Despite hotter summers pig producers could see significant gains when using specific probiotic supplements

摘要

After extensive trials, Mark McFarland, Feed Additive Product Manager for Lallemand Animal Nutrition, discusses the proven benefits of probiotic live yeast supplementation in feed to manage the effects of heat stress in pigs.While being a well-known issue in tropical climates, heat stress is largely an underestimated problem in UK and Irish pig production. However, with temperatures only needing to rise above 25°C in sows to cause significant heat stress, and summers now routinely reaching 32°C, pig producers could be experiencing profound loses by failing to tackle the issue.Pigs are sensitive to heat. The effects of excessive heat are detrimental to their performance and welfare, particularly through a reduction of feed intake and re-direction of the animal's metabolism. In the long term, heat stress can significantly impact reproduction performance and pigs can have a lower immunity level.