Feeding the pregnant sow

Ray King,

Program Manager, Pork CRC

The optimum level of feeding in pregnancy varies because of such factors as:

size and body condition of sowenvironmenthousinghealthlevel of productivity

Live weight

The sow requires an extra 2.9 MJ DE/day (or about 0.2 kg feed/day) for an increase of 30 kg in body weight

For 30 kg maternal gain in pregnancy

Liveweightat mating

(kg)

DErequirement

(MJ/day)

Feed(kg/day)

120 23.8 1.9150 26.4 2.1180 29.0 2.3210 31.6 2.5240 34.2 2.7

Environment

The sow requires an extra 6 MJ DE/day (or about 0.45 kg/d) for each 5ºC below the lower critical temperature

Housing The sow kept in individual stalls may require an

extra 2.5 MJ DE/day (or about 0.2 kg/d) because their activity is greater and, consequently, their energy requirement for maintenance is greater than that for group housed sows. In addition, the individually housed sow usually has a higher Lower Critical Temperature than sows kept in groups.

Health

If the disease burden in the herd is high, pregnant sows may require up to 0.5 kg feed/day to cover the extra energy requirements for maintenance

Feed intake in pregnancy

Feed levels need to be adjusted depending upon temperature, housing, sow size, health status.

Protein levels are usually adequate with minimum of 13% crude protein and 0.5% lysine.

No simple recipe for determining feed level for sows during pregnancy.