SLearning to eat in small steps prevents a weaning slump
In the wild, piglets learn from their sow, through play, what they can eat. The KZB feeder Verba works with this natural process by using a low trough so that the piglets can reach the feed. After just a few days, the piglets start feeding alongside the sow. By weaning, they are eating plenty of solid feed and know exactly where to find their food. They no longer experience a weaning dip; they continue to grow and reach their target weight a week earlier.
Piglets copy the sow’s behaviour from a very young age. When a sow starts eating, they learn by watching her. Bearing this natural behaviour in mind, the KZB feeder Developed by Verba. The aim is to provide a single feeding trough from which both the sow and the piglets can eat. After weaning, the piglets no longer need to figure out where to get their feed from or how the feeding trough works. The KZB feeder therefore features a low trough, and the dispensing system is positioned at a height that allows both the sow and the piglets to access it.
Extensively tested
The prototype of the KZB feeder has been extensively tested in the Brummelhuis family’s farrowing pens. Experience shows that the piglets start to take a little feed from the trough as early as the fifth day. They chew it, which stimulates saliva production. The piglets also naturally start eating the prestarter feed offered to them alongside it. By the end of the suckling period, the piglets are already fully accustomed to solid feed. They have learnt from the sow how the KZB feeder’s dosing system works and can operate it themselves.
No weaning slump
Once weaned, the piglets no longer need to learn where to get their food from, and they are all used to eating solid feed. All the sow farmer needs to do is fill the KZB feeder with piglet feed. The piglets eat it heartily straight away and continue to grow as normal after weaning. According to Brummelhuis, there is no longer any sign of a weaning dip. The result is that the piglets grow considerably faster and reach the target weight a week earlier, making it easy to achieve an excellent weaning weight. In addition, the piglets are in better health; over the past two years, the sow farmer has had no further problems with streptococci.
Less work
Using the KZB feeder in a farrowing and rearing pen saves on labour: at weaning, there is no need to install a different feeding system in the farrowing and rearing pen. The KZB feeder’s feed hopper is large enough to accommodate the feed intake of 15 piglets. In addition, the sow farmer needs to clean out the pen less frequently, which saves on labour, water and manure production.
The move towards free-range sows in the farrowing pen is facilitating the transition to farrowing-rearing pens: free-range sows soon require a farrowing pen measuring 6 to 6.5 square metres. That is large enough to serve as a farrowing pen.
Jarno Brummelhuis : ‘No more weaning slump or streptococci with the KZB feeder’
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