Why do piglets wean as early as possible?

The weaning time of piglets is related to the number of litters and the number of surviving piglets. Usually in intensive pig farms, piglets can be weaned around 3 weeks old. Early weaning can shorten the reproductive cycle of sows and improve the productivity of young sows.

Improve feed efficiency. During lactation, lactating sows feed on feed to secrete milk, while piglets suck breast milk. In the conversion process, the feed utilization rate is about 20%; The utilization rate of milk directly given to piglets can be as high as 50%. Therefore, early weaning can improve the food utilization rate and reduce the environmental pressure caused by excreta. Early weaned piglets gain weight slowly at weaning and accelerate after adaptation. The results showed that the growth and development of 2 1 day-old weaned piglets were more orderly than that of 60-day-old weaned piglets. The reason is that the nutrition of piglets mainly comes from breast milk before the 35 th day, and the milk quantity of each nipple is different, so piglets often develop unevenly.

Early weaned piglets can obtain all kinds of nutrients and suitable environmental conditions needed by human body through artificial feeding management. Piglets that grow slowly during lactation will eat more because of the growth compensation after weaning. Fast, the weight can gradually catch up, and the growth and development of 60-day-old piglets will be more uniform. In addition, early weaning can reduce the chances of piglets being trampled, crushed, sick or polluted by piglets, so early weaning can improve the reproductive rate of piglets.

Early weaning of piglets can shorten the time for nursing sows to occupy the artificial circle, thus increasing the number of litters and weaned piglets per litter, thus reducing the production cost of weaned piglets stabilization equipment. Generally speaking, early weaning is beneficial to the growth of piglets, which can save money and increase income for farmers, but it will cause stress reaction to piglets when weaning, so the feeding time of piglets should be adjusted gradually.