Diet formulation Supplementing piglets with dairy milkDiet formulation 18 ALLABOUTFEED V olume 22, No. 5, 2014 Newborn piglets often need a good dairy supplement to make the transition

Diet formulation

www.AllAboutFeed.net18 ALLABOUTFEED Volume 22, No. 5, 2014

Newborn piglets often need a good dairy supplement to make the transition from sow milk to solid feed as smooth as possible.

Supplementing piglets with dairy milk Piglets need high quality milk early on in life. In highly

prolific sows, providing additional milk sources is needed

to make sure all piglets get what they need. What makes

milk replacers from dairy sources the right choice for

piglets?

By Evi Croes, Nukamel, Belgium

Due to larger litter sizes and

increased competition for

sow milk, nutrient availabili-

ty for newly-born pigs is

often limited. Providing an additional

soluble milk replacer to suckling piglets

will increase nutrient intake of the piglets

and, therefore, improve pre-weaning daily

weight gain and weaning weights. An

effective creep feeding programme has

also proven to stimulate pre- and post-

weaning feed intake and gains during the

first few days after weaning, as it acclima-

tises the piglets to solid feed before wean-

ing and stimulates the development of the

digestive system. Within this respect, two

main questions can be raised. Why do we

feed pigs with milk products originating

from dairy cows? And, why would pork

producers or feed mills in e.g. Thailand

or Chili choose to work with EU dairy?

Increased survival ratePiglets in commercial husbandry are gen-

erally weaned between three and four

weeks of age for economic reasons. Many

piglets have no experience with solid feed

before weaning, resulting in low feed

intake and growth after weaning. Newly

weaned piglets often show a high inci-

dence of diarrhoea due to reduced gut

health, low immune status and high stress

levels at weaning. Milk products are com-

monly applied in feed formulation of

young piglets to facilitate the transition

from sow milk to dry, vegetarian diets

after weaning. The inclusion of milk in

creep and weaner diets contributes to the

easy acceptability and palatability due to a

familiar smell, taste and digestibility. A

gradual decreasing line in highly digesti-

ble dairy proteins and lactose contributes

to a less abrupt change in feeding, lower

levels of stress and gastro-intestinal dis-

turbances. In general, the use of high

quality milk products leads to improved

performance, lower levels of mortality and

higher profitability for the pork producer.

In very early weaning systems or sow-less

rearing systems, (automatic) supply of a

liquid milk replacer is necessary, as piglets

are not ready yet to survive on solid feed.

Especially in large litters there are more

weak piglets with lower birth weights. On

average, each additional live born piglet

per litter accounts for a drop in birth

weight of about 30g. Increasing the sur-

vival rate at weaning is thus one of the

biggest challenges and, therefore, special

attention should be paid to these vulnera-

ble piglets. A milk replacer, based on the

best-quality dairy ingredients, to which

piglets have easy or even ad lib access, is

key in achieving higher survival rates in

high productive pig systems.

Valuable nutrientsWhen supplementing piglets with dairy

Photo: Mark Pasveer

Diet formulation

www.AllAboutFeed.net ALLABOUTFEED Volume 22, No. 5, 2014 19

milk products, valuable nutrients are

being offered. And, moreover, those

nutrients are readily digested by the

young animal's immature gastro-intes-

tinal system. Macro-constituents of

milk are butter fat, casein and whey

proteins and lactose. Besides that,

micro-nutrients like e.g. minerals (e.g.

calcium, phosphate), vitamins (e.g. vita-

min A), immunoglobulins and enzymes

define its nutritional value.

LactosePiglets thrive on lactose. This disaccha-

ride sugar (glucose b(1-4) linked to

galactose) is easily digested in infant

mammals due to production of suffi-

cient amounts of enzyme, called lactase.

Moreover, it increases the palatability of

the feed. In comparison to simple sug-

ars, the osmotic pressure developed in

the gut is lower, decreasing the risk for

secretory diarrhoea. In the pre-weaning

phase and immediately after weaning,

the benefit of high concentrations of

lactose (25-30%) is the largest. This

decreases as the piglets become heavier.

ProteinsUnfortunately, inclusion of milk in pig-

let diets is often considered only as a

source of lactose, not taking into

account the value of protein or fat. Milk

proteins are highly digestible and have

excellent levels of essential amino acids.

In soluble milk replacers and creep feed

skimmed milk powder can be used as a

source of casein, resembling the source

of protein provided by the sow as well.

Casein is the milk protein fraction

coagulating at lower pH. The essential

amino acid pattern of porcine and

bovine casein are fairly similar, with the

possible exception of methionine,

which in porcine casein is less than

50% of that in bovine casein. Due to

high prices, though, the use of milk

powders in piglet formulae has declined

in recent years. Next to casein, lactalbu-

min and lactoglobulin proteins from

whey are valuable to use in piglet diets.

Sweet, acid and delactosed whey prod-

ucts are available in the market.

FatMilk fat or butter fat is high in short-

chain fatty acids, of which butyric acid is

considered as one of the most effective

energy sources for intestinal walls. The

absorptive epithelial cells found on the

intestinal villi use the energy provided

by butyric acid to stimulate villi growth

and thus the ability to absorb nutrients.

Availability and qualityRelying on European-derived milk prod-

ucts has various advantages, mainly

explained by availability and guaranteed

quality. Cow milk is produced in every

single European Union (EU) member

state without exception and represents a

significant proportion of the value of the

agricultural output. This production is

even likely to go up, as in 2015, a milk

quota system in the EU will be lifted.

This development only illustrates the

importance of having built and imple-

mented new spray dryers to process addi-

tional volumes of dairy products. In addi-

tion, milk products that are used within

the EU to produce feed for sale, all com-

ply with the regulations set to guarantee

feed and food safety, see also box

'Europe's strict milk quality regulations'.

