What are the reasons piglets easily become emaciated after weaning
Piglets are weaned once they reach a certain age; if they are not weaned in time, their growth and development will be severely stunted. However, after weaning, piglets often show a steady decline in body weight, and may even become runt pigs. So what causes this? Let's take a look together.
1. Environmental factors
After weaning, piglets are separated from the sow and raised on their own. Their living environment changes greatly at this point, shifting from being nursed by the sow to living independently, and these changes often trigger a series of stress responses. Restlessness and loss of appetite appear, so making a good environmental transition for piglets before weaning is very important, in order to prevent the anxiety that arises after weaning. The sow can be moved away and the piglets kept in the original pen, so that the piglets' living environment is not changed, or piglets of similar body condition can be grouped into a new group, which prevents the big from bullying the small.
2. Feeding factors
Weaning piglets from liquid milk to solid feed is a gradual process. During this process, the piglets' digestive system needs sufficient time to fully develop so it can adapt to solid feed. However, because of improper handling or low feed digestibility during actual feeding, the proportion of dry matter in the feed is relatively high, and the piglets' digestive tract cannot adapt, which leads to loss of appetite. Therefore, in the early stage after weaning, a liquid feeding method should be adopted, which can both provide piglets with dry matter nutrients and help their digestive tract adapt.
3. Disease factors
Piglets have a weak constitution, so their resistance to the outside world is relatively poor. Some piglets are highly prone to diarrhea after weaning, and these cases are caused by disease. On some pig farms, the incidence of diarrhea in piglets after weaning is extremely high, reaching as much as 80%, with a mortality rate of 20%. Diarrhea is often the main cause of slow growth and development in piglets and can very likely lead to runt pigs.
4. Other reasons
After weaning, the piglets' small intestinal villi undergo a certain degree of atrophy. The degree of atrophy is closely related to the feed intake during the transition period, which often causes indigestion and intestinal damage in piglets and leads to Escherichia coli and Salmonella infection. In addition, after weaning, because the piglets' maternal antibodies decline, their immune function weakens, which then leads to bacterial infection, serositis, and respiratory system diseases, resulting in the appearance of runt pigs.
The above is an introduction to why piglets easily become thin after weaning. We hope it can help you. To learn more related knowledge, please keep following us.