Pig
World - January 2006
Cannot afford not to go for
creep feed
The Doubting Thomas's will have a myriad of
reasons why they don't opt for creep feeding prior
to weaning. These are just excuses for poor management,
comments SCA Nutec's Dr Mike Varley, The evidence
is clear - that
creep feeding can give a very good return on the investment.
Well managed supplementary feed
pre-weaning offers a wide spectrum of benefits -
higher weaning weights, better post-weaning growth,
healthier piglets and less post-weaning growth checks.
A little more hidden are the physiological
benefits such as a well-primed enzyme system at weaning
and an immune response that has been 'promoted' so
that the piglet copes well with its post-weaning
life and the pathogenic challenges ahead.
Figure 1 shows results of a trial at the SCA
Green Hill unit. Two types of SCA pre-starter feed
offered before weaning were compared with a control
group offered no pre weaning creep feed. The advantages
of the creep feed were very obvious - an increase
of nearly 1kg in weaning weight compared with the
control.
The economics of all this stack up well. The costs
of giving between 600 to 800g of starter feed to each
piglet and the labour involved is highly cost effective. An
extra kg of weaning weight means another 100g/d post-weaning
gain and a reduction in the time to slaughter of at
least 10 days. Taking feed cost into account, these
benefits alone are worth approximately £5 to £10
per pig at current finished pig prices
The question then is how to apply a good creep feeding
programme. This is not difficult, but relies on common
sense and attention to detail. The choice of pre-starter
feed is important to the success of the system. A high
nutrient dense product is essential because digestibility
means palatability. A good quality product will also
include quality raw ingredients and the inclusion of
the important enzyme primers and immuno-stimulants.
Also vital is the creep trough design - pre-weaned
piglets have to first find the feed and secondly, they
have to find it appetising to eat in significant quantities.
And at the end of the day, it is the stockperson who
will determine the success of the creep feeding system. Adequate
training and awareness of the impact that weaning weight
will have on the overall business is one of the keys
to this. I wonder how many production incentive schemes
include a factor for weaning weight. I suspect not
many.
I apologise for starting the year by returning to
an old chestnut, but many producers still ignore the
benefits of creep feeding and cite excuses like lack
of available labour, weaning weights that they view
as good enough at 6.5kg or lack of success with a stage
2 weaner feed that is unsuitable for use as a creep
feed. In my view, these arguments against creep feeding
are simply cop outs for poor management.
For more information contact: Rob Steel,
01845 578125 rsteel@scanutec.com
SCA NuTec manufacture and market a
range of animal nutrition and health products, and
supply technical support to all species including ruminants,
swine, poultry, equine and pets.
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