Page 4 of articles about lactation in Articles

With the high prolificacy of sows nowadays, leveling out litters is one of the most hands-on jobs on the farms of today. It is one of the first steps to start lactation successfully.

We have seen the importance of obtaining a sufficient dose of quality colostrum to generate the newborn’s defenses as well as the conflict that this can suppose when we level the litters after birth. Now lets take a look at the importance of rapidly obtaining colostrum and milk to ensure energy supply and minimize temperature loss.

The dispersion of matings described in the previous article is even more drastic on farms operating in bands over one week.

In addition to amino acid intake, proper energy intake is essential for maximizing milk production in sows. Both the amount of and type of energy can influence milk production.

Many sow farms have been increasing total born and weaning large litters with heavier pigs. With litter size continuing to improve and lactation length increasing to around 21 days, the demand for milk production must continue to increase to meet the increasing demand of heavier pigs.

Here we present a table of differential diagnosis of the most common diarrheas during lactation.

The majority of newborn mamals are very sensitive to low temperatures. However, piglets are especially predisposed to loss of energy.

The milk production of sows is one of the parameters that has evolved the most over the last several decades.

Rotaviruses are important enteric pathogens that affect newborns of several animal species. In swine, they can cause gastroenteritis in piglets.

Escherichia coli is an enterobacteria that forms part of the normal intestinal microbiota of healthy animals. Usually, E. coli present in animals are communal antipathogenic strains and they even play a beneficial role, since they compete in several ways with the pathogenic strains in the ecological niche of the lumen.

When the sow is pregnant, the corpus luteum remains and continues to produce progesterone. While the levels of progesterone are high the sow does not become in heat and maintains gestation.

Colostrum offers 3 essential properties to the piglet: very useful energy source (vital for generating movement and avoiding temperature loss), immune supply (protects against germs that the piglet begins to come into contact with) and natural growth factors (complete the maturity of the piglet).

Normally the productivity of the sow is valued for the number of litters/sow/year multiplied by the number of weaned piglets per litter.