Feeding Management of Pregnant Gilts/Sows: Feeding for future Herd for Sustainable Productivity and Profit in Pig Farming

Feeding Management of Pregnant Gilts/Sows: Feeding for future Herd for Sustainable Productivity and Profit in Pig Farming

Rajat Buragohain

Department of Animal Nutrition

College of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry

Central Agricultural University (Imphal)

Selesih, Aizawl, Mizoram – 796015, India

Introduction

Piggery is livelihood of majority of tribal communities and socio-economically weaker section of the society in India. Piggery is largely concentrated in the Eastern and North-Easter states of India. The 20^th Livestock census (2019) indicated that Eastern and North-Eastern states have the highest pig population with the highest numbers in Assam (2.1 million) followed by Jharkhand (1.28 million), Meghalaya (0.71 million), West Bengal (0.54 million), Nagaland (0.40 million) and Mizoram (0.29 million). India’s pig population (9.06 million) is 1.7% of total livestock population and piggery sector contributes 4.1% GDP and 25.6% of the total agriculture GDP in India (DAHD, 2014). There is huge demand of pork throughout India. The present shortfall of pork is about 0.48 million tonne which indicates the deficit of 48.38% (DAHD, 2012). Thus, there is huge scope of piggery in India and it will not only reduce the gap between demand and supply of pork, but also will help in improving the socio-economic condition of the weaker and tribal communities of India.

Feeding management of pig is one of the important aspects of piggery and is determiner of profitability and sustainability of piggery. It is because of the involvement of nearly 2/3^rd of the total expenditure in piggery for feeding only. Another determiner of profitability from piggery is the litter size at farrowing, numbers of piglets survived at weaning and numbers of pigs available for sale at marketing age. Among various factors, feeding management of gilts or sows during the pregnancy period affects health and lactation performance and hence the litter size, piglet health and their survival rate and their growth efficiency. Gestational nutrition prepares the sows or gilts for successful reproduction. Negative nutrient balance during pregnancy negatively affects longevity and productivity of sows. Selection of gilts and sows for breeding is also another important aspect which is directly related with the reproductive performance. Selection of gilts or sows for breeding should be based on reproductive performance of the dam and the sow during previous gestation and lactation, respectively. Large litter size, milk production, weaning weight of piglets and leanness are some of the factors to be considered while selecting gilts and sows for breeding purpose. Proper feeding management of pregnant gilts and sows is a challenge and needs continuous assessment to fulfil the nutritional requirements.

Factors affecting feeding management of gilts or sows during gestation

There are many factors, associated directly or indirectly, with the proper feeding management during gestation or pregnancy of gilts and sows. Some of such important factors are:

• Feeding of balanced ration.
• Limiting energy intake during gestation.
• Feeding sows or gilts in stalls.
• Providing adequate quality pasture to pregnant sows or gilts.
• Controlling intakes of grains.
• Regular exercise of pregnant sows or gilts.
• Controlling of parasitic infestations.

The main goal of feeding of pregnant sows and gilts is to obtain highest possible number of piglets born alive with optimal body weight.

Feeding phases of pregnant gilts or sows

For balanced feeding with adequate nutritional support, the feeding programme of pregnant gilts or sows can be divided into three phases as listed below.

Phase I: 0- 35 days of pregnancy

Phase II: 36-70 days of pregnancy

Phase III: 71-109 days of pregnancy

Proper feeding during phase I is very important because improper feeding may lead to embryo reabsorption in pregnant sows and gilts and will affect their health as well as economics of the farm. Proper feeding during 36 to 70 days of gestation (phase II) will prepare the pregnant sows or gilt for the next lactation and help to recover body condition leading to some body weight gain. However, excessive fat deposition is not desirable during this stage as it may affect viability of the embryos or fetuses. Deposition of fats in the mammary gland will also reduce milk production in subsequent lactation.

Feeding of pregnant sows or gilts is very critical during the 71 to 109 days of gestation (phase III). It is because, during this period there will be maximum development of the fetuses. The sows or gilts should get required nutrients from feed for maintenance of her body, her body weight gain and also to support the growth of developing fetuses. Proper feeding during this phase will also ensure that mammary gland will be ready for the next lactation. Negative balance of nutrients, particularly of energy, will increase the catabolic processes within the body for which pregnant sows or gild will lose condition.

Nutrient requirement of pregnant sows and gilts (ICAR, 2013) under Indian condition

According to ICAR (2013), nutrient requirements of pregnant gilts can be calculated for two phases (0-75 and 75-114 days of gestation). The maintenance requirement of energy for pregnant gilts/sows will be similar as the growing-finishing pigs. The recommendation given by ICAR (2013) for crossbred pregnant gilts are listed in table 1.

Table 1: Nutritional needs of pregnant crossbred gilts.

Feeding strategies for pregnant sows or gilts

Feeds of the pregnant gilts or sows should be restricted to 2-2.5 kg per day to avoid embryonic mortality. The gilt or sow should not lose body weight as it might be an indication of catabolism of body tissues for meeting the requirements. Proper feeding during gestation will ensure optimal production of colostrum and milk during lactation period. Properly fed animals will also suffer less from the farrowing problems like dystocia, stillbirth etc. Proper lactation ensures piglets to grow more efficiently, healthier, and will be less susceptible to diseases. When the sows or gilts will get their required nutrients optimally during the pregnancy period, in addition to supporting lactation will ensures next normal ovulation cycle.

