New challenges call for a fresh weaning strategy for piglets

For successful weaning, strategies should focus on early feed intake, enhancing feed digestibility, and healthy gastrointestinal development. Adisseo’s nutritional approach has been developed to focus on these points that, leading to improved animal resilience and revealing the full potential of pigs.

The post-weaning period is a critical stage in swine production, because piglets are not physiologically or immunologically mature yet when they are weaned (usually between 3-4 weeks of age). Weaning also comes with several changes such as shift in diets or environmental challenges (figure 1), making this period particularly challenging and prone to develop post-weaning diarrhea (PWD) or other diseases. If the piglets are not robust and strong enough to deal with these challenges, it can lead to problems throughout the fattening period, marked by reduced growth, less uniform batches, and associated significant economic losses.