More piglets born alive with dextrose

Dextrose has been linked to improved egg development when fed to sows during the insemination period, reducing the variation in piglet birthweight.

This project assessed whether adding dextrose to sow diets during the wean to mate period in summer would help reduce seasonal infertility.

Value for producers:

• Including dextrose into the wean to mate sow diet at 5 per cent can help to reduce litter weight variation and increase litter size during summer. 
• Resulted in less piglet removals and higher growth rates in those born to sows mated in summer, suggesting improved piglet vigour. 

Recommendations:

• Dextrose included into the wean to mate sow diet at 5 per cent increases litter size without increasing litter weight variation at birth. 
• At about $1000 per tonne, the cost of dextrose is $55 per tonne of feed milled. With a wean to service interval of 5 days, and feed consumption for sows during that period about 3.5 kilograms per day, the application cost is less than $1 per sow.
• Small farms may struggle to order and store said feed, as volumes required would be low and would limit silo space. However, top-dressing the sow’s diets with about 190 grams of dextrose until breeding will still provide advantages.