Effect of BMD~(R) In sow diets on clostridial numbers, sow weight Ioss, and neonatal piglet performance

摘要

Most sow farms are constantly under pressure to supply sufficient numbers of high quality weaned pigs to nursery operations. As a result, there are often times when either partial or even early weaning is necessary in order for sow farms to meet demands for weaned pigs from the nursery growers. Consequently, production practices that improve pre-weaning growth are becoming more important. Supplementation of sow diets with low levels of antibiotics has been shown previously to have a positive influence on neonatal piglet performance. However, most of these studies used a fixed age at weaning of around 21 days and reported the growth of the entire litter and not individual pigs. Therefore, the present study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of the addition of bacitracin to sow diets in a production system in which partial and early weaning was common. In addition, individual piglet weights were recorded which provided a way to determine if the relative size of a piglet at birth influenced its response to the addition of bacitracin to lactation diets.