Piglet health and how to get the animals through the weaning process without using either antibiotics or zinc oxide were the topics of a recent Pig Progress webinar. The webinar is now available for viewing on demand.

The webinar took place on October 28th and featured speakers from the Free University Berlin, Germany, CCPA Group and Phileo by Lesaffre. The webinar was supported by Natural Remedies.

Prof Dr Jürgen Zentek, attached to the Institute of Animal Nutrition at the Free University Berlin, Germany, set the scene for the webinar, touching on the imminent ban on therapeutic use of zinc oxide in the pig industry in 2022 in the European Union. He said, “Living without zinc oxide is a new challenge, not only to pigs, but also to pig nutritionists and veterinarians.”

He discussed various alternatives that pig professionals could opt for when searching for alternative feed formulations. He said, “Nutritionists have done a great job in the last years to improve diet quality, related to diet ingredients, innovative substances, new feed additives and better adapted profiles. We have learnt that this has a substantial impact on gut function.”

He continued to say, “Science needs to work more on the microbiota-host interactions. This is really fascinating and really important for the future.” Prof Zentek concluded pointing to gross composition, protein, dietary fibre and zootechnical feed additives being of major interest.

Check out other webinars hosted by Pig Progress  

The next speaker was Vincent Bégos, swine nutritionist at the CCPA Group in France. He explained that his company has devised various pillars to support producers to “demedicate with confidence,” and explained each of the pillars. He touched on piglet feed formulation, then he zoomed in on feed solutions and thirdly he mentioned zootechnical support.

When discussing piglet feed formulations he touched on criteria for choosing the right raw materials for the piglet diets. Zooming in on feed solutions, he introduced the solution Imaxx, a solution consisting of a synergetic combination of plant extracts and raw materials, offering cellular protection as well as an anti-secretory effect and being a prebiotic. Thirdly, the zootechnical support includes a wider look into aspects like sanitary status, biosecurity, housing, water and staff and farm management. To that end, the company developed the Demeus app.

The 3rd speaker at the webinar was Niels Poulsen, swine technical manager for Central and Eastern Europe at Phileo by Lesaffre. He zoomed in on the use of yeast solutions.

Poulsen discussed ActiSaf Sc47, for improving the microbial population from the moment of birth to benefit piglet health, growth performance and efficiency. He said, “We should focus on rebuilding a healthy intestine that can give the maximum performance on later stages.” He also touched on SafMannan, the company’s solution to reduce pathogen pressure to prevent digestive disorders, a solution that can support piglets in the most critical situations, e.g. just after weaning or when health in the pig house is being challenged.

View webinar of October 28th