By Debora Holanda
Topigs Norsvin aims for continued sustainability and profitability of our customers in a changing world. In this context, it is important to find the balance between a controlled and sustainable growth rate of gilts and optimal sow lifetime productivity. This is especially true now as genetic selection continues to increase feed efficiency and growth rates.
Therefore, there is a need to evaluate how to carefully feed replacement gilts towards providing adequate body condition, metabolic state, and reproductive performance while keeping in mind the associated feed costs and ensuring their longevity in the herd.
Topigs Norsvin in collaboration with the University of Manitoba is evaluating the effect of limiting growth rates during periods of the replacement gilt estrus cycle. The outcomes shared at the ASAS-CSAS Annual Meeting 2024 reveal that inducing periods of relative catabolism followed by flush feeding at key moments in the reproductive cycle resulted in decreased growth during the feed restriction period while ensuring replacement gilts could produce multiple high-quality oocytes, provide conditions for optimal fertility, and embryo survival until the collection date.
Additionally, it was possible to save 10% of feed consumption during the estrus cycle without any apparent detrimental effects on their reproductive performance when compared to gilts fed according to current recommendations.
These results set foundations to develop nutritional programs to limit growth rate as well as optimizing feed costs for the management of post pubertal replacement gilts, although more research in this field is required.
