Taking action this winter will help to maximize full value hogs during warm weather and strong markets
By Jordan Graham, DVM, MSSwine Vet Center, P.A.Winter months are rarely the highlight of the year in hog production. Market prices sag, disease breaks are on the rise, and the weather takes its toll on facilities and utility costs. It can be difficult to see beyond the day-to-day struggle this time of year but now is when swine producers are making their most profitable pigs. Pigs born from the late weeks of November through January have historically been the highest value weaned pigs and subsequent market hogs for the year, making how we manage health important to ensure they hit those markets on time and at full value. Think of warmer weather, healthy pigs, and these critical management practices.
It Starts With The Sow
The foundation for the pig’s lifelong immune system function is set on day one and is influenced by the sow’s immune status prior to farrowing. From day one to weaning, our management decisions will impact downstream performance.
A robust pre-farrowing vaccination and/or feedback program ensures lactogenic immunity passed through the milk from the sow to the piglet is providing adequate protection against preweaning pathogens such as Rotavirus and Clostridium. Uncontrolled, these pathogens cause pre-wean mortality and lower weaning weight.
Adequate colostrum intake is necessary for pigs to acquire this life-saving immunity and piglets only have a short time following birth to absorb enough antibodies through colostrum. What processes are set up in your farrowing rooms to achieve maximum colostrum intake by every pig born in the first 6-10 hours?
Decrease pre-weaning mortality through practices of extended farrowing coverage, routine heat lamp management, fallback litter management. These practices, which help increase the number of live pigs weaned, can seem tedious and are added cost but have a higher return on investment during winter months than any other time.
Do not compromise on weaning age. Winter farrowed groups may be smaller (pregnancy loss due to disease break, breeding during seasonal infertility in July – September), there may be temptation to early wean litters to build breeding groups back. Pigs weaned less than 18 days of age have impaired gut and immune function in comparison to pigs weaned 20 days or more.1
“Summer can’t come soon enough” is something I hear often from producers and caretakers taxed by a winter of disease challenges, weather, and lackluster markets.
Starting Pigs Right
How pigs transition to eating feed post-wean has been a focus of producers, nutritionists and veterinarians for years. Industry trends in genetic preference have shifted to a terminal sire line with higher meat quality but has proved to be a weaned pig with a more difficult time transitioning to feed. Remove barriers that stand in the way of making that transition.
Get the barn environment right. Winter is the hardest season to start pigs. Set barn temperature to desired starting temperature a minimum of 12 hours ahead of pigs arriving, 12-24 hours ahead of time in extreme weather conditions. Concrete slats and walls take far longer to achieve the desired temperature than air and realized temperature (the temperature that is felt by the pig) is 5-10 degrees below air temperature on concrete and metal surfaces.
Manage feed correctly, especially the first ration. Good feed presentation means feed is dry, fresh, and available. Early rations high in milk-based products sour quickly when wet, keep pans cleared of soured feed. Keeping feed available means the first ration is evenly distributed across all feeders. Feedlines with multiple large bulk feeders will fill unevenly without manually adding feed or extending feed drop tubes to decrease volume in feeder. Drop tube extensions also help keep feed fresh rather than filling bulk feeders full in the warm and damp environment of the wean-to-finish or nursery barn. Think of feed as a bowl of cereal, would you eat it if it’s been left out in a nursery barn for a week?
Make sure your vaccination program has you covered. PCV2 can have a major negative impact on mortality and finishing performance. We often assume that every pig is vaccinated properly by staff that fully understands proper administration technique and vaccine handling. It is a safe bet that this is not always true. Auditing vaccination events, especially in winter months with high value pigs will ensure this is covered. Additionally, Ileitis and Erysipelas are seen most in finishing pigs in the warm summer months. If not already in place as part of a year-round control program, they should be added to the program.
Plan Ahead
As mentioned, Fall and Winter farrowed groups may be lower in inventory. Planning to rebuild the inventory in these groups starts in the winter and spring months when gilt replacement numbers are ordered or planned.
Seasonal infertility manifests as a decrease in conception and farrowing rate in sows bred through the summer months. The gilts bred in this timeframe are from litters farrowed in the winter months and delivered as growing gilt replacements in the late winter and early spring. Knowing your summer breed targets for your gilt lots intended for summer breeding will ensure winter wean pig targets are met
“Summer can’t come soon enough” is something I hear often from producers and caretakers taxed by a winter of disease challenges, weather, and lackluster markets. Yet, standing in a nursery or wean to finish barn, looking at a newly placed group of weaned pigs, the expression should be “Summer is here”. Taking action this winter will help to maximize full value hogs during warm weather and strong markets.
References
Moeser, AJ. Optimizing gut function in pigs: the long-term impacts of early weaning. Proceedings from the 48th Annual AASV, 2017