diet formulation supplementing piglets with dairy milkdiet formulation 18 allaboutfeed v olume 22,...
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Diet formulation
www.AllAboutFeed.net18 ALLABOUTFEED Volume 22, No. 5, 2014
Newborn piglets often need a good dairy supplement to make the transition from sow milk to solid feed as smooth as possible.
Supplementing piglets with dairy milk Piglets need high quality milk early on in life. In highly
prolific sows, providing additional milk sources is needed
to make sure all piglets get what they need. What makes
milk replacers from dairy sources the right choice for
piglets?
By Evi Croes, Nukamel, Belgium
Due to larger litter sizes and
increased competition for
sow milk, nutrient availabili-
ty for newly-born pigs is
often limited. Providing an additional
soluble milk replacer to suckling piglets
will increase nutrient intake of the piglets
and, therefore, improve pre-weaning daily
weight gain and weaning weights. An
effective creep feeding programme has
also proven to stimulate pre- and post-
weaning feed intake and gains during the
first few days after weaning, as it acclima-
tises the piglets to solid feed before wean-
ing and stimulates the development of the
digestive system. Within this respect, two
main questions can be raised. Why do we
feed pigs with milk products originating
from dairy cows? And, why would pork
producers or feed mills in e.g. Thailand
or Chili choose to work with EU dairy?
Increased survival ratePiglets in commercial husbandry are gen-
erally weaned between three and four
weeks of age for economic reasons. Many
piglets have no experience with solid feed
before weaning, resulting in low feed
intake and growth after weaning. Newly
weaned piglets often show a high inci-
dence of diarrhoea due to reduced gut
health, low immune status and high stress
levels at weaning. Milk products are com-
monly applied in feed formulation of
young piglets to facilitate the transition
from sow milk to dry, vegetarian diets
after weaning. The inclusion of milk in
creep and weaner diets contributes to the
easy acceptability and palatability due to a
familiar smell, taste and digestibility. A
gradual decreasing line in highly digesti-
ble dairy proteins and lactose contributes
to a less abrupt change in feeding, lower
levels of stress and gastro-intestinal dis-
turbances. In general, the use of high
quality milk products leads to improved
performance, lower levels of mortality and
higher profitability for the pork producer.
In very early weaning systems or sow-less
rearing systems, (automatic) supply of a
liquid milk replacer is necessary, as piglets
are not ready yet to survive on solid feed.
Especially in large litters there are more
weak piglets with lower birth weights. On
average, each additional live born piglet
per litter accounts for a drop in birth
weight of about 30g. Increasing the sur-
vival rate at weaning is thus one of the
biggest challenges and, therefore, special
attention should be paid to these vulnera-
ble piglets. A milk replacer, based on the
best-quality dairy ingredients, to which
piglets have easy or even ad lib access, is
key in achieving higher survival rates in
high productive pig systems.
Valuable nutrientsWhen supplementing piglets with dairy
Photo: Mark Pasveer
Diet formulation
www.AllAboutFeed.net ALLABOUTFEED Volume 22, No. 5, 2014 19
milk products, valuable nutrients are
being offered. And, moreover, those
nutrients are readily digested by the
young animal's immature gastro-intes-
tinal system. Macro-constituents of
milk are butter fat, casein and whey
proteins and lactose. Besides that,
micro-nutrients like e.g. minerals (e.g.
calcium, phosphate), vitamins (e.g. vita-
min A), immunoglobulins and enzymes
define its nutritional value.
LactosePiglets thrive on lactose. This disaccha-
ride sugar (glucose b(1-4) linked to
galactose) is easily digested in infant
mammals due to production of suffi-
cient amounts of enzyme, called lactase.
Moreover, it increases the palatability of
the feed. In comparison to simple sug-
ars, the osmotic pressure developed in
the gut is lower, decreasing the risk for
secretory diarrhoea. In the pre-weaning
phase and immediately after weaning,
the benefit of high concentrations of
lactose (25-30%) is the largest. This
decreases as the piglets become heavier.
ProteinsUnfortunately, inclusion of milk in pig-
let diets is often considered only as a
source of lactose, not taking into
account the value of protein or fat. Milk
proteins are highly digestible and have
excellent levels of essential amino acids.
In soluble milk replacers and creep feed
skimmed milk powder can be used as a
source of casein, resembling the source
of protein provided by the sow as well.
Casein is the milk protein fraction
coagulating at lower pH. The essential
amino acid pattern of porcine and
bovine casein are fairly similar, with the
possible exception of methionine,
which in porcine casein is less than
50% of that in bovine casein. Due to
high prices, though, the use of milk
powders in piglet formulae has declined
in recent years. Next to casein, lactalbu-
min and lactoglobulin proteins from
whey are valuable to use in piglet diets.
Sweet, acid and delactosed whey prod-
ucts are available in the market.
FatMilk fat or butter fat is high in short-
chain fatty acids, of which butyric acid is
considered as one of the most effective
energy sources for intestinal walls. The
absorptive epithelial cells found on the
intestinal villi use the energy provided
by butyric acid to stimulate villi growth
and thus the ability to absorb nutrients.
Availability and qualityRelying on European-derived milk prod-
ucts has various advantages, mainly
explained by availability and guaranteed
quality. Cow milk is produced in every
single European Union (EU) member
state without exception and represents a
significant proportion of the value of the
agricultural output. This production is
even likely to go up, as in 2015, a milk
quota system in the EU will be lifted.
This development only illustrates the
importance of having built and imple-
mented new spray dryers to process addi-
tional volumes of dairy products. In addi-
tion, milk products that are used within
the EU to produce feed for sale, all com-
ply with the regulations set to guarantee
feed and food safety, see also box
'Europe's strict milk quality regulations'.
