Show me the benefits!

SPONSORED BY AB VISTA

In a previous edition, we talked about how increasing total dietary fiber (TDF) to US gestating sow diets may improve sow productivity and piglet performance, and how the Fiber Calculator, by AB Vista, can help you formulate your dietary fiber levels (it’s available here). But what are the benefits of having greater levels of daily intake of TDF in gestating sows? 

• Lower levels of oxidative stress at farrowing; 

• Reduced constipation at farrowing;
• Reduced farrowing time – and thus, improved piglet viability and the best start post-farrow; 
• The promotion of increased lower gut fermentation and improved sow energy status;
• Increased feed intake by the sow during lactation – and thus, better maintenance of the condition of sows and increased milk production.

Want to know more? AB Vista is actively researching fiber options for sows by attempting to answer questions such as:

• What levels of TDF, soluble dietary fiber, and insoluble dietary fiber are needed in the diet of gestating sows? 
• Does an optimum ratio between insoluble and soluble fiber need to be achieved?
• Given the limited sources of soluble fiber in the US, how can we produce more of it and increase fermentation?

Signis, a stimbiotic, can potentially be used to help make some of the fiber more soluble and target an increased level of fermentability and SCFA production – by signaling the microbiome to ferment fiber in the gastrointestinal tract of the pig. To learn more about it, click here.