Assessment of the lactation feed intakes including environmental temperatures and betaine supplementation

During lactation, the average daily feed intake of sows is reduced as temperatures increase. Betaine supplementation in sows has been shown to enhance reproductive performance and may be more effective when feed intake is restricted or the animal is under stressful conditions. The objectives of this research were to quantify and model daily lactation feed intakes and to evaluate the effects of environmental temperatures, humidity, and betaine supplementation on lactation daily feed intakes (DFI). The DFI of 565 lactation records were evaluated for sows of 2 genetic lines. Sows were fed ad libitum during the entire 21-d lactation period with a diet supplemented with either 0 or 0.3% betaine-HCl. Sows were fed corn–soybean based diets (3.32 Mcal of ME/kg). The DFI data were fitted to generalized Michaelis-Menten functions of day of lactation. The generalized Michaelis-Menten function {DFIi, t (kg/d) = DFI₀ + (DFI_A − DFI₀)(t/K)^C/[1 + (t/K)^C]} with 2 random effects for DFI (dfi_Ai) and intercept (dfi_0i) with K as a linear function of dfi_0i provided the best fit to the DFI data (R² = 0.474).

No genetic line differences were found for the random effects dfi_0i and dfi_Ai. Betaine-supplemented sows had a 0.27 kg/d greater mean for dfi_Ai (P = 0.004). Substantially greater DFI was observed at the end of lactation in betaine-supplemented parity 1 and parity 2 sows. Parity × treatment and genetic × parity interactions were observed for dfi_Ai (P <0.05). A total ad libitum feeding strategy during lactation allowed sows to express their true variation in DFI each day of lactation which was greater in early lactation. Daily feed intakes were reduced as temperatures increased above 24°C.

In hot weather sows producing the greatest litter weight gain will have the greatest lactation BW loss. Sows producing the heaviest litters do not compensate with adequate increased DFI.

Cabezón, F. A., Schinckel, A. P., Richert, B. T., Stewart, K. R., Gandarillas, M., & Peralta, W. A. (2016). Analysis of lactation feed intakes for sows including data on environmental temperatures and humidity. The Professional Animal Scientist, 32(3), 333-345. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15232/pas.2015-01495