Purina swine feed program focuses on lifecycle, not stages

The Progress to Profit Program​ is part of a company trend toward offering feed products designed to meet different life or growing stages of developing animals and be used throughout the production cycle, said Vern Pearson, senior swine nutritionist.

“It’s pig to market,” ​he told us. “It’s a total program.”​

In trials with 1,770, the program has been found to improve both average daily feed intake and average daily gain, said the company. It also may offer a boost to feed conversion.

Initial benefits were noted at day 32 post-weaning where higher weaning weight translated to improved post-weaning growth, said Purina. For every extra pound a pig in the program had gained by day 32-post-weaning, they had an additional 2.1lbs by day 110.

A similar study done at the Prairie Swine Centre in Canada supported findings that weight variation between pigs leaving the nursery correlated with later weight differences.   

Smooth transition ​

Planning the entire cycle may allow for a smoother transition between production stages, they said.  

The program works with different feeding series and 16 different products, focused on separate developmental portions like supporting pigs during the weaning stage, early growth or finishing period.

The system can be used by producers with different sizes of swine herd, said Pearson, and to cater to different types of production.

Additionally, several of the feeds involved in the total program have been updated from past iterations, he added.

Some of the feeds have been designed to be lactose-free so they do not react to changes in the milk market, he said. Others are plant-based or help with management of manure.

Additionally, the starter feeds used in the program have been updated to provide more complete nutrition and include more ingredients than they once did, he said.

The company feed designers have gotten better at creating feed formulas, he said. The complexity of the products makes it easier for producers, as they do not need to have as many individual feed ingredients on hand, said Pearson.

There also are feeds that have been designed for sows and supplemental items that can be used for piglets starting on feed and a water-based electrolyte booster.

As part of the trend, Purina has also established a similar birth-to-market program​ for dairy and beef calves.