Improving Nursery Pig Performance

Researchers at Kansas State University reported on the importance if thoroughly mixing diets to obtain optimal pig performance. They conducted a 28-day trial to evaluate the effects of mixing time on growth performance of nursery pigs. Treatments consisted of mixing the diets for 0, 30, 60, 120 or 330 seconds in a horizontal ribbon mixer. The diet contained such ingredients as synthetic amino acids, zinc oxide and phytase that need to be thoroughly distributed in the diet. Six pens of six pigs were fed each treatment. Results indicated growth performance was linearly increased and feed per gain was significantly reduced as mixing time was increased. These results confirm that using small amounts of some common feed ingredients in swine rations will require more attention to proper diet mixing in order to obtain optimal pig performance.

Groesbeck, C.N. and co-workers. 2005. Inadequate diet mixing time reduces nursery pig performance. Kansas State University, Swine Research-2005: p111-117.