The correct day of farrowing (often d117-d118) is critical when dealing with hyperprolific sows. Farrowings that progress smoothly and take place in a quiet environment, where the sow releases large amounts of colostrum and can suckle her piglets without interruption should be seen as the” ideal” and the objective for every farrowing. Special care to create this environment for first parity sows which may be particularly fearful will benefit them particularly.
The highest level of reproductive performance will be found on farms where feed intake is adjusted to the need of each individual sow. For this reason it is necessary to have a farm-specific feeding regime where the body condition of each individual sow pre-farrowing is documented and feeding adjusted accordingly on a sow by sow basis.
Recondition skinny sows during gestation
Increase the quantity of feed from d85 of gestation onwards: this will maximise the glycogen reserves of the newly born piglets
Ensure farm-specific vaccination schemes (in collaboration with herd vet) are complied with to result in: Stable immunity of sows as well as their piglets via colostrum-intake Optimal embryonic development
Although there are few externally visible changes in gestating sows, it is during this time that physiological preparation is made for a successful suckling period. The following factors need to be considered.
Should a piglet fail to ingest any colostrum, its chance of survival is almost zero!
The concentrations of immunoglobulin (IgG and IgA) decrease rapidly within a few hours of birth. The timing and quantity of colostrum-intake are therefore critical. The more the better, the quicker the better!
Greg Stevenson
Inflammation of specific udder segments can occur at any stage during the lactation.
When milk-release is impaired by mastitis in one or more udder segments, there is the threat that FIL (a protein) will be released: when the concentration of this protein in the udder milk in creases, milk production is suppressed and eventually milk flow will stop.
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