This obligation posed problems for many sow farmers. At the end of the gestation period it proved to be difficult to switch over from gestation feed to lactation feed. Not only that, sows began showing more signs of stress. Since these animals are given limited amounts of feed to prevent them from becoming too fat, which would lead to fertility problems, they may continue to feel hungry. This can create stress, causing the sows to display deviant behaviour (such as 'vacuum chewing' and biting their pen bars).
Based on a lot of research during the past few years, compound feed producers have successfully tackled the problems with wellbeing feed. Studies by the Animal Science Group, on behalf of the Product Board Animal Feed, also contributed to preventing the hungry sensation among sows. This is possible if the feed has sufficient fibres which are capable of being fermented. Bacteria inside the large gut convert these fibres into digestible nutrients, leaving sows with a satisfied feeling for longer and preventing stress.
Raw materials such as wheat middlings, sunflower seed, soy husks and beet pulp provide the necessary fibres capable of being fermented. "The wellbeing feed obligation costs money and restricts our choices of feed constituents. And anyway, the feed compositions will always vary slightly, in line with the supply and prices of the raw materials," says Albert Schoterman, nutritionist at feed manufacturer Agrifirm.
According to Schoterman, the fact that things generally are going well with wellbeing feed does not mean that research has come to a halt. "There is always something new. We are dealing with live animals, with the livestock farmer's management and with fluctuations in the housing climate. The compound feed industry continues to work for our customers who want to achieve good results."
His colleague at Cehave Landbouwbelang, Jos Michels, confirms that this is a continuous process. Michels: "But excellent results can be achieved with wellbeing feed right now!" The sales figures prove the success of the compound feed industry. The major share of the gestation feed consists of wellbeing feed. For Cehave-Landbouwbelang this is no less than 90 percent! This means that pig farmers are choosing to house their sows on straw or are adding straw to the feed for ten percent of their sows.
