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By Dr Ioannis Mavromichalis, international consulting nutritionist, Ariston Nutrition, Madrid, Spain


Milk replacer products have been around for quite some time now. As a quick solution to a sow’s milk deficiency, for any reason, they have been a quick tool (it only takes a few minutes to dilute the powder in lukewarm water) to address an occasional problem at almost every farm. But, today, we see liquid milk replacers at almost every farm, especially in Europe, where hyperprolific sows are pushing the limit of numbers reared per year to above 30 piglets.

Although these days producers have larger litters due to improved genetics (and better nutrition, health, management, facilities, etc), the industry has not been so fortunate when it comes to sow’s milk yield. Now, when litter size increases, it is well known that total milk yield increases, albeit not in a proportional manner. As such, with each additional piglet per litter, milk intake per piglet actually decreases. Hence, the resurgence of milk replacers to address this new problem in pig husbandry.

Always a partial replacement
It should be stressed here that it would be perfectly acceptable from a commercial point of view, we cannot replace sow’s milk completely. That is, with all advances in science, we still depend on the sow to provide the majority of nutrients for newborn pigs. Although complete artificial rearing is possible, it is still widely accepted that under current commercial conditions, it is definitely more efficient and safer to allow a sow to suckle her litter, instead of weaning her very early and rearing the piglets with milk replacers.

The focus of recent attention in the technology of milk replacers is entirely as a partial replacement, or rather as a ‘boost’ to natural milk. If this is done properly – to supply underprivileged litters with the right type of milk replacer, at the right time and quantity – many otherwise lost piglets can be saved and satisfactory growth levels maintained throughout life.

A useful tool
The most common application of milk replacers is for supplementing piglets on the sow. The most common incidence today is the case of hyper-prolific sows that require a ‘helping hand’ in rearing their litters. In addition, quite often, some sows, hyper-prolific or not, may experience depressed milk production due to health problems (e.g., metritis-mastitis-agalactia), reduced appetite, or stressful environmental conditions (e.g., summer heat) while others, with adequate milk yield, may not have enough functional teats to support their current litter. With no doubt, the best solution to milk shortage is piglet fostering.

However, this is not always feasible as there may not be enough foster sows or the piglets may be too old to be fostered when the problem arises. In these cases, competition among piglets, for a limited supply of milk, becomes extremely strong and unless an external source of nutrients is provided, growth rate and survival are detrimentally affected. Under such circumstances, a liquid milk replacer is the ideal solution, especially for very young piglets.

Rearing orphan piglets away from a sow is another area where milk replacers are used with great benefit as a last resort when foster sows are not available. Piglets, always after receiving some colostrum are penned in small groups (up to ten piglets) in commercial or hand-made brooders, where hygiene and environmental conditions are totally under control and a higher degree of care and management is possible. A warm solution of milk replacer is offered through a nipple or a cup up to the age of 17-21 days. However, from the second week, milk pellets or a high quality creep feed are liberally offered while water is always available from the very beginning. For weaning a piglet in three weeks, approximately 2.0-4.0 kg of milk replacer powder and 1.0-2.0 kg of creep feed are needed. A typical feeding programme is illustrated in Table 1.

Post-weaning applications
The term ‘wet’ weaning describes a new concept under which, whole litters or groups of small piglets are fed with a liquid milk replacer, in addition to dry feed (usually a creep diet), for a short period of time (two to five days) immediately after weaning. Research has shown that ‘wet’ weaning helps piglets overcome the usual feeding disorders associated with early weaning. With wet weaning, the digestive system adapts more easily to dry feed, diarrhoea is prevented, and piglets gain weight faster.

However, the success of this system depends largely on proper management of the liquid feeding part, and it has increased requirements in capital (extra facilities) and labour. In general terms, in five days, piglets consume about 1.0 kg of milk replacer powder and gain about 1.0-2.0 kg more than piglets that consume only dry feed.

Gradually lowering liquid milk allotment, towards weaning, makes piglets look for another source of nutrients to satisfy their needs.

Selecting the right milk replacers
The nutrient composition of sow’s milk is given in Table 2. It is obvious that sows produce a rather thick milk, especially rich in fat. As a result, an ideal milk replacer powder, with a high dry matter content (94-96 % due to special ingredients) would be used at a mixing rate of no less than 20%.This mixing rate would give a solution equal in composition to natural milk. However, such a dense powder would be too difficult to market, due to high cost, and even more difficult to manufacture, due to its high fat specification.

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