21 March 2025

Eating more – it’s easier said than done!

Eating more - it’s easier said than done!

Michael Mc Keon highlights the importance of maximising sow feed intake. It boosts milk yield, weaning weights, and fertility. But how do we make it happen? We all agree that good feed intake is crucial. But how do we achieve it?

Pig producers often hear about the importance of high feed intake in the farrowing house. If you get it right then you achieve high milk yield, weaning weights, and reproductive performance improve. Conversely, poor lactation intake leads to increased pre-weaning mortality, low weaning weights, and reduced subsequent fertility and litter size.

How do we move from ‘talking the talk’ to ‘walking the walk’? The first step is having a clear plan. As the saying goes, ‘a target without a plan is just a wish’.

The plan should be simple but effective as follows.

The Plan

What is the lactation intake target?
What is our current intake?
What will improve our intakes?
How do we measure our success?

Lactation Feed Intake Targets

The required feed intake varies depending on the number of piglets weaned and their weaning weight. Research by Peadar Lawlor suggests that a sow needs an additional 7 MJ DE/day per extra piglet and 5.4 MJ DE/day per additional kg of weaning weight. The baseline intake target is 95 MJ DE/day for gilts and 105 MJ DE/day for sows. In dry feed terms, this equates to 6.7 kg/day for gilts and 7.4 kg/day for sows, assuming an energy density of 14.2 MJ DE/kg.

What is Our Current Intake?

If your lactation sows are wet fed then there are two ways to calculating intakes:

Use the feed curve to calculate – by using the feed curve you can calculate the estimated intakes per day (see sample curve below). However this is only an estimate!

Day	MJ DE
	Gilt	Sow
0	28	33
1	36	40
2	43	48
3	56	62
4	68	75
5	77	85
6	84	93
7	90	100
8	95	105
9	99	110
10	99	110
11	101	112
12	104	115
13	104	115
14	104	115
15	104	115
16	104	116
17	104	116
18	106	118
19	106	118
20	108	120
21	108	120
22	110	122
23	110	122
24	110	122
25	110	124
26	110	124
27	112	124
28	112	126
29	113	126
30	113	126
Average	94.5	105.1
Kg @ 14.2 MJ	6.7	7.4

Use actual feed valve intakes – This will give an accurate estimate of what each sow actually ate. Zero the valves on entry and take a picture of the feed computer screen when weaned (below). Whats-app the picture to your adviser to benchmark the intakes. If this is done for a few batches it will give you a very accurate estimate of your lactation intakes

What Will Improve Intakes?

To achieve 99 MJ for gilts and 110 MJ for sows by day 10. Several factors influence feed intake, including:

Gilt Age at Service

Gilts should be 33-34 weeks old at service to ensure sufficient body size for large intakes.
Service beyond 38 weeks may cause lameness due to excessive body weight.

Body Condition Management

Overweight sows and gilts at farrowing have reduced appetites, leading to poor intake. Very important gilts are not too fat

Water-to-Feed Ratio

A proper water-to-feed ratio encourages higher intake.
A ratio of 3.1 rather than 3.5 minimizes excessive water consumption, allowing for more dry matter intake.

Dry Feed Supplementation

A 0.5-1 kg dry feed supplement after day 10 can help maintain intake by reducing excessive liquid feed consumption.

House Temperature Management

Excessive heat reduces feed intake by 200g per 1°C increase.
Recommended temperatures:
- Farrowing: 24°C
- Post-farrowing (after 3 days): 21°C

Feed Specification Adjustments

Higher energy density feed improves intake but is less effective than increasing daily feed volume.
A diet change from 14.2 MJ/kg to 15 MJ/kg adds only 5.6 MJ/day, whereas an extra 0.5 kg of feed adds 7.1 MJ/day.

How Do We Measure Success?

By monitoring the valves for a batch initially once per month until you have achieved the target intakes and then monitoring the intakes thereafter once per quarter.

Getting your sows to eat more can be difficult but it is achievable if you develop and implement an ‘eating plan’.