ARTICLE 90 FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE November 2025 Enhancing the competitiveness of the swine sector requires the optimization of farming practices. Precision nutrition enables producers to align nutrient supply with the animals’ actual requirements, while effective stress management promotes welfare and performance. Combined, these approaches contribute to more efficient, sustainable, and ethically responsible pig production systems. Amid growing economic and environmental pressures, the swine industry must strengthen its competitiveness while addressing societal expectations concerning sustainability and animal welfare. Competitiveness depends on the ability of farms to produce efficiently, to innovate, and to adapt to economic and regulatory constraints, while meeting quality and sustainability standards. Feed costs represent more than 60% of the total production cost of finisher pigs in Europe, making nutrition a key lever for improving competitiveness. Although often viewed as a charge, feed should also be regarded as an investment to enhance technical performance and margin over feed costs. Precision nutrition is a crucial means of optimizing feed efficiency, reducing nitrogen emissions, and improving techno-economic performance. Simultaneously, stress management plays a vital role in regulating behavior, maintaining physiological health, and enhancing product quality. At Techna, we have developed an integrated approach combining both precision nutrition and animal welfare to boost the techno-economic performance of fattening pigs. NUTRITIONAL QUALIFICATION OF RAW MATERIALS A detailed characterization of raw materials used in animal feeding is the first step toward implementing precision nutrition in pig production. At Techna, fecal digestibility trials are conducted on finisher pigs to determine specific nutrient values, enabling more efficient utilization of raw materials in feed formulation. A recent example is the development of a predictive equation for the net energy value of finishing diets. This equation is based on improved nutrient digestibility—particularly of fibers and amino acids—as pigs grow. Recent studies have demonstrated a 2.6% increase in energy digestibility between pigs weighing 35 kg and 75 kg, attributed to better utilization of fibers (NDF, hemicellulose, cellulose) and nitrogen. This allows for a more accurate description of the energy value of raw materials according to fiber content and pig weight. The difference between growth (7–75 kg) and finishing (75–130 kg) net energy values depend on the nutritional characteristics of raw materials—whether ENHANCING COMPETITIVENESS IN PIG PRODUCTION Tristan Brehelin Pig Nutritionist Techna
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