Achieving more uniform and vital sucklings

The placenta determines the quality of the piglet

The larger the placenta, the better supply of nutrients, minerals, antibodies and oxygen to the fetuses.  The placenta also handles the transportation of waste products from the fetuses. The placenta is an essential key to unlocking the potential for more uniform and vital piglets.

The placenta starts developing as early as ten days after successful insemination, emphasizing that a good start for the gestation period depends on an early effort to maximize feed quality.

The placenta’s development demands a sufficient supply of fatty acids, amino acids, minerals, and antioxidants. All of which need to be available for the sow to utilize and metabolize the compounds. Likewise, the fetus will need a sufficient supply of nutrients.

The functional protein EP199 is a complex protein containing a combination of the demanded nutrient but highly digestible by the sow. When feeding EP199, improved utilization is documented by increasing mineral content for both sow and piglet. An example is the proteins ability to increase the iron content in piglet blood by up to 27%.

Source: Czech et al., 2019. See the paper here 

Maximise the supply of oxygen to the fetuses

The supply of oxygen to the fetuses needs to be at its’ best – especially during farrowing to ensure that the piglets remain viable. The red blood cells (RBCs) are responsible for supplying oxygen to the fetuses.

EP199 increases the number of red blood cells before farrowing.

Source: Czech et al., 2019. Read the publication here 

Inflammation reduces sow productivity

Inflammation – in particular – effects sow productivity negatively, and this is the reason why you have a great interest in reducing the occurrence of inflammation in your sow herd as much as possible.

Either physical or physiological stress can provoke inflammation. Consequently, all unnecessary and manageable stress factors should be minimised, especially before farrowing.

The more physical conditions involve inflammation in the womb, which can lead to a decrease in litter size. Inflammation can also result in lack of milk yield called PDS or Post dysgalactia syndrome (SEGES no. 1196).

 

Inflammation can be caused by bacterial infections through physical injuries like the utter but can also be the result of pathogenic bacteria in the gut microflora (SEGES, no. 1196). Besides inflammation, the pathogens also create toxins, which can affect the vitality of the fetuses.

Your feed can help the sows to a balanced and diverse composition of the gut microflora. That is why you need to be aware to use functional proteins, that counteract both inflammations and at the same time makes sure to keep the number of pathogens at a minimum.

With EP199 inflammation is reduced and the gut microbiome is modulated to promote beneficial bacteria and repress pathogens like E. coli, Salmonella, Clostridium Perfringens and Fungi by up to 95%.

Source: Grela et al., 2019. Read the publication here