D4—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, August 25,1984
Nothing is more depressing than
an empty farrowing crate. It’s a
signal that profit potential down
the road will suffer. And it’s a grim
reminder that feed was wasted on
a non-productive sow.
One factor leading to the empty
farrowing crate syndrome is the
failure of sows to return to heat.
This is usually figured to be a fist
letter-gilt problem, but it will
occur in older sows, too.
Why does it happen? Resear
chers at the University of
Nebraska have been asking the
same question. And after several
experiments, it looks like they
have some answers.
In designing the experiments,
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Kenneth B. Kephart
Extension Livestock Spec.
University of Del.
they suspected that low energy
intake during lactation was at the
root of the problem. So they fed
nursing sows several different
energy levels, then took a lot of
measurements in both the sows
and their pigs.
The first series of experiments
was set up to look at the sow. D.
Reese and E.R. Peo, Jr. placed the
sows on low, medium or high
energy levels during lactation.
These levels corresponded to a
daily intake of six, nine or 12
pounds of a normal corn-soybean
meal lactation diet. After weaning,
they fed the sows four pounds per
day.
As expected, sows getting only
six pounds a day lost a lot of weight
during lactation - almost 52
pounds. Those eating 12 pounds per
day lost only four pounds. Those on
the low energy level lost .3 inches
of backfat compared to only a .1
inch loss in the high energy group.
By seven days post weaning, 97
percent of the sows on the high
energy diet had come into heat.
And 91 percent of those on the
medium energy level (nine pounds
per day) were in heat within the
first week. But sows restricted to
six pounds were slow. After seven
days, only 60 percent had shown
signs of estrus. And even after 70
days, 14 percent of these sows still
weren’t in heat.
What was different about the
sows that came into heat and those
that didn’t? Reese and Peo decided
to take a closer look at the low
energy group to find out. They
discovered two things. First, sows
in the non-return group had less
backfat at weaning. And second,
blood analysis indicated that the
non-cycling sows had overactive
thyroid glands. The trouble is, we
don’t know if these sows were
hyper at the start, or if the
restricted feeding made them
hyper. That’s a brand new can of
worms for future research.
What about the baby pig? In the
second series of experiments, two
other Nebraska scientists, J.L.
Nelssen and A.J. Lewis, fed three
different energy levels to sows to
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get a handle on the relationship of
calorie intake and sow and litter
performance. These levels
corresponded to a feed intake of
seven, 8.5 or 10 pounds of a corn
soybean diet. Pigs received no
creep feed.
Baby pigs in all groups had
similar survival rates - about 93
percent. But feeding sows either
8.5 or 10 pounds each day during
lactation produced heavier pigs at
28 days then feeding 7 pounds. For
example, feeding 8.5 pounds
produced a litter weight of 135.6
pounds compared to 127.4 pounds
with the 7-pound feeding level. So
the extra 42 pounds of sow feed
produced more than 8 pounds of
additional litter weight. That’s
$4.20 invested in sow feed and at
least $7 returned in extra
production. Money well spent.
Rothrock sale on Nov. 10
KEMPTON - Rothrock Golden
Holsteins announces a spectacular
opportunity for Holstein breeders
across the nation. Named the
“Golden Opportunity Sale”,
Rothrock Farms will be hosting
their first consignment sale this
fall.
Scheduled for November 10, at
the Rothrock Golden Holstein
Farm, Rl, Kempton, the sale
promises to feature “the best of the
breed” according to Jack Miller,
farm manager. Consignments will
be arriving from as far west as
California, and as far north as
Canada. Famous Holsteins with
tremendous pedigrees and enough
ISo there’s a real plus to feeding
8.5 pounds rather than 7 pounds per
day during lactation. But in this
study, sow and Utter performance
in the 10-pound group was almost
identical to that of sows getting 8.5
pounds.
Where does that leave you? To
be sure that sows come into heat
quickly, they ought to be getting 12
pounds of feed a day (16,000 kcal)
during lactation. But these studies
suggest that milk production (at
least in first-Utter sows) may
plateau at a daily feeding level of
around 8.5 pounds.
So, full feeding may be more
than is necessary. But if you
restrict the feed too much for a
nursing sow, sooner or later it’ll
cost you - either in milk produc
tion or in return to heat.
milk to fill any tank will appear
before the auctioneer.
Rothrock Golden Holsteins is the
home to the 1983-Pa. Eastern
Champion, Down Home Pete
Sandy, as well as the newly
crowned 1984 Pa. Eastern
Champion, Angel PB Abbie - ET.
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