For succesfull farm results, the sow must produce large numbers of healthy piglets on the one hand and the finishing pig must grow to its full potential on the other. In between comes the newborn and growing young piglet: sufficient attention in this phase really is of vital importance! Are your pig rearing skills up to scratch?

What you are aiming for is piglets bursting with health and vitality! Many pig farmers don’t fully appreciate that piglet rearing starts with the insemination of the sow. For example, the variation in birth weight is determined at the time of embryo implantation.

In general, farmers still underestimate the importance of colostrum intake: uniform, heavy piglets who are quick to drink plenty of milk from their own mother. Not unimportant of course, but there is much more to it. Piglets contains a wealth of tips and insights to improve your own piglet rearing.

After the farrowing pen, weaning is an enormously risky time for the piglet. Your priority now is to prevent intestinal atrophy. Correct feed transition, low pressure of infection, not mixing litters and preventing climate stress are essential and are examined in detail. This book ends where the finishing pig producer begins: with the delivery of the piglets.

‘Looking, thinking, acting’ in order to get large litters of healthy, thriving piglets is the basic principle underlying Piglets. At each stage of piglet rearing, it is important to keep your finger on the pulse. Piglets provides essential guidelines to that end.

This book is to you as colostrum is to your piglets: it contains everything you need. Nothing more and nothing less.