Feed requirements during the gestation period can be divided into 4 feeding stages:

– The first 0-4 weeks of gestation.

– The following 5-11 weeks of gestation.

– The 12-15 weeks of gestation.

– The final week of gestation.

During the first week after mating or servicing, the gilt or sow should be provided with feed at the rate of 2 kg/day to avoid the risk of abortion. From 8^th day onwards, amount of feed may be gradually increased to 2.5 kg per day to supply some extra nutrients to help in recovering from any loss of body condition in the previous lactation and to allow the gilts to grow. Following this period, feed supply may be reduced to 2.2 kg per animal per day in older sows as the fetuses will be still small and the maintenance requirement will be less. However, the gilts and second lactation sows should be provided with feed at 2.5 kg per animal per day. During the 12 to 15 weeks of gestation, feed allowance should be increased to 2.5 kg per animal per day for older sows and up to 2.8 kg per animal per day in case of gilts and younger sows. The increase in late gestation feed allowance will supply the extra nutrients to support the growing fetuses and will help to avoid excessive sow fatness at farrowing and impaired lactation feed intake.

In the last week of gestation, feed allowance should be reduced to 1.5kg/head/day and along with concentrate feed wheat bran and rice bran should be included up to 1.5kg/head/day to increase bulkiness and to help to avoid constipation problem. This practice will ease the delivery of piglets and will stimulate the sows to eat more after giving birth.

Formulation of rations for pregnant sows and gilts

Formulation of rations for pregnant sows and gilts involves understanding their feeding behavior, having adequate technical knowledge about their nutritional requirements, information about the available feed resources and their nutritional composition and nutritive values; and most importantly, understanding about the methods of ration formulation. Now-a-days, many softwares are available, some are free and some have to be purchased, which can be used for formulation of rations. These softwares require inputs of feed ingredients to be used for ration formulation, their cost and their nutritional composition. Broadly two types of feed resources are utilized for ration formulation of pigs – the conventional feed ingredients and the unconventional feed ingredients. Availability of unconventional feed ingredients are region and season specific and their utilization/uses of them are mainly based on local knowledge about their suitability for feeding to pigs. Conventional feed ingredients include the energy rich ingredients like cereal grains (yellow maize, wheat, rice etc.) and their by-products (wheat bran, rice bran, rice polish, de-oiled rice bran etc.), protein rich ingredients like oil seed cakes (de-oiled soyabean flakes, ground nut cake, sesame cake, mustard oil cakes etc.) and animal products (fish meal, meat meal, meat-cum-bone meal etc.), and the feed additives (probiotics, enzymes, prebiotics etc.) and feed supplements (mineral mixture, vitamin mixture, calcium-phosphorous supplements, synthetic lysine, methionine etc.). The unconventional feed ingredients should be used with cautions as most of them contain toxic compounds (anti-nutritional factors) which can affects feed utilization, health and productivity of pigs and may also cause abortion and reproductive abnormality. Unless adequate information are available about nutritional composition and safety, the unconventional feeds should not be used for feeding to pregnant gilts and sows.

As a thumb rule, the following guideline may also be used for ration formulation of pregnant gilts and sows using the locally available conventional feeds.

Additional feeding management during pregnancy

Prior to farrowing, the gilt or sow should be removed from the herd and concentrate feed mixed with wheat bran/ rice bran (1:1 ratio) should be offered. Good quality drinking water should be available ad libitum and preferably, lukewarm water should be provided. Immediately after farrowing also, depending on gilt’s /sow’s appetite, bulky feed may be offered @ 0.5 to 1.0 kg, and it should be increased gradually so that the gilt/sow can be full fed by the end of the first week.

Effect of poor feeding management during pregnancy

            Poor feeding management during pregnancy period will result either malnutrition or overweight of pregnant gilt or sow, both of which are detrimental to piglet health and reproductive performance of gilt or sow. Both under- and over-feeding increases embryonic mortality affecting litter size at farrowing. Improper feeding of gilt or sow during pregnancy also predisposes longer calving interval in the subsequent reproductive cycles.

Conclusion

Feeding is one of the most important components of any animal production system playing significant role in their developmental and productive stage. Pregnant gilts or sows are the most important components in piggery as they provide the piglets. It is necessary, therefore, to provide balanced feed at right time and quantity to them to meet the gestational requirements. Inadequate feeding causes health problems in pregnant gilt/sow seriously affecting reproduction. Strategies to optimize feeding process can ensure production under the highest standards of animal welfare.

References

DAHD (2012). Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India, New Delhi.

20^th Livestock Census (2019). 20^th Livestock Census-2019, All India Report, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Animal Husbandry Statistics Division, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi.

DAHD (2014). Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi.

ICAR (2013). Nutrient requirements of pigs. Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Ministry of Agriculture, New Delhi, India.

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