Milk supplementation using a milk line system
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Research partners: Harper Adams University College
Industrial partners: Volac, the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW)
Sponsors: BPEX
Project duration: 2007-2008
With increasing sow prolificacy, it is now common for sows to farrow litters of 14 or more piglets, although the sow herself may not have 14 functional teats. This means that the surplus piglets have to be cross fostered (if spare places are available) or artificially reared. Both have welfare implications for the piglet and an economic impact on the production system. The sow’s ability to produce a sufficient quantity of milk to sustain these litters in late lactation and the competition at the udder for teat space in early lactation can lead to a high variation in individual piglet performance. This may have an impact on lifetime performance and individual health and welfare.
Systems for delivering supplementary milk have been used by a minority of farmers for over 30 years. Given the large litter size now expected from sows and the competition at the udder there is a renewed interest in the potential of the Milk Line system where piglets have access to milk replacer ad-lib from birth. Anecdotal evidence from two commercial systems would suggest higher numbers weaned (+0.4 pigs/litter from before and after the introduction of milk line) and lower within litter variation in systems where 10.7+ pigs are weaned per litter. It is also noted that the benefits at weaning are seen to continue post weaning. If this level of improvement can be verified then there is major potential saving to the industry as a whole.
The objective of this project was to establish the benefits of the milk line system in a controlled scientific environment and provide producers with information of how it is best utilised. Three overall questions were addressed:
1) Do the benefits of the milk line stem from the availability of milk from the time of farrowing?
2) Does the provision of liquid milk affect the creep intake or the sows milk output?
3) What are the post weaning benefits of the milk line and is there an overall economic benefit of the system?
Two trials were started in summer 2007 on the pig unit at Harper Adams. Data collection was completed in October 2008:
Trial 1: Three treatments either with supplementary milk being available from birth or day 7, or no supplementary milk.
Trial 2: Four treatments in a factorial design, including treatments with or without supplementary milk available from birth or creep feed available from day 14.
Additional behaviour studies have been carried out by students funded from a UFAW scholarship.
Although Trial 2 was generally inconclusive, taken together these trials indicate that supplementary milk from farrowing has a beneficial effect on late lactation mortality of between 0.5 and 1 pig per litter depending on sow parity and level of output. There is little evidence for effects on long term performance although performance and behaviour in the initial five days post weaning may be enhanced by supplementary milk.
Further work is needed to determine whether the benefits of supplementary milk can be maintained once creep feed is introduced and the provision of milk is reduced.
The labour input was 10 minutes a day and one hour a month for cleaning the pipe work for up to 70 crates. Given that the need to deal with fading pigs is all but eliminated, the system offers major cost savings in terms of time and capital in comparison to alternative systems such as shunt fostering and specialist feeding facilities for early weaned individuals. Economically the following conclusions can be drawn.
At 24 litres per litter the cost of the supplementary milk is approximately £6.50 per litter; this cost was more than offset by the increased output of piglets
- The Milk Line system is easily managed and removes the need for early weaning alternatives by keeping piglets on the sow in the farrowing pen
- The Milk Line system is cost effective and does not add to the work burden when compared to alternative methods of keeping poor doers alive. When averaged across the two trials the pay back period for the equipment would be 12 months; in situations where parity structure is older then the pay back period would be less than 12 months.
| Extra performance pigs/litter |
0.25 |
0.5 |
1.0 |
| Capital cost of kit based on a single pump and 70 dispensers (£/farrowing pen) * |
£65 |
£65 |
£65 |
| Marginal value of one extra pig at weaning |
£20 |
£20 |
£20 |
| Cost of Milk (£ per litter) |
£ 6.50 |
£ 6.50 |
£ 6.50 |
| Labour (£/litter) |
£0.50 |
£0.50 |
£0.50 |
| Pay back time of equipment |
24 months |
12 months |
6 months |
*
Assumes farm staff installation zero cost