What are the precautions for creep feeding piglets? Farmers should master these points
Generally, sows that give birth to many piglets will experience insufficient nutrition. To solve this problem, farmers choose creep feeding. However, feeding young pigs supplemental feed requires care, and some aspects need special attention. Below, the editor brings you several issues to note when creep feeding, for your reference.
1. Choosing the timing of creep feeding
The timing of creep feeding is not earlier the better; it should start when the sow's nutrition can no longer keep up. Too early and the piglets will not be able to handle it; too late and the opportunity to build a foundation for the piglets is missed. Farmers should observe carefully; generally, it starts about one week after the piglets are born. At this time, the piglets will often make noisy sounds, and some will even fight over breast milk. This is basically caused by insufficient breast milk, and pig farmers should now prepare something that can replace breast milk.
2. Choosing supplemental feed and feeding
When first creep feeding piglets, they generally will not eat, so at this time the farmer's guidance is needed. For the first feeding, it is best to choose vegetables such as pumpkin to entice them; it has a certain sweetness and is relatively close to sow's milk. For those that will not eat, it is best to take them to the side of the feed trough to assist feeding. After 1-2 days, the piglets will gradually get used to eating at the feed trough. At this point, switch to feeding some soy products with higher protein content to meet their nutritional needs. Farmers must never keep feeding the same thing, as this will lead to nutritional imbalance, and they must not forget to manually assist the piglets in eating.
3. Trough management
From the start of creep feeding, cleaning the trough becomes a relatively important matter. Piglets are very fragile in the early stage, and the supplemental feed is relatively thick. If the trough is not cleaned at this time, the piglets will eat some spoiled food, which will lead to a series of bad problems. This is something farmers tend to overlook. To make it convenient for piglets to eat, the trough is best made of relatively sturdy plastic, rubber, or similar materials; it should be malleable so it is not easy to hurt the piglets, and the inside and outside are best kept relatively smooth so that residue is not easily left behind when cleaning.
4. Sanitation cleanup
Sanitation is also one of the issues to note during creep feeding. As creep feeding begins, the hygiene of the pigpen can no longer be maintained as easily as at the beginning. A poor sanitary environment will cause piglets to frequently develop diarrhea, leading to a vicious cycle. Young pigs will run around while eating, so the food residue on their bodies will inevitably be spread around. Therefore, farmers are advised to clean up after each feeding so as to maximize the effect of creep feeding.
Piglets will gradually become a bit more active in the early stage. At this time, farmers should pay more attention during creep feeding, as it often happens that some piglets do not eat during creep feeding, causing financial losses for farmers later on. If you want to learn more about piglets, you can come to our website to check.