Healthy, thriving pigs start with a strong foundation, and managing scours effectively is key to their long-term success. While it’s easy to assume a common cause, scours in nursery pigs can stem from various factors.
Take a thoughtful, team-based approach to help uncover the real issues and find lasting results.
1. Don’t jump to conclusions
E. coli is a prevalent challenge in the swine industry, and it’s easy to point a finger at it when scours arise. However, many different sources can cause scours in nursery pigs.
Jumping to conclusions on the scours source can be costly. Oftentimes, producers will make feed or management adjustments assuming one cause, but it turns out to be something else. This knee-jerk reaction can result in wasting dollars on ineffective solutions. Or, if the wrong adjustment is made, it could introduce nutritional scours on top of the existing issue.
For example, one quick reaction some producers make is increasing dietary levels of steam-rolled oats to help tighten stools. However, steam-rolled oats aren’t always economically efficient; they take up a large share of the diet space and often won’t help get to the root cause of the scours.
No one wants to see sick pigs, and it’s natural to want to find a solution as soon as possible. However, being mindful of all the possibilities can be more beneficial in the long run.
2. Rely on your partners
Scours management works best as a three-legged stool between you, your nutritionist and your veterinarian. Working together will ensure you get to the true source of the issue and identify a solution faster and more effectively.
One of the most important steps is having extra eyes on your pigs. Your nutritionist and veterinarian can walk the barns to help you evaluate the situation and ask questions to uncover potential challenges, such as:
- What’s happening at the slat level?
- Does the feed look and smell as expected?
- Has something changed in the diet?
- Did you check water sources for heavy metals or other contaminants?
- Are you seeing scours with no mortality?
In some cases, an increase in manure output may not indicate a problem but genetic progress. Today’s pigs are eating more at an earlier age, and when intakes go up, outputs also increase.
Your advisory partners can also help determine whether it’s truly scours and, if so, if it’s pathogenic or nutritional scours. From there, they can conduct further diagnostics, if necessary, and help identify a targeted solution to directly address the challenge. The solution may be a larger intervention or small adjustments that can make big impacts.
3. Dial in diets
Whether it’s scours or another challenge, nursery pigs face many stressors that can limit their growth and efficiency. It’s important to feed the right feed at the right time during this phase.
When economics aren’t favorable, it’s a common reaction to move pigs off the expensive feed more quickly than usual. On the flip side, if you’re anticipating a challenge occurring, you might end up overfeeding. These sudden changes in the diet can cause digestive upset.
Technologies in the starter diet can also help ensure smooth diet transitions and help address challenges facing nursery pigs. Work with your nutritionist to determine the right technology with the most benefit for your specific needs.
Always keep in mind – if you’re experiencing scours challenges, don’t jump to conclusions. Contact your Purina representative or visit purinamills.com/swine-feed to learn more and keep your pigs thriving.
