Piglets should be weaned at an appropriate age and body weight to ensure that they continue their desired growth curve. Poor growth, immaturity and high variability within the litter can lead to variation in performance as the piglets progress through the grower and finisher phases, causing increases in costs at slaughter. This may negate the “all-in/all-out” (AIAO) strategy used on many farms, in which pigs reach age when they have reached finished weight.
Livestock producers are scrambling in the face of a global shortage of vitamins A and E during the first half of 2018. Recent weeks have seen extreme price volatility in markets for this pair of vitamin feed components that are so vital to animal health and performance.
Vitamin E spot prices more than tripled soon after Oct. 31, 2017, when fire broke out at the BASF citral plant situated along the Rhine River in Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF is by far the world’s largest producer of citral, a key intermediate in the synthesis of vitamins A and E.
The brooding period is a critical time of development for many systems within a bird, and it occurs from the time of placement — even beforehand as the farm prepares for the new flock — to around two weeks of life for the young chicken (chick) or turkey (poult).
Getting the flock off to the right start during brooding can help to positively impact health and performance throughout the flock’s life. There are five areas that must be monitored carefully during the brooding period:
Trace mineral supplementation is imperative for profitable cattle production. Unfortunately, this single aspect of production is complicated by the overwhelming variety of mineral sources, product offerings and formulation strategies available, so livestock research has produced conflicting results.
