First, the problems that weaned piglets are prone to appear
Weaning means that piglets no longer use breast milk to obtain food. Piglets need an adaptation process (usually 1 week). This is what is commonly referred to as "weaning off". During this period, piglets will experience a series of problems if they are not properly managed.
1. Growth stagnates. Due to weaning stress, weaned piglets have poor appetite within a few days after weaning, and the feed intake is not enough, resulting in no increase in piglet weight, but rather decrease. It usually takes 1 week for piglets to gain weight. The growth and development of piglets in the first week after weaning have an important impact on their growth performance. It is reported that every 0.5 kg increase in weight of weaned piglets reduces the number of days required to reach the market weight standard by 2 to 3 days.
2. Diarrhea in piglets. Weaned piglets usually have diarrhea, which manifests as loss of appetite, increased drinking desire, and yellowish-green diarrhea. At the start of diarrhea, the tail tremors, but the rectum temperature is normal, the ears cyanotic, after the death, the body can be dehydrated and the small intestine is full.
3. Edema disease occurs. Piglet edema disease occurs in the second week after weaning, the incidence rate is generally 5% to 20%, the incidence of mortality up to 100%. It manifested as tremor, dyspnea, dyskinesia, and death within hours or days. At autopsy, the contents of the stomach were abundant, the mucosal edema of the greater curvature of the stomach and the cardia, the superficial inguinal lymph nodes, the enlargement of the mesenteric lymph nodes, the edema of the eyelids and the mesentery, the vascular congestion, and the cerebral effusion.
Second, the pathogenesis
1. Physiological characteristics of piglets. The fastest growing stage of piglets throughout the digestive tract is between 20 and 70 days of age, indicating that the digestive tract grows rapidly after 3 weeks of age, and the acid environment of the piglets and the concentration of various digestive enzymes in the small intestine have changed significantly.
In the first few weeks after birth, the acid secretion in the stomach is very limited, and it is generally not until 8 weeks later that there will be more complete secretion. This situation severely affected the adequate digestion of protein in the diets of weaned pigs before 8 weeks of age. Suckling piglets contain lactic acid in breastmilk, which results in greater acidity in the stomach, ie, a lower pH value. Once weaned piglets, gastric pH increased significantly.
The secretion of enzymes in the digestive tract of piglets is generally low, but significant changes occur with the development of the digestive tract and food stimulation. Among them, carbohydrate enzymes, proteases, and lipases will gradually increase.
2. The immune status of piglets. Newborn piglets obtained maternal antibodies from colostrum. The maternal antibody peaked at 1 day of age, and then the antibody titer decreased gradually. The second to fourth week old maternal antibody titer is lower, and active immunity is not perfect, if weaned during this period, piglets are susceptible to disease.
3. Changes in microbial flora. The micro-organisms in the digestive tract of suckling piglets are lactic acid bacteria, which can reduce the destruction of nutrients in the gastrointestinal tract, reduce the production of toxins, increase the protection of the gastrointestinal mucosa, and effectively prevent digestive disorders and diarrhea caused by pathogenic bacteria. Lactic acid bacteria are best grown in the acidic environment. After weaning, the pH in the stomach rises, lactic acid bacteria gradually decrease, and E. coli gradually increases (growth in a pH of 6 to 8), and the original microbial flora is destroyed, causing disease.
4. Stress reaction. After weaning piglets, because of leaving the sow, there will be a mental and physiological stress, coupled with the original living environment, inadequate to the new environment, such as low temperature, high humidity, thirsty wind, and house disinfection Incomplete, resulting in conditional diarrhea in piglets.
Third, piglet feeding and management measures
1. Supplementary feeding. The growth of piglets is very rapid. At 2 to 4 weeks of age, the nutrients provided by breast milk can no longer meet their growth needs, and supplementation can reduce feed conversion stress after weaning. According to the study, supplementation began at 12 days of age. At the age of weaning, the secretion of hydrochloric acid and pepsin in the stomach were higher than those of piglets that had not been fed before weaning. Supplementation could also prevent the growth of intestinal villi and crypts.
1 The choice of raw materials for the day. Choosing feed ingredients suitable for digestive physiology of piglets is an important condition for preparing high-quality weaned piglets diets, improving feed intake after weaning, increasing growth rate, and reducing diarrhea. These raw materials include skimmed milk powder, whey powder, lactose, spray-dried plasma powder, high-quality fish meal, puffed soybeans, and peeled high-protein soybean meal. According to research, whey powder can significantly improve the performance of the first 2 weeks of weaned piglets at 3 to 4 weeks of age. Because it is a dairy product and contains a natural dairy aroma, it can promote the appetite of the piglets, increase the intake of feed, and can be produced in the stomach. Lactic acid reduces the pH in the stomach of weaned piglets and is beneficial to the digestion of food proteins. Spray-dried plasma powder contains 68% protein and contains disease-fighting agents. It has excellent taste and is ideal for weaning piglets.
The use of acidifiers. The digestive acidity (pH) value of piglets is important for dietary protein digestion. Numerous studies have shown that adding organic acids to the corn-soybean meal diet of weanling piglets at 3 to 4 weeks of age can significantly increase the daily gains and feed conversion rates of piglets. Among the known organic acids, citric acid, fumaric acid (fumaric acid) and propionic acid are known to be effective, depending on the age of weaning.
3 use of enzyme preparations. The purpose of adding enzyme preparations to the diets of piglets is to compensate for the decrease in the activity of digestive enzymes in the body after weaning, to increase the digestion and utilization of feed, and to improve the growth rate of piglets. Currently, the most successful enzyme preparation is phytase.
4 high copper applications. It is well known that the addition of high doses of copper to piglets diets has a significant effect on promoting growth and can increase feed conversion rates. The addition amount is generally 0.02% to 0.05%.
5 high zinc applications. The addition of high zinc to the diet of piglets has similar effects to that of high copper, which, in addition to improving the performance of piglets, also prevents the piglets from crouching.
2. Management measures.
1 mother left to stay. Weanling piglets have poor ability to respond to changes in the environment, especially temperature changes. After weaning the piglets, the sows are driven off and the piglets remain in the original circle, reducing stress levels.
2 suitable temperature. Weaned piglets are very sensitive to low temperatures. The smaller the general piglet weight, the higher the required temperature of the weaning environment and the more stable it is. According to reports, if the temperature difference exceeds 2°C in the first week after weaning, the piglets will develop diarrhea and poor growth.
3 dry ground. Keep piglets clean and dry. The wet ground not only keeps the animal's coat on the surface of the animal, but also destroys the thermal insulation layer of the coat, which increases the loss of body temperature. The piglets with insufficient calories are more likely to catch cold and lower body temperature.
4 Avoid thieves. Studies have shown that piglets exposed to thieves' winds have a 6% slower growth rate and a 16% increase in feed consumption.
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