Can administering two 200-mg doses of injectable iron dextran to piglets within the first 10 days of life offer a benefit when it comes to a pig’s ability to regulate body temperature?
Recent research has shown that administering two doses offers several benefits including increased average daily gain and feed efficiency, resulting in pigs that are 7 lb. heavier at marketing compared to the once-standard 200-mg dose, Jones explained during the Allen D. Leman Swine Conference.
In addition, one study showed that iron dose significantly impacted the expression of many genes at weaning, one of these being a 4-fold increase in the gene encoding for the TRPV1 receptor. TRPV1 is known to be involved in core body temperature regulation. Jones set out to see if this finding would translate to a discernible difference in the pig’s ability to regulate body temperature.
A second-year veterinary student at North Carolina State University, Jones wanted to evaluate the relationship between injectable iron dose and piglets’ ability to regulate their body temperature around the time of weaning. During her study, 16 gilts were given either one 200-mg dose or two 200-mg doses of iron dextran. Temperature data loggers were affixed to the piglets for a 6-day period, recording 1,621 temperatures from each pig without repeated handling. Temperatures were recorded every five minutes from one day pre-weaning to five days post-weaning.
“We found that piglets who receive two 200-mg doses of iron in the first 10 days of life are better able to avoid major temperature swings and remain close to a normal body temperature,” Jones says. “The pigs that received just one dose reached higher temperatures on the day of weaning, and consistently fell into low temperatures throughout the rest of the week.”
Aside from the differences of the two groups, she also found that all piglets experienced a temperature spike during the 10-hour period post-placement, where they reached temperatures as high as 105.8 degrees.
“This is valuable insight into the level of fever and stress that piglets experience during that first day in the nursery and is an area of opportunity for future research into how to mitigate thermal stress during this time,” she explains.
Not to mention, iron is something that is already on-farm and is relatively inexpensive, Jones points out.
“We already know that there are performance benefits to adding a second dose, and these findings show that a second dose reduces the level of thermal stress endured during those first days in the nursery. This consequently allows them to focus less energy on regulating body temperature, and more on growth,” she says. “Adding a second dose of iron can help producers set their pigs up for success in the nursery phase.”
Jones was one of seven students competing for the 2024 Morrison Swine Innovator Prize.
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