Foster Nursing Methods for Piglets and Detailed Precautions
On many farms, to avoid wasting resources, piglets are grouped according to the number of piglets a sow gives birth to. Those litters that are too large, or that for other reasons exceed the sow's own nursing capacity, have their surplus piglets placed with a sow that has a smaller litter and the ability to nurse them. This is the foster nursing method. Below, let's take a look with Qinnong Web at the foster nursing methods for piglets and the precautions.
1. Principles of foster nursing
When selecting a sow that is to be prepared for foster nursing, make a comprehensive selection based on the sow's own development, her previous nursing of piglets, her milk yield, and teat size, and then arrange piglets of a suitable body size for foster nursing. Before foster nursing, the piglets must first stay with their own mother for more than 24 hours. During foster nursing, check the number of teats on each sow and confirm that she can nurse that many piglets before proceeding. Generally, the number of piglets to be nursed should be 2-3 fewer than the number of teats, so that each piglet can get milk and competition for food is avoided, which would otherwise cause uneven growth.
2. Foster nursing methods
Foster nursing should be carried out as early as possible, and every fostered piglet should ideally get enough colostrum. This is because within one week after a sow gives birth, the milk contains a large amount of immunoglobulins, which can help piglets improve immunity and strengthen their constitution. As time passes, the immunoglobulins gradually decrease, so foster nursing must be done early, and at the latest must not exceed 96 hours. When foster nursing, if piglets born 1-2 days later are to be fostered into the litter of a sow that gave birth later, be sure to choose the heavier ones; conversely, if piglets born 1-2 days earlier are to be fostered into the litter of a sow that gave birth later, choose the lighter ones, so as to avoid arousing the sow's suspicion and causing her not to nurse the fostered piglets. And when foster nursing now, be sure that the farrowing times of the two sows differ by more than 3 days, otherwise foster nursing is likely to fail.
3. Precautions for foster nursing
In addition to the requirement that the sows' farrowing times be within three days of each other during foster nursing, attention must also be paid to the issue of smell. Pigs have an extremely keen sense of smell, and the way a sow and piglets recognize each other is through smell. Therefore, this smell problem must be solved during foster nursing. Only when the sow cannot distinguish the piglets' smell can foster nursing be considered successful. Before foster nursing, smear the whole body of the piglets to be fostered with the excrement of the sow that is to receive them or with the afterbirth from her farrowing, and after rubbing them together with the piglets the sow has given birth to for a period of time, the foreign smell can be eliminated. After foster nursing, observe carefully to see whether the sow accepts the fostered piglets. If biting and fighting occurs between piglets, separate them promptly and carry out foster nursing again.
The above are the foster nursing methods for piglets and precautions brought to you by Qinnong Web. We hope it can help you. To learn more about pig farming knowledge, please follow Qinnong Web.