New research! Sows should not use basically the same feed formula in early and late gestation

Research conducted by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in collaboration with Swine Innovation Porc has shown that increasing lysine levels in sow diets from day 90 of gestation to farrowing will greatly improve sow milk production during lactation . Dr. Chantal Farmer , an expert in sow lactation biology with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, said, "We now know that there is a relationship between the number of milk-synthesizing cells in the udder at the onset of lactation and milk production."

In the current feeding program, the ration composition of sows is the same throughout gestation, but it is clear that the nutritional requirements are different in early and late gestation. In early gestation, there is no mammary gland development and no fetal development, while late gestation, the sow is undergoing mammary gland development and fetal development. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to demonstrate that sows should not be fed essentially the same feed formulation from 0 to 90 days of gestation, and from 90 days of gestation to farrowing.

“During late gestation, sows should be given diets with higher levels of  lysine  because mammary gland development in sows increases during late gestation,” Dr. Farmer points out. A 40% increase in dietary lysine levels resulted in a 44% increase in the amount of lactating tissue in the udder (with no change in composition), which in turn increased milk production in sows during lactation."