The word is out: flax helps sows deliver more and healthier piglets.
Swine researcher Sam Baidoo is still putting together his final data and statistics on the extensive project but already, because of word-of-mouth reports on the positive effects, hog producers are demanding flax in their sow rations.
East-Man Feeds, one of the largest independently owned feed mills in Manitoba, now includes flax as part of its pelletized sow feed rations.
“Word spreads when something is working well,” said Leon Desilets, manager of East-Man’s complete feed division.
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East-Man became involved with Baidoo’s research when one of its customers, Topeaka Farms Ltd. of St. Malo, Man., signed up for an on-farm study of flax rations.
“We had heard things about flax before, so it kind of caught our interest,” said Desilets, referring to the high content of Omega-3 fatty acids in the oilseed.
Baidoo, assistant professor and swine nutritionist at the University of Minnesota, started the project when he worked at the University of Manitoba.
He wanted to see if flax would affect the reproduction performance of sows, so he added it to gestation and lactation diets at the university’s swine operation, and the 3,000-sow farrow-to-weanling operation at St. Malo.
The flax, added at a rate of five percent, or 45 kilograms per sow per year, replaced some of the soybean meal and tallow in the rations.
Sows fed flax lost less weight and maintained more backfat during lactation than sows fed regular rations, said Baidoo at the recent Agri-Food 2000 conference in Winnipeg.
Sows that stay in good condition take less time to come into heat again after weaning, he noted.
In fact, days to estrus dropped to 4.8 for sows fed five percent flax, compared to 7.5 to eight days for the control group, he said.
The sows that ate flax had higher progesterone levels, which Baidoo said improved survival of embryos in the uterus.
Sows on the commercial farm that were fed the five percent flax ration delivered 11.5 pigs per litter compared to 10.4 pigs per litter in the control group.
The piglets from sows that were fed flax were heavier at birth, which is important in all-in, all-out systems, noted Baidoo.
They weighed 1.27 kg on average, compared to piglets from the control group of sows, which weighed an average 1.18 kg at birth.
The milk of sows fed flax had a higher level of unsaturated fatty acids.
“There’s no question that adding flax to the feed, we really changed the composition of the milk,” said Baidoo.
At day eight, the piglets from sows fed flax weighed an average of 2.55 kg, compared to 2.4 kg for piglets in the control group.
The piglets were also heavier at weaning. They weighed an average of 4.6 kg, compared to 4.3 kg in the control group.
The sows showed no signs of rejecting the feed with flax, said Baidoo.
He now wants to monitor the long-term effect of flax over the life of the sow, and research whether flax in piglet rations will help reduce mortality rates.
Desilets said his customers noticed better milk flow from the flax-fed sows, and heavier piglets.
One customer was unaware flax had been incorporated into the ration until he started noticing better weanling weights, and remarked on the change to Desilets.
“There seemed to be an overall improved performance,” said Desilets.
East-Man Feeds grinds the flax as it is required to avoid spoilage. It’s not easy to grind because of its oil content, said Desilets.
But flax doesn’t add cost to the sow rations.
“Actually, it’s not that expensive,” said Desilets, explaining it replaces other costly feed ingredients.
“It’s basically a trade-off.”
He said it is nice to work with a locally grown feed ingredient.
Garvin Hanley, flax producer and chair of the Flax Council of Canada, said he’s excited about the research results.
“We think this is an area where we’re going to move a tremendous amount of flaxseed, if this works out,” Hanley told the Agri-Food 2000 conference.
