What to Do When a Lactating Sow Has Insufficient Milk? Detailed Solutions for the Farrowing House
Teach You How to Solve the Problem of Insufficient Milk in Lactating Sows in the Farrowing House in One Go!
Calcium deficiency. In fact, mastitis, metritis, and agalactia syndrome (MMA) are often related to calcium deficiency around the time of farrowing. Calcium deficiency is the result of excessive calcium nutrition during gestation, which leads to impaired calcium metabolism around farrowing. It is usually associated with delayed farrowing or enlarged mammary glands around farrowing, and is often accompanied by discharge from the vulva.
In most countries, the calcium level in gestation sow diets has been reduced to below 7.0 g/kg, thereby reducing the incidence of MMA. In some regions (such as the United Kingdom and Eastern Europe),
high calcium levels (>8.0 g/kg) commonly appear in gestation sow diets, so MMA problems are more common. In Germany, MMA often occurs in the southern regions, where the drinking water tends to contain large amounts of calcium. The amounts of calcium and phosphorus added to the diet must be optimized for each stage of the sow's reproductive cycle. Better hygiene conditions in the pig house, more reasonable ventilation, and almost no drafts can reduce the incidence of MMA, but the threat of the disease still exists because of excessive calcium supply during gestation.
Early death. In some cases, the mammary glands of sows dry up 3 to 5 days after farrowing, and milk secretion stops. Periparturient hypogalactia syndrome (PHS) in sows leads to decreased piglet body weight and increased mortality, and increases the need for cross-fostering. Feeding large amounts of feed in late gestation (> 44 kg/day) to increase piglet birth weight——a common practice in the Danish pig industry——can lead to the occurrence of PHS. However, the drawback is that it induces “diabetes” in gestation sows. Other factors that may aggravate PHS problems are low levels of crude fiber in the feed, which causes sows to become constipated, have hardened feces, and experience excessive growth of E. coli and/or Clostridium in the intestine. The endotoxins produced by these bacteria reduce sow feed intake and cause nausea and vomiting.
Toxins remain in the pig's body, and the sow dilutes the toxins by retaining water. This causes edema, which disappears 2 to 3 days after farrowing, while milk production gradually decreases and eventually stops. The piglets then show weight loss and may starve to death. Extreme body condition in sows is also a risk factor that induces fatty liver syndrome and PHS. To avoid this situation, feed intake should be gradually increased during the first 10 days of lactation. Experiments have shown that, compared with ad libitum feeding, a feeding method of gradually increasing feed intake during lactation can reduce the incidence of PHS from 23% to 7%. Improving feed intake during lactation is the key to preventing PHS, because feed intake during gestation and feed intake during lactation are negatively correlated. This can be achieved by using a restricted feeding program during gestation and regularly measuring backfat thickness to ensure that sows do not store too much fat when they enter the farrowing house.
Pig house temperature and management. Temperature changes in the farrowing house may trigger a problem of reduced piglet colostrum and milk intake. If the temperature around the sow is lower than the temperature of the warm bed in the piglet brooding area, piglets will be unwilling to stay beside the sow and near the feed. A new production system used in Denmark can encourage newborn piglets to stay in the warm bed of their brooding area, but the shortcoming is that the exit is too narrow, so piglets cannot frequently come to the sow's side. If the mammary glands are not adequately stimulated, milk production will be inhibited. In the Netherlands, there is almost no problem of insufficient milk production in sows, and this problem is usually related to diseases such as influenza, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRSV), and porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2).
In some cases, piglet diarrhea problems occurring in the Netherlands are caused by rotavirus, E. coli, or Clostridium infections. Insufficient vitality of piglets at birth leads to insufficient intake of colostrum and regular milk. This also leads to reduced milk production in sows, thereby causing piglets to starve to death. For sows fed wet feed, water intake is related to feed intake. Reducing the feeding amount around farrowing also reduces water intake, because these sows are not accustomed to using nipple drinkers to drink water. Nipple drinkers at the bottom of the trough can also lead to insufficient water intake in sows. Solutions include placing a separate drinking bowl at the bottom of the trough, or installing a bite-style drinker at the top of the trough. Advanced wet feed devices can provide more drinking water around farrowing.
Multifactorial syndrome. Factors such as pig house conditions, climate, stress, hygiene status, infection pressure, and drinking water play a major role in sow milk production and subsequent piglet performance. Optimizing sow nutrition is the key to preventing multifactorial syndrome. This can be achieved by improving feeding, optimizing the supply of calcium and phosphorus at each stage of the reproductive cycle, using high-quality fermentable crude fiber in sow diets, and ensuring a smooth transition of sows to lactation feed. (Source: Yangxiang Scientific Pig Raising Service)