Fine-tuning nursery management, Part II

Editor’s Note: In Part I, we looked at the importance of 20 day post-weaning growth on subsequent performance, how feed intake is critical in targeting improved post-weaning performance and how management is critical in maximizing feed intake during this period. Part II looks at how management can have an impact on feed intake and pig performance.

Water intake is critical in stimulating feed use as there is a positive relationship between feed intake and water intake. On entry into the nursery, pigs lacking the familiarity of both feed and water can take time to adjust to their new environment. Studies have shown that it can take approximately 35 hours for 85% of pigs in the pen to find water and about 30 hours for 90% pigs to find the feed supply.

Strategies to improve water intake can be in the form of drinker selection and management. It is important to ensure that the drinker is at the correct height, shoulder height of the smallest pig in the pen. In addition, there should be a minimum number of drinkers to pigs of 10:1 although pens should never be left with just one water source. As a result, two drinkers per 10 pigs should be the minimum for 10 pigs per pen. Additional water sources can be added post-weaning and turkey drinkers are a common addition during this period.

In addition, drinker type can impact water intake and more importantly in water wastage. A recent study (Torrez et al. 2008) showed that drinker type did affect water consumption and also water wastage. Of three drinker types the nipple and push/bowl drinker improved water consumption although the nipple drinker showed high levels of wastage (approximately 50%) compared to the push bowl drinker (about 20%) in this particular trial.

Measure flow rates

Although water drinker management is important it is also important to ensure that the flow rate of water meets the pigs’ needs. How often do we measure the flow rate between batches of pigs? Flow rate is critical for the young pig as if it is too low the pig will move away from the drinker before satisfying their daily needs. Hence weight gain (feed intake) is reduced and as the flow rate is reduced the water intake becomes insufficient. It is generally recommended that immediately post-weaning a minimum of 500 ml per minute should be targeted with 750 ml per minute being the optimal level post-weaning. The rate of 1,000 ml per minute should not be exceeded. When checking flow rates it is important to check rates in different areas of the nursery as reduced pressure can impact flow rate.

There has been work to target improved water intake and flavors and globulin proteins have been used to try and achieve this with some success, especially in the period 24 hours post-weaning.

When water intakes are low, water quality should be checked and as an initial test the level of total dissolved solids can be determined. This would provide a guideline of the level of salts dissolved in the water and if > 1,000 ppm it may be advisable to do further tests (NRC 1998).

Properly manage the feed program

It is important to feed the correct program set out by the nutritionist and not to underfeed the pig thus losing performance, or overfeed, which results in higher costs than needed. An example of this was shown by the Prairie Swine Centre (Whittington et al, 2005) in a pig unit where researchers measured feed used against budget. This showed that the unit was underfeeding phase 1 and phase 2 feeds by approximately 5 kg. This was reflected in pigs being 4.5 kg behind the nursery target exit weight. After correcting the program, nursery exit weights were much closer, just 0.8 kg behind target. On this unit, it was calculated that although there was an extra cost associated with feeding more of phase 1 and 2, the corrected program increased profit by $1.85 per pig or $US 25,000 per annum on a 600-sow unit.

One area that seems to differ depending on the country is whether producers want to feed to kg or to days. It is important, if possible, to ensure that the feed budget in kg is consumed by the piglet rather than switch the feed due to days. Getting the correct feed per pig in that immediate period post-weaning is critical in ensuring that piglets do not fall behind target weights. This often means that feed changes will need to be monitored by pen or minimum room, but the advantage is cost-effective growth. There is still a debate of whether there are any benefits of batching pigs by size at weaning and then feeding to start weight.

Work by Schinkel et al (2003) showed that the top 80% of pigs through the nursery have a similar ADG while the bottom 20% of pigs have a fall off in gain. It is therefore important, where possible, to treat the bottom 20% of the pigs as a separate population and take a proactive approach in minimizing the negative impact these pigs can have on the production system. It is therefore suggested in typical commercial units that due to practicality the bottom 10% of pigs should be grouped together and fed a separate program. In doing so, they get more of the initial phase 1 program compared to their heavier litter mates. This management practice promotes growth of the lighter pig and reduces the variation out of the nursery.

Reducing feed wastage pays dividends

With high feed prices such what has occurred in recent years, it becomes essential that feed wastage on the unit be minimized. I estimate on an average farm, 10% of all feed delivered to a farm is wasted. Based on a 500-sow unit, that is 300 metric tons of feed per year (based on 6 metric ton per sow and progeny per year). Based on an average feed cost of $300 to $400 per metric ton and 21 pigs marketed per year, that would equate to a cost of $8.57 to $11.42 per pig marketed. Even 2% wastage equates to $1.71 or $2.28 per pig cost. These calculations, although estimates, give a strong indication of what feed wastage can cost a unit in terms of additional cost of production and how a strategy on farm to reduce feed wastage can improve cost of production on the unit.

Management is one of the critical areas that we try as nutritionists to address to ensure that we get the best performance from feed. There are many parameters to remember and follow, but it is often difficult to follow on farm. To this end primary diets produce a tool for use on farm which provides a guideline of management practices and requirements. It is essentially a Management Wheel which a producer can turn to the weight of pig and see what management requirements are needed.The advantage is that the producer has a tool at hand to easily refer to check off the management guidelines for a specific weight of nursery pig.

By using a management wheel, a producer can turn to the weight of pig and see what management requirements are needed. The advantage is that the producer has a tool at hand to easily refer to check off the management guidelines for a specific weight of nursery pig.