ISSUE FOCUS 56 FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE October 2023 The use of natural feed additives in the pig fattening phase are often excluded on the assumption of prohibitive cost; yet losing pigs at this stage carries the greatest economic penalty. However, a combination of coated essential oils, yeast cell wall fractions, prebiotics, flavonoids, and saponins, can improve fattening pig health and performance, reduce medicine cost and return a profit. Swine production continues evolving to produce healthy, welfare-friendly, retailer/consumer friendly, and cost-effective pork. While the adoption of aggressive policies to lower antibiotic use in many countries has been successful, management changes are often necessary to maintain high health and welfare standards. Changes in cage legislation, for example in the EU, will lead to the ban of farrowing crates requiring, again, a modification of management practices. From the ban in many markets (e.g. EU, Russia, and China) on the use of ractopamine for improving meat leanness and feed efficiency to most recently, the ban on use of therapeutic levels of zinc (those above 150 ppm) in the EU, many of the tools pig producers use to manage gut health and performance are disappearing. Add to this, changing pig genetics, volatile feed prices, outbreaks of disease such as African Swine fever that continues its progress across the globe, or PRRS which is endemic in many herds, the challenges for swine producers are becoming more obvious. Therefore, finding solutions to lessen some of these previous mentioned issues is a must. FEED ADDITIVE FOCUS ON NURSERY PIGS There has always been a strong focus on the sow and weaning pigs. If the sow is healthy and in good condition, she should produce, strong thriving piglets. However, it could be argued that the development of hyperprolific sows has a negative effect on the sow; longer farrowing times can compromise sow health and welfare, and despite best efforts in management, piglet mortality is still high prior to weaning. Strategies to support both sow and weaning pigs include feeding and nutritional programs e.g., creep feeding; health programmes; and management such as enhanced biosecurity, sorting strategies and hospital pens. At this stage of production, feed additives are often used, and those additives can include probiotics, organic acids, yeast products, and plant-based compounds or phytogenics. The removal of therapeutic levels of zinc in several markets has accelerated the adoption of feed additives. The combination of these various approaches, including feed additives helps pigs achieve the required exit weights from the nursery, hopefully with IMPROVING THE PROFITABILITY OF FATTENING PIGS David Harrington, Ph.D Advanced Ag Products LLC, USA
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