Feed costs add up in sow housing, and they quickly take away from your bottom line. Luckily feeding technology has evolved in many ways over the past decade, making it easier to control these costs. By accurately targeting the amount of feed each sow receives, we can also improve her health throughout her life in the barn. Implementing Electronic Sow Feeding is the first step to start controlling feed, but Nedap has also introduced farrowing feeding systems to take it one step further. Automated feeding in your farrowing barn will help you reduce feed waste, keep sows healthy throughout their entire lives, and produce healthier, heavier piglets.

Cutting Farrowing Barn Feed Costs - Targeted Feeding

Nedap's automated farrowing feed systems feed your lactating sows exactly to their requirements based on their condition, number of piglets and lactation stage. You simply program each sow's requirements into the system and it will take care of the feeding for you. You can also start the system manually at any time if you choose. By automatically and precisely targeting the feed each farrowing sow needs and rationing her that amount, you only use the exact amount of feed required to maintain healthy sows; you will not be wasting any additional feed. You are also able to save on labor since this process is automated and will only require a bit of management.

Creating Healthier Sows (and Piglets) in Your Farrowing Barn

We often think about keeping the sow healthy to increase the number of live born piglets she produces. This