Antibiotics and alternativesThe long term use of medicated feeds and
the carry-over to non-medicated feeds
has led to antibiotic resistance in
microbes due to a constant exposure to
very small quantities of the drug.
Attempts are being made to reduce the
usage of antibiotics by producers in
various countries in Europe. This asks for
radical changes in sow management,
creep feeding, weaning time, barn cli-
mate, hygiene, and water quality. Also
feed formulation becomes more impor-
tant and the search for alternative ingre-
dients to fill the gap continues. Improving
gut health and stimulating feed intake are
key factors in this. Spray-dried blood
plasma is generally considered as a highly
- The 'somatic cell count' (SCC) is an indicator of milk quality, as these cells are produced as part of the immune response to mastitis. Milk with an SCC of more than 400,000 is deemed unfit for human consumption.
- The EU directives mention specific animal health requirements and specific bacteria limits in raw milk and milk for processing. Milk may only come from herds that are officially tuberculosis-free and brucellosis-free.
- The complete process of milking, storage and transport to the processing plants should occur in clean and cold (<4°C) conditions, to discourage microbial growth.
- The usual pasteurisation process involves a heating time of 15 seconds at 72°C, sufficient to kill 99% of contaminating bacteria.
- There are EU regulations regarding maximum residue levels of veterinary medicinal products and hormones (bovine somatotropin) in foodstuffs of animal origin.
- EU regulations state maximum quantities for contaminants, like e.g. nitrates, mycotoxins, heavy metal, dioxins.
- EU applies to the maximum level of melamine of 2.5 mg/kg in animal feed and foodstuffs.
Europe's strict milk quality regulations
Nutritional value Unit T1a T2a T3aAge Days 2-9 2-9 2-9EW 1.20 1.22 1.22Crude protein % 17.91 19.75 19.19Crude fat % 5.98 5.92 5.95Il. Lysine % 1.12 1.26 1.26Blood plasma % - 5.0 -Nukamix Extra % - - 10.0Milk protein % 1.00 1.00 3.08Coconut fat + butter oil % 0.90 1.30 2.13Lactose % 6.7 12.4 12.4
T1b T2b T3bAge Days 9-20 9-20 9-20EW 1.20 1.20 1.20Crude protein % 17.91 19.81 18.90Crude fat % 5.98 5.98 5.76Il. Lysine % 1.12 1.25 1.25Blood plasma % - 3.0 -Nukamix Extra % - - 6.0Milk protein % 1.00 1.00 2.24Coconut fat + butter oil % 0.90 0.90 1.31Lactose % 6.7 8.0 8.0Piglets, weaned at 21 or 28 days, were offered ad libitum an experimental weaner feed (T1a-T3a) from 2-9
days post-weaning. From days 9-20 post-weaning a grower feed (T1b-T3b) was provided. 540 piglets were
divided in three groups.
Table 1 - Trial results for piglets, weaned at 21 or 28 days.
Diet formulation
www.AllAboutFeed.net20 ALLABOUTFEED Volume 22, No. 5, 2014
Treatment BW, 2 days (kg) BW, 20 days (kg) ADG (g) ADFI (g) FCR (kg/kg) ECR/kg Drop out (%)
T1 7.2 12.2a 263a 351a 1.340a 1.609a 1.1
T2 7.4 13.2b 314b 369ab 1.175b 1.414b 0.6
T3 7.3
0.00 0.00 0.00 0.000.03
13.5b 329b 393b 1.191b 1.434b 1.1
P > F
Notes: Three treatments with 12 replicates of 15 piglets = 180 piglets/treatment; BW = body weight; ADG = mean daily gain;
ADFI = mean daily feed intake; FCR = feed/gain; Values in same column with no common superscript (ab) are significantly different (P<_0.05).
Table 2 - Results of the trial.
concentrated, well-performing source of
proteins which was re-allowed for use in
piglet diets in 2005. In total, 36% of blood
plasma consists of globulins, of which the
immunoglobulin fraction is considered as
beneficial for immunity and gut health.
Blood plasma, is expensive and a dedicat-
ed production line is necessary. Moreover,
recently again the news came that blood
plasma is a suspect in the spread of the
deadly porcine virus in the US Dairy replacementNukamel, originally a calf milk replacer
company with plenty of experience in
dairy products and producing in
Belgium and the Netherlands, has put
ample effort in the development of piglet
ingredients based on EU milk. Based on
principles of single origin dairy resourc-
es, using low heat milk products, fermen-
tation and quantifying immunoglobulins,
the company combines keen sourcing
with a specified production process to
achieve high quality standards for its
dairy products. It has led to the develop-
ment of its Nukamix range of products,
destined to ease the weaning process of
piglets. Nukamix Extra is a piglet feed
ingredient, which contains digestible
dairy and vegetable protein (together
41%) in combination with coconut and
butter fat (together 8%). To see whether
this product can be a good replacer for
blood plasma, a trial was set up. A diet
containing spray-dried blood plasma
(T2) was used as a positive set-off in this
trial. The effect of Nukamix Extra (T3)
on the performance of weaned piglets
was measured and compared to the posi-
tive standard (blood plasma, T2) and a
negative control diet (T1). Piglets,
weaned at 21 or 28 days, were offered ad
libitum an experimental weaner feed
(T1a-T3a) from 2-9 days post-weaning.
From day 9 till d 20 post-weaning a
grower feed (T1b-T3b) was provided.
540 piglets were divided in 3 group
(Table 1). Zootechnical performance of
the piglets from days 2 to 20 post-wean-
ing are shown in Table 2. The dairy pro-
tein source yielded in this test the better
results on growth and feed intake. AAF
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