By: Rachel Johnson, swine technical sales specialist with Purina Animal Nutrition

End-of-nursery weights are strong predictors of finishing weights, yet newly weaned pigs have an obstacle course of stressors ahead of them that can impact their performance in the nursery barn. Health challenges are often the biggest hurdle, but there are ways to manage through them.

More often than not, newly weaned pigs break with some type of health challenge within the first few weeks after entering the nursery, even in the best-managed barns. Some health challenges can be anticipated, like porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) or porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), while others, like E. coli, are harder to predict.

Helping nursery pigs thrive despite these health hurdles means listening to what your pigs are telling you and being open to nutrition change. Use the following tips to start nursery pigs strong when they’re entering a health-challenged environment: 

1 . Spend more time in the barns

Nursery pigs can look vastly different week to week, or even day to day. Taking extra trips through the barn allows you to be more in tune with what your pigs are telling you about their health status. The more time you spend in the barns, the more you’re able to identify health challenges and find areas for improvement.

Having a second set of eyes, such as your nutritionist, on your pigs is recommended because we can all become “barn blind” at times. Your nutritionist can walk the barns to see things you might have missed, track trends and provide recommendations for adjustments.

A typical walkthrough schedule I use with my customers involves a walkthrough at day seven post-placement, day 21 post-placement and one week before they exit the nursery barn. Spending time in the flow and viewing pigs routinely lets us see the bigger picture versus a single snapshot in time. 

2 . Be open to nutrition changes

Once your nutritionist has a good understanding of the flow, you can discuss nutrition scenarios to better support nursery pig health. Start by considering your goals. What’s driving your bottom line? What are your expectations for this turn of pigs? Having those conversations allows you to be more strategic with every dollar invested in feed.

Being open to change by incorporating new technologies while remaining efficient is also critical to ensure your pigs are getting the most from their diet. Ask yourself, “What steps can I take to shorten the length of a disease outbreak next time?”

Strategic diet formulation isn’t just about adding ingredients. If we add an ingredient to help offset unexpected health challenges, what can we remove to keep the diet efficient? For example, instead of 200 pounds of oats in the diet, can you cut that back to 100 pounds and introduce other technologies that can better support pig health? Ensuring the maximum amount of nutrition in every bite is important to provide pigs with the energy and immune support they need to optimize health and performance.

3 . Use data to learn and adjust

Recording data on pig performance and health is important to identify trends, make strategic adjustments and be better prepared for future disease outbreaks. For example, if you know a flow of pigs notoriously has a PRRS break on day five post-placement, you don’t want to plan a diet transition at the same time. Can you get ahead of the challenge by adjusting your feeding strategy to smooth out the transitions? Feeding an extended budget upfront can help pigs have the nutrients they need to get through that break period without the added stress of a diet change.

Another tool I challenge all my customers to use is a manure scorecard. Keeping track of manure can help you determine the cause when pigs have loose manure. Was there a diet or management change at the time? Is it related to a disease outbreak? Keeping a consistent scorecard of what you’re seeing along with data on pig activity (are they lethargic or are they active?) will help you learn from each flow and be ready for next time.

Supporting efficient growth in the nursery phase, despite health challenges, is possible. Learn more by contacting your Purina nutritionist or visiting purinamills.com/swine-feed.