Key Points of Feeding and Management Techniques for Suckling Piglets

The feeding and management of suckling piglets mainly involves grasping the three feeds (colostrum feeding, starter feeding, and vigorous feeding) and passing the three critical stages (the newborn stage, the supplementary feeding stage, and the weaning stage).

1. Grasp colostrum feeding well and pass the newborn stage well

(1) Implement attended farrowing, do a good job of delivering the piglets, prevent piglets from being crushed to death, freezing to death, or dying in the womb due to dystocia, and reduce piglet mortality;

(2) Promptly rescue "apparently dead piglets"; artificial respiration may be performed, or the "apparently dead piglets" may be immersed in warm water at 35-40°C with their heads above the water surface, or iodine tincture, alcohol, or ammonia water may be applied to the piglets' nostrils for medicinal stimulation;

(3) Within 24 hours of birth, clip the canine teeth and tails to prevent biting the sow's teats, tail biting, and fighting among themselves, which would affect suckling and the safety of the pigs;

(4) Fix the teats and let the piglets suckle enough colostrum as early as possible. Colostrum contains relatively high levels of immunoglobulins and magnesium salts, which can enable piglets to produce immune antibodies, expel meconium, and improve disease resistance. Generally, within 2 hours after birth, every piglet should be allowed to suckle enough colostrum (at the latest no more than 24 hours); piglets have the habit of suckling from fixed teats. To make the litter of piglets uniform and robust and increase the survival rate, manual assistance should be used to fix the teats 2-3 days after birth.

(5) Strengthen warmth preservation and prevent freezing and crushing. The suitable temperature for piglets: 30-32°C for 1-3 days of age, 28-30°C for 4-10 days of age, and 26-28°C for 11-30 days of age. Generally, infrared lamps are used for warmth preservation. The main measures to prevent crushing are keeping the sow quiet and setting up piglet protection rails or piglet protection boxes.

(6) Prevent disease from entering through the mouth. Within 3 days of birth, before each suckling, wipe and massage the sow's udder with a 0.01% warm potassium permanganate solution. This prevents mastitis in the sow and also prevents yellow and white scours in piglets.

2. Grasp starter feeding well and pass the supplementary feeding stage well

(1) Supplement iron in a timely manner to prevent anemia. Generally, within 3 days of birth, each piglet is injected with 100-200 mg of iron preparation; for faster-growing piglets, a second injection should be considered before weaning;

(2) Supplement selenium in a timely manner. Within 3 days of birth and at weaning, each piglet is injected with 0.5-1.0 mL of 0.1% sodium selenite solution, respectively, to prevent piglets from becoming stunted pigs and from suffering from edema disease and white muscle disease after weaning;

(3) Supplement water in a timely manner. At 3-5 days of age, a drinking trough can be set up in the supplementary feeding area to supply clean drinking water, with a little sweetener added, to prevent piglets from drinking dirty water or urine when thirsty and causing diarrhea;

(4) Supplement feed in a timely and early manner. The main purpose of supplementary feeding is to promote the development of the piglets' gastrointestinal tract, relieve itching of the piglets' gums, and reduce the stress of eating feed after weaning. Generally, supplementary feeding starts at 7 days of age. The method is to scatter a small amount of suckling pig pellet feed (such as Dabeinong 551, etc.) on a dry, clean wooden board and force them to eat for 3-4 days. When the piglets begin to consume suckling pig feed, a feed trough can be used. When supplementary feeding, add less at a time and add frequently; generally feed 5-6 times per day to prevent feed waste; discard the leftovers every day, and clean and disinfect the feed trough before reuse.

3. Grasp vigorous feeding, increase weaning litter weight, and pass the weaning stage well

Sow lactation peaks at 3 weeks and then gradually declines. At that time, breast milk alone cannot fully meet the needs of the piglets' rapid growth. However, piglets can fully consume suckling pig feed after 10-15 days of supplementary feeding. Therefore, this favorable opportunity must be used to encourage piglets to consume large amounts of feed, thereby compensating for the insufficiency of breast milk, promoting rapid production of piglets, increasing weaning litter weight, and reducing weaning stress.

(1) Choose suckling pig feed with high and balanced nutrient concentration and good palatability and digestibility;

(2) Feed less and add frequently to adapt to gastrointestinal function and also increase feed intake;

(3) At weaning, avoid stressors such as vaccine injection, group transfer, and castration to reduce weaning stress;

(4) Reduce the sow's feeding amount and water intake 2-3 days before weaning to reduce the piglets' suckling amount, encourage the piglets to consume more feed, reduce weaning stress, and also reduce the incidence of mastitis in the sow.