In normally developing suckling pigs, although a piglet breathes from soon after birth, the lung’s tissue increases its size and function during the first 14 days of life. The oxygen transfer continually improves during this time.
Development of the piglet’s intestines:
Massive weight-increase during the first hours following colostrum-intake
The piglet’s intestines are still not fully matured yet
High nutrient demand for fast growing intestines
Because hypothermic pigs
require more time after birth to ingest adequate colostrum
generally ingest less colostrum
We live a world which is undergoing significant change. Never in the history of life on the planet has there been more demand for the transformation of the Earth’s scarce raw materials into consumer goods for people around the globe. The world is being reorganized to facilitate the globalization of both demand and production, so the desires of people next door and in the farthest reaches of the planet can be communicated in real time to the millions of production and distribution chains around the world standing ready to fulfill them. At the same time, those very production processes are being challenged with the problem of how to satisfy these inexhaustible wants utilizing a finite set of scarce global resources.
Progesterone in the uterus blocks milk production. Only when the birth process is complete and the after-births have been delivered does this blocker stop.
Prolactin is important, especially in the last third of gestation, for proper udder-development. Furthermore prolactin is the main milk-promoting hormone during lactation.
Be aware of endotoxins and inflammations in the sow! Endotoxins i.e E.coli endotoxins and inflammatory processes inhibit these milk-hormones.
The big challenges of the future of global pig production are food safety, antibiotic use, animal welfare and the environmental impact, all aspects defined in sustainable production. The industry has very high production standards however consumers often don't value this.
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