ISSUE FOCUS FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE November 2024 31 The weaning period represents a piglet’s transition from dependence on the sow’s milk to a diet of solid feed. This is a critical stage in the piglet’s life. However, weaning can lead to various health issues – post-weaning diarrhea is one of the most common ones, which often leads to the first use of antibiotics. Therefore, proper management during the pre- and post-weaning periods is essential to a piglet’s health: not only does it contribute to reducing stress and disease risks, but it also ensures optimal performance in piglets. In the natural environment, piglets naturally wean over a period of several weeks. During this period, the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) develops fully in order to digest solid feed. In commercial pig production, weaning typically occurs around 21 to 28 days of age. At this point, however, the piglets’ digestive system is still immature, and thus they have more difficulty digesting solid feed. This abrupt weaning process leads to an impaired intestinal morphology, such as decreased villus heights, which results in lower feed digestibility, lower feed intake, and an increased risk of post-weaning diarrhea. MANAGING THE PRE-WEANING PERIOD To ensure a smooth farrowing process and vital piglets at birth, successful weaning already starts at the prenatal stage with an optimal sow feeding that also ensures the proper production of colostrum. As it contains specific prebiotic compounds and other bioactive substances, colostrum is essential for maturing and modulating the intestinal tract. The first hours after birth are the most critical for colostrum intake. This is due to a process called ‘gut closure’. During the first 24 hours of life, the piglet’s intestine is still permeable to large molecule like immunoglobulins. However, this permeability decreases rapidly. The intervention of determinate management strategies, such as split suckling, can support the smaller piglets’ intake of colostrum. Moreover, colostrum plays an essential role in the gut closure process, because it contains growth factors that promote the maturation of the piglets’ GIT, whereby they improve their ability to absorb nutrients and form a protective barrier against pathogens. In addition to good colostrum management, training the piglet to eat solid feed is an excellent way to prepare it for weaning. Middelkoop et al. (2019) have indicated that playfully transitioning to solid feed will ‘train the brain’. In other words, compel piglets to face new situations in an early phase to reduce change-induced stress later in life. The authors did not see higher feed intake before weaning – but, after weaning, the piglets ate more and, in particular, they started to consume solid feed sooner, which is key to maintaining the GIT’s functionality. EFFECTIVE WEANING: A PRE- AND POST-WEANING NUTRITIONAL APPROACH Kobe Lannoo Global lead Swine Agrimprove
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