What kind of conferred nutritional benefit is the piglet getting from the sow? An upcoming forum may provide the answer

There is a growing awareness today of the importance of early feeding strategies for pig productivity. But questions remain about what role nutritional intervention plays in ensuring a stable gut and enabling the piglet to fully access nutrients for growth.

In that context, we are running a free webinar Friday next, 12 February, where we will ask our expert line-up how the immunity function links to the nutrition and intestinal functions in the young pig.

There will be an opportunity for you, the listener, to put your questions to our speakers following a 40 minute live discussion with the panel.

Sow nutrition 

The importance of maternal nutrition for the development and potential of the progeny is becoming more widely recognized. Researchers are trying to acquire a greater understanding of the importance of the transfer of micronutrients from the sow to the progeny, and identify where there may be opportunities to improve the nutritional status of neonatal pigs, whether in utero or through colostrum.

Our panel will also reveal the findings of their own and other experts’ research into optimizing sow nutrition.

The pig sector is increasingly concerned with the increase in litter size and the associated decrease in average birth weight of the progeny as piglets with low birth weight are more challenging to keep alive. Our speakers will appraise several new approaches to boosting the nutrition status of low birth weight pigs.

Our expert line-up includes Dr Adam Moeser from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Michigan State University, Dr Joel DeRouchey, who is professor and extension specialist at Kansas State University, and last, but not least, Dr Francesc Molist, who heads up the swine nutrition team at Schothorst Feed Research in the Netherlands.

You can register for the free webinar here