Successful piglet performance starts prior to service. Increasing the sow’s resilience to oxidative stress reduces pregnancy complications and improves performance during lactation. ColfaPig, a unique blend of fatty acids, has been developed for use in gestating and lactating sow diets, with the aim of improving sow productivity and subsequent lifetime performance of her progeny. 

Visual adapted from Yang et al, 2023.

To assess the impact of ColfaPig on farm performance and profitability, we conducted a commercial trial on 700 litters in a hyper prolific birth to bacon unit. When ColfaPig was included in the gestating and lactating sow diets, improvements in sow, and piglet, productivity were observed from farrowing right through to slaughter. The improvements observed ultimately resulted in an increase of 256Kg in carcass output per sow per year for ColfaPig fed sows compared to control sows. 

How did this happen? 

Colostrum samples from sows supplemented with ColfaPig were found to be of a significantly higher quality, with a 97% increase in the number of sows categorised to be producing adequate and very good colostrum; this early boost may induce piglets to develop a stronger immune system, thereby reducing the likelihood of disease burden throughout their lives. 

An extra piglet born per litter, coupled with a 5% reduction in pre-weaning mortality, led to an increase of 1.8 piglets weaned per sow per year, and a simultaneous increase of 7% in litter weaning weight.  Alongside this, farrowing rates increased by 5% and non-productive days per litter decreased by 3.3 days, with substantial economic benefits.

Conducting the trials on a birth to bacon unit meant that long term performance parameters in the growing pig herd could also be monitored. By monitoring the progeny through their lifetime, we were able to demonstrate that improvements in colostrum quality and piglet uniformity can lead to lifelong benefits. Progeny from ColfaPig supplemented sows were found to be 3.2kg heavier at slaughter, without any increase in age compared to sows receiving the un-supplemented diet. This increase was driven by an increase of 23g/d in the wean to slaughter growth rate.  

Detailed gene expression research has shown that ColfaPig confers numerous advantages at a cellular level when used in gestating and lactating sow diets. This points to increased resilience of the sow against oxidative stress and infection, allowing her to direct nutrients into her piglets and colostrum, which provides exponential benefits over the entire growing period. By reducing maternal oxidative stress prior to farrowing, and increasing the quality of colostrum, the piglets' ability to reach market weight efficiently and uniformly is enhanced, which is good news for your pigs, and good news for your pocket.