How can the milk production of sows be effectively increased?
Sows play a very important role in pig farming, and the reproductive and breeding capacity of sows determines the overall quality of the pig herd. Because sows need to nurse piglets, their management is very important. When we manage sows in farming, various problems often arise. This is especially true of the lactation problems of sows after farrowing, so how should we increase the milk production of sows when raising them? Let's take a look together with the editor below!
1. Promote mammary gland development
The mammary glands of a sow's udder develop before the sow reaches two and a half years of age. The lactation period is the main time for mammary gland development, and the development and activity of the mammary glands proceed independently. After birth, piglets habitually suckle from one teat and continue doing so until weaning. Therefore, if the litter size is small, for example only about 8 piglets, then only 8 teats are used. So only the teats that are used can develop, while the other teats stop developing. As the number of suckled teats decreases, the remaining unused teats shrink. Therefore, when a sow has a small litter, we should get the piglets into the habit of suckling from two teats, to promote the development of all teat mammary glands and ensure the sow's milk production throughout her life.
2. Feed formulation
When feeding sows, we should pay attention to formulating rations reasonably according to the nutritional needs of the sow. Ensure a balance in the proportions of energy, protein, minerals, vitamins and various other nutrients. Insufficient nutrition will not only reduce the sow's milk production, but also easily lead to paralysis in the sow. Therefore, increasing the nutritional proportion of the feed during pregnancy and the first month of lactation can effectively promote the development of the sow's mammary glands and increase milk production. The nutrition of breast milk is very rich; only by ensuring sufficient feed and drinking water can the quality and secretion volume of breast milk be guaranteed.
3. Scheduled feeding
Sows should be fed about three times a day, preferably at 8 a.m., 1 p.m. and 8 p.m. each day. Also, when feeding in the morning and evening, attention should be paid to appropriately increasing the feeding amount, which can increase the sow's feed intake and promote lactation. During lactation, the sow has the greatest nutritional needs of the entire reproductive period, so she cannot be fed according to the method used during pregnancy. While feeding well and sufficiently, feeding frequently and in small amounts can ensure the sow has sufficient nutrition for lactation. During the sow's lactation period, the feed should be kept stable; the feed variety should not be changed easily, so as to ensure feed quality and increase the sow's milk production.
4. Manual massage
Part of the reason for insufficient milk production in sows is incomplete development of the lactation system. Therefore, we can promote the development of the sow's mammary glands by manually massaging the sow. This is generally done half a month before farrowing and about one week after farrowing. Before farrowing, do it twice a day, gently kneading the sow's udder with your hands for about twenty minutes. After farrowing, apply a warm towel at about 50°C to the udder and massage, also twice a day, ten minutes each time. In this way, the sow's milk yield can be effectively increased. During massage, we can also observe whether the sow's teats are blocked, and the blockage can be squeezed out in time.
The above is a brief introduction to how to increase the milk production of sows. To increase the milk production of sows, the farming environment is also very important, and Chinese herbal medicine can also be used to promote lactation in sows; both can effectively promote sow lactation. That's all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only, and we hope it can help everyone!