Researchers Evaluate Combined Strategies to Increase Sow Milk Production

Research underway through Swine Cluster-4 is exploring the potential of combining multiple strategies for stimulating increased sow milk production.As part of research being conducted with support from Swine Innovation Porc scientists have been evaluating a variety of strategies aimed at increasing sow milk yields, including phase feeding, the addition of fibre to the diet, the use of lysine and prolactin and others. 

Dr. Chantal Farmer, a research scientist in sow lactation biology with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Sherbrooke, says we've increased litter size over the past 30 years by a lot and, although we've managed to increase sow milk yields, that increase hasn't kept pace and each piglet is getting less milk intake today.

Quote-Dr. Chantal Farmer-Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Sherbrooke:

What I'm really curious about and what my next swine cluster-4 will be looking at are additive or synergistic effects.What I'm wondering is, OK I can stimulate mammary development of the gilt at the end of gestation with lysine.Now, if I stimulate mammary development and I also increase prolactin during lactation, will this lead to a greater effect than one or the other of these treatments?

So, can I have a synergy between two different treatments or is there a maximum amount of milk that's produced or a maximum amount of mammary development that can be achieved and then that's it.So, we can tell producers it's worth to try to increase it up to a certain point or no, yes, it means you can go on and try to increase it further.

I have a project looking at treatment at the end of gestation coupled with a treatment in lactation and I have two other projects where, at the end of gestation, I have two different treatments that could increase mammary development.One is lysine but then I will couple it to either to an increase in a growth factor that is called Insulin-like Growth Factor 1, so IGF-1, which in itself also stimulates mammary development.

Or I will couple it with nucleotide treatment, but basically I want to know, can I have a greater effect if I add on another treatment at the end of gestation or not in terms of mammary development.

Dr. Farmer says we need to increase the amount of milk the sow can produce to make sure each piglet gets as much milk as it needs.
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