With the summer farrowing season coming quickly, it’s time to make sure you are prepared to take care of baby pigs, but also that your sows continue to stay healthy and comfortable through the heat of summer!
The key to raising healthy show pigs starts with a healthy, well-nourished sow. Read my tips to see which products come in handy during summer farrowing and how you can utilize them on your own farm!
Lactation Diet
Feeding your sow the right diet can significantly impact their production! During the farrowing season, I use ShoMax Lactation feed for my sows. This feed is perfect for summer as it meets the specific nutritional needs of sows during hot weather. It reduces the heat of digestion and encourages better feed intake, which is crucial since sows tend to eat less when they're hot. Maximizing their feed intake leads to greater milk production, less body weight loss, better piglet growth and improved reproductive performance in future litters.
Electrolytes
Electrolytes can help sows before and during farrowing as they help maintain hydration, which is crucial for their overall health and the farrowing process. Proper hydration supports muscle function, lowering the risk of farrowing complications. Electrolytes also aid in maintaining energy levels and reducing stress, which can improve the sow's appetite and milk production.
I add Ralco Show’s Electrolyte supplement to my sow’s diet to ensure they are staying hydrated! This product helps by encouraging intake and supplementing probiotics for gut health.
When loading a sow into a farrowing crate, Electrolyte can be given to them for a few days to ensure they get hydrated well before farrowing. I also like to continue adding Electrolyte to their water after farrowing to encourage feed intake. After the sow has eaten, both morning and night, I will add a scoop to their water.
Since my sows love the taste so much, they always make sure to eat all of their feed, and they never let me forget about their Electrolyte water!
Environment
Although it is important to keep sows cool and comfortable in high temperatures, this can become difficult once they farrow. This is because baby pigs have different temperature requirements than mature sows. The desired temperature for a sow will be in the 60-70°F range, but baby pigs require temperatures in the 80-90°F. While you can still place fans in your farrowing crate to cool sows, you still need to make sure the baby pigs are staying warm and dry. This may mean adding a heat lamp or two inside of the crate.
Show Gun for Sows & Baby Pigs
Show Gun is a product that I utilize for both my sows and baby pigs. I like to give my sows a dose of Show Gun for their gut health and energy before farrowing, and then give them another dose after they’ve farrowed to promote appetite. For the baby pigs, I find it helpful to give them a dose within an hour or two after being born. This will kickstart their appetites and immune system, getting them off to a great start!
Birthright Milk for Farrowing Season
This product is one of my go-to products! It is a milk replacer that can be used in many situations to add nutrition and assistance to baby pigs. During this time of year, producers are buying up Birthright Milk to have on hand for the farrowing season. Whether I’m using Birthright Milk to supplement a large litter, or to provide essential nutrients to an orphan piglet, this product always does its job! See my previous blog post “The Many Uses of Birthright Milk” for more tips on how I use it on my farm!
Happy farrowing season, friends!
Best,
Taylor
ShoMax Lactation Feeds - Cooler Diets for Sows
Our Lactation diet incorporates EnMAX technology which reduces heat in digestion, helping sows stay cool and comfortable before and after farrowing. It also maximizes the available energy that sows need for better reproductive performance and production of quality piglets.
Contains amino acids to meet the needs of a sow during milk production
Increases sow feed consumption, milk production and piglet growth
Maintains body condition with better subsequent reproductive performance.
Electrolyte - Daily Electrolyte for Show Animals
Electrolyte is a straight-ahead electrolyte to keep projects hydrated in stressful and challenging conditions like heat stress and farrowing.
Show Gun - Get Show Animals Eating Fast Show Gun is the ticket to getting your project up and eating again. This natural oral drench contains patented ingredients that focus on reducing stress and promoting appetite to quickly get animals back on track.
Birthright Milk - Versatile Milk Replacer for Baby Pigs & Show Pigs Birthright is the gold standard baby pig milk replacer. Birthright
helps increasing average weaning weight and improve gut health.