Effect of six 100 % organic feeding strategies differing in external input demand on animal performance and production costs of piglets before and after weaning

Baldinger, Lisa; Bussemas, Ralf; Höinghaus, Kathrin; Renger, Anja; Weißmann, Friedrich

doi:10.1007/s13165-016-0157-3

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…On organic pig farms with suckling periods of at least 40 days, the transition to solid feed happens later than on conventional farms, where piglets are usually weaned at an age of 21–28 days. In accordance with previous observations at our organically certified experimental station [33], we found that feed consumption reached a level of 100 g feed per piglet and day during the 5th week of life, an age at which conventionally reared piglets are already weaned. The last blood samples were taken on day 28, which means that iron intake from feed cannot have been considerable until then, especially because very young pigs tend to play with feed more than they eat it.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…The average daily weight gains found in treatments Iron2 and Iron3 were 274 and 276 g, respectively. This level of growth is common for our experimental pig herd [33], but lower than daily weight gains of 280 and 340 g during a suckling period of 5 and 7 weeks reported by Andersen et al [37]. Previous studies on the iron metabolism of piglets have found negative effects of iron deficiency on blood cell count [8,19], immune defense and pre-weaning mortality [38,39].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 80%

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One Iron Injection Is Not Enough—Iron Status and Growth of Suckling Piglets on an Organic Farm

Heidbüchel

Raabe

Baldinger

et al. 2019

Animals

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Simple SummarySuckling piglets need more iron for rapid and healthy growth than is available from sow’s milk alone. Therefore, iron supplementation is common on both conventional and organic farms and is usually carried out by a single injection of 200 mg iron during the piglets’ first days of life. However, the long suckling periods in organic pig farming can still lead to iron deficiency, as we found in a study with 288 piglets on an experimental farm. A single subcutaneous injection of iron led to lower iron levels and slower growth until weaning, when compared with giving iron two or three times. We conclude that one iron injection is not enough to ensure adequate iron supply and unimpaired growth of organically reared piglets, and options of additional iron supply need to be explored. AbstractSuckling piglets cannot satisfy their demand for the essential trace element iron from sows’ milk alone, which is poor in iron. Therefore, iron is usually supplemented by injecting 200 mg iron (as iron dextran) on day 3 post natum. However, the longer suckling period in organic pig herds leads to iron intake from feed starting later. We hypothesized that one iron injection is not enough for organically reared piglets, and that a second and third injection would improve their iron status and growth. On an organically certified experimental farm, 288 piglets from 32 litters were allocated to three treatments with one iron injection on day 3, two injections on day 3 and 14 and three injections on day 3, 14 and 21 post natum, respectively. One injection resulted in the lowest hematocrit and serum iron levels until day 28 post natum and the lowest daily weight gains until weaning, while piglets receiving two or three iron injections did not differ from each other. Based on these observations, we conclude that one iron injection is not enough to ensure adequate iron supply and unimpaired growth of organically reared piglets, and additional iron supply is necessary.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 80%

One Iron Injection Is Not Enough—Iron Status and Growth of Suckling Piglets on an Organic Farm

Heidbüchel

Raabe

Baldinger

et al. 2019

Animals

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Exemplary calculations of native thiamine (vitamin B1) and riboflavin (vitamin B2) contents in common cereal-based diets for monogastric animals

Witten

Aulrich

2018

Org. Agr.

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Comparison of different piglet diets in organic agriculture using milk powder, enriched lysine, conventional potato protein or high soybean cake content

Quander-Stoll

Holinger

Früh

et al. 2020

Renew. Agric. Food Syst.

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Feeding monogastric livestock in organic agriculture is challenging due to several tradeoffs between animal welfare aspects, resource efficiency, as well as ecological and social sustainability. Organic standards may even increase such conflicts, as is currently the case with upcoming new regulations regarding restrictions of feed sources for organic pigs in Europe. In order to contribute data for balancing reasons to minimize tradeoffs, we compared four different piglet diets, each targeted to reach a high protein quality by either a high proportion of soybean cake (SOY), inclusion of milk powder (MILK), fermentatively produced lysine (LYS) or conventional potato protein (POT). All diets were designed to meet the nutritional requirements of piglets in the best possible way, however they all represented different conflicts with either organic regulations or sustainability goals. In each of five consecutive runs, respectively three litters were assigned to every dietary treatment, resulting in 15 litters per treatment in total. In each litter, seven focus animals were defined. The piglets were studied from birth until 58 days of age. They were weaned at day 46 and sold from the farm at day 58. Piglets were individually weighed at an average age of 3, 21, 43, 50 and 58 days with simultaneous assessment of body condition score (BCS) and prevalence of diarrhea. Feed intake (FI) was recorded litter wise weekly, starting from week three. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) was calculated for the period after weaning. Statistical analysis was executed using linear mixed effect models. Regarding FI, FCR and daily weight gains, no treatment effect was found. Only at day 21, BCS was lower for piglets receiving POT. Prevalence of diarrhea increased after weaning for all treatments. All four tested diets led to similar weight gains and feed conversion in the piglets. Animals fed diet POT recovered better from diarrhea compared to the other treatments. A high soybean cake content or lysine supplementation in the diet was disadvantageous with regard to the occurrence of diarrhea. LYS diet led to signs of threonine deficit, indicating that lysine addition alone may not solve the issue. The addition of milk powder provided no extra benefit. In recognition of the health benefits, the use of 5% potato protein, even if it is sourced from conventional production, must still be considered as a sustainable option for feeding organic piglets. The sustainability implications are discussed in the paper.

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Effect of six 100 % organic feeding strategies differing in external input demand on animal performance and production costs of piglets before and after weaning

Cited by 3 publications

References 20 publications

One Iron Injection Is Not Enough—Iron Status and Growth of Suckling Piglets on an Organic Farm

One Iron Injection Is Not Enough—Iron Status and Growth of Suckling Piglets on an Organic Farm

Exemplary calculations of native thiamine (vitamin B1) and riboflavin (vitamin B2) contents in common cereal-based diets for monogastric animals

Comparison of different piglet diets in organic agriculture using milk powder, enriched lysine, conventional potato protein or high soybean cake content

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