Antibiotics and alternativesThe long term use of medicated feeds and

the carry-over to non-medicated feeds

has led to antibiotic resistance in

microbes due to a constant exposure to

very small quantities of the drug.

Attempts are being made to reduce the

usage of antibiotics by producers in

various countries in Europe. This asks for

radical changes in sow management,

creep feeding, weaning time, barn cli-

mate, hygiene, and water quality. Also

feed formulation becomes more impor-

tant and the search for alternative ingre-

dients to fill the gap continues. Improving

gut health and stimulating feed intake are

key factors in this. Spray-dried blood

plasma is generally considered as a highly

- The 'somatic cell count' (SCC) is an indicator of milk quality, as these cells are produced as part of the immune response to mastitis. Milk with an SCC of more than 400,000 is deemed unfit for human consumption.

- The EU directives mention specific animal health requirements and specific bacteria limits in raw milk and milk for processing. Milk may only come from herds that are officially tuberculosis-free and brucellosis-free.

- The complete process of milking, storage and transport to the processing plants should occur in clean and cold (<4°C) conditions, to discourage microbial growth.

- The usual pasteurisation process involves a heating time of 15 seconds at 72°C, sufficient to kill 99% of contaminating bacteria.

- There are EU regulations regarding maximum residue levels of veterinary medicinal products and hormones (bovine somatotropin) in foodstuffs of animal origin.

- EU regulations state maximum quantities for contaminants, like e.g. nitrates, mycotoxins, heavy metal, dioxins.

- EU applies to the maximum level of melamine of 2.5 mg/kg in animal feed and foodstuffs.

Europe's strict milk quality regulations

Nutritional value Unit T1a T2a T3aAge Days 2-9 2-9 2-9EW 1.20 1.22 1.22Crude protein % 17.91 19.75 19.19Crude fat % 5.98 5.92 5.95Il. Lysine % 1.12 1.26 1.26Blood plasma % - 5.0 -Nukamix Extra % - - 10.0Milk protein % 1.00 1.00 3.08Coconut fat + butter oil % 0.90 1.30 2.13Lactose % 6.7 12.4 12.4

T1b T2b T3bAge Days 9-20 9-20 9-20EW 1.20 1.20 1.20Crude protein % 17.91 19.81 18.90Crude fat % 5.98 5.98 5.76Il. Lysine % 1.12 1.25 1.25Blood plasma % - 3.0 -Nukamix Extra % - - 6.0Milk protein % 1.00 1.00 2.24Coconut fat + butter oil % 0.90 0.90 1.31Lactose % 6.7 8.0 8.0Piglets, weaned at 21 or 28 days, were offered ad libitum an experimental weaner feed (T1a-T3a) from 2-9

days post-weaning. From days 9-20 post-weaning a grower feed (T1b-T3b) was provided. 540 piglets were

divided in three groups.

Table 1 - Trial results for piglets, weaned at 21 or 28 days.

Diet formulation

www.AllAboutFeed.net20 ALLABOUTFEED Volume 22, No. 5, 2014

Treatment BW, 2 days (kg) BW, 20 days (kg) ADG (g) ADFI (g) FCR (kg/kg) ECR/kg Drop out (%)

T1 7.2 12.2a 263a 351a 1.340a 1.609a 1.1

T2 7.4 13.2b 314b 369ab 1.175b 1.414b 0.6

T3 7.3

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.000.03

13.5b 329b 393b 1.191b 1.434b 1.1

P > F

Notes: Three treatments with 12 replicates of 15 piglets = 180 piglets/treatment; BW = body weight; ADG = mean daily gain;

ADFI = mean daily feed intake; FCR = feed/gain; Values in same column with no common superscript (ab) are significantly different (P<_0.05).

Table 2 - Results of the trial.

concentrated, well-performing source of

proteins which was re-allowed for use in

piglet diets in 2005. In total, 36% of blood

plasma consists of globulins, of which the

immunoglobulin fraction is considered as

beneficial for immunity and gut health.

Blood plasma, is expensive and a dedicat-

ed production line is necessary. Moreover,

recently again the news came that blood

plasma is a suspect in the spread of the

deadly porcine virus in the US Dairy replacementNukamel, originally a calf milk replacer

company with plenty of experience in

dairy products and producing in

Belgium and the Netherlands, has put

ample effort in the development of piglet

ingredients based on EU milk. Based on

principles of single origin dairy resourc-

es, using low heat milk products, fermen-

tation and quantifying immunoglobulins,

the company combines keen sourcing

with a specified production process to

achieve high quality standards for its

dairy products. It has led to the develop-

ment of its Nukamix range of products,

destined to ease the weaning process of

piglets. Nukamix Extra is a piglet feed

ingredient, which contains digestible

dairy and vegetable protein (together

41%) in combination with coconut and

butter fat (together 8%). To see whether

this product can be a good replacer for

blood plasma, a trial was set up. A diet

containing spray-dried blood plasma

(T2) was used as a positive set-off in this

trial. The effect of Nukamix Extra (T3)

on the performance of weaned piglets

was measured and compared to the posi-

tive standard (blood plasma, T2) and a

negative control diet (T1). Piglets,

weaned at 21 or 28 days, were offered ad

libitum an experimental weaner feed

(T1a-T3a) from 2-9 days post-weaning.

From day 9 till d 20 post-weaning a

grower feed (T1b-T3b) was provided.

540 piglets were divided in 3 group

(Table 1). Zootechnical performance of

the piglets from days 2 to 20 post-wean-

ing are shown in Table 2. The dairy pro-

tein source yielded in this test the better

results on growth and feed intake. AAF

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