature of the stomach and the cardia, groin lymph nodes, mesenteric lymph nodes, edema of the eyelids and mesentery, vascular congestion, and cerebral effusion.

Zombie pigs, also known as "little old pigs," refer to those pigs whose growth has been hindered and whose growth is backward, and whose age is not small or heavy. The appearance of the performance of the back arched, hair rough disorder, mental fatigue or nervousness, no matter how to strengthen nutrition can not reach the purpose of fattening, causing great losses in production.

The cause of weaned piglets

Physiological characteristics of piglets The fastest growing stage of the digestive tract in piglets is from 20 days to 70 days. In the first few weeks after birth, the acid secretion in the stomach is very limited, and it is generally not until 8 weeks later that there will be more complete secretion. This situation severely affected the full digestion of protein in the diet of weaned piglets before 8 weeks of age. Lactating piglets contain more lactic acid in breastmilk, which results in greater acidity in the stomach, ie, a lower PH value. After weaning, the PH value in the stomach was significantly increased.

The secretion of enzymes in the digestive tract of piglets is generally low, but there are major changes with the development of the digestive tract and food stimulation. Among them, carbohydrate enzymes, proteases, and lipases will gradually increase.

Microorganisms The microorganisms that change the digestive tract of suckling piglets are lactic acid bacteria, which can reduce the destruction of nutrients in the gastrointestinal tract, reduce the production of toxins, increase the protective effect of the gastrointestinal mucosa, and effectively prevent digestive disorders and diarrhea caused by pathogenic bacteria. Lactic acid bacteria are most likely to grow and reproduce in acidic environments. After weaning, the pH in the stomach rises, lactic acid bacteria gradually decrease, E. coli gradually increases (growth in the environment when the PH value is 6-8), and the original microbial flora is damaged, resulting in disease.

Piglets' immune status Neonatal piglets obtained maternal antibodies from colostrum. The maternal antibody peaked at 1 day of age, and then the antibody titer decreased gradually. The maternal antibody titer of the 2nd to 4th week of age was low, and the active immunity was not perfect. If weaned during this period, the piglets were susceptible to disease.

After the weaned piglet is weaned, leaving the sow will cause a mental and physical stress, and it will leave the original living environment, and it will not adapt to the new environment, such as low temperature, high humidity, and thief wind, and The house was not completely sterilized, resulting in conditional diarrhea in the piglets.

Weaning is the biggest stress factor for piglets after they are born. Their feeding and management techniques will directly affect the growth and development of piglets. Poor growth can cause piglets growth retardation, diarrhea, edema, and even death in large quantities. As a pig farmer, it is necessary to understand the problems that are likely to occur after weaning piglets, and to find the best solution to minimize the resulting losses.

The solution to the traditional pig-based weaned piglets to do four fixed, that is, fixed pigs, pens fixed, fixed staff and feed fixed to reduce the stress on piglets.

After the original weaned pigs were fixed weaned, the piglets should not be disassembled, and the original litter should be maintained. If they immediately cause the piglets to bite each other, they will affect piglet growth.

The sheds are rid of the sows when weaning is fixed, and the piglets are left in the original lap to make them live in a familiar environment.

The staff fixed the breeder who originally fed the lactating sow and continued to feed the weaned piglets so that the feeding department did not change habits.

The feed is still fed to the suckling piglet feed within two weeks after weaning, avoiding changes in the feed that cause piglets to eat or digestive disorders and diarrhea. The growth of piglets is generally restored after two weeks of weaning, and then they are lapped and reloaded. The first 3 days to 5 days after weaning can not feed the piglets, generally feeding 80% full, eat more easily lead to indigestion, diarrhea. After 5 days, normal feeding was resumed. To maintain early weaned piglets, pigs should be provided with high digestibility and high-absorption feeds. This is the secret for fast-growing piglets. Do not add antibiotics in feed, but need to add some enzyme preparations, semi-fermented powder feed. The semi-liquid feed is closer to breast milk and can overcome many of the problems that early weaned piglets have not yet been able to distinguish between feeding and drinking, and can meet the nutritional and water needs of piglets. Semi-liquid feeding piglets have a high feed intake and fast weight gain.

Sherwin should be suitable for just weaned piglets that are very sensitive to low temperatures. The smaller the general piglet weight, the higher the required temperature of the weaning environment and the more stable it is. According to reports, in the first week after weaning, if the daily temperature difference exceeds 2°C, diarrhea and poor growth will occur in piglets.

Drying the floor should keep the piglets clean and dry. The wet ground not only keeps the animal's coat on the body surface, but also destroys the thermal insulation layer of the coat, which increases the loss of body temperature. The piglets with insufficient calories are more likely to catch cold and the body temperature drops.

Anti-thief wind studies have shown that piglets exposed to thief-wind conditions have a 6% slower growth rate and a 16% increase in feed consumption.