Weaners Weaning is the most stressful period in a pig’s life, so alter the diet as gradually as possible because any sudden changes will reduce performance. Intake in first few days after weaning is key. Offer the same diet as fed pre-weaning for approximately a week or until the animal is about 9kg, as this will keep growth checks to a minimum. “There are already lots of changes going on for the pig, so using the same creep immediately post-weaning will provide some constancy and the ingredients will help mimic the nutrition the piglet gained at suckling,” Dr Baynes says. He advises that the ration is revised up to three times over the course of the weaner phase, he says. “Most producers use two if not three rations from 40kg to 115kg liveweight, tweaking these as the pig’s need for the more expensive components in the ration – the ingredients providing energy and protein – reduces.” From weaning to 15kg liveweight, the digestible energy (DE) requirement is typically about 16 megajoul...
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