Calibrating energy to optimise pig feed

Pig diets are formulated to suit a pig’s nutritional requirements, which varies depending on the animals’ age, sex, genetics and performance requirements.

Digestible energy (DE) is an important consideration in the diet and affects the growth rate and reproductive performance of a pig. The undersupply or oversupply of energy in diets can result in increased costs due to reduced performance or feed inefficiencies respectively.

Value for producers:

• Through accurate formulation of rations, which are aligned to the pigs' nutrient requirements, unnecessary costs can be reduced and performance maximised
• Energy testing can help producers to confidently select and/or purchase the correct parcels of grains for diet formulation

Recommendations:

• Producers can provide grain samples (a small ziplock bag filled with grain) to their nutritionists for energy analysis.
• The analysis can be uploaded to, and viewed through, AusScan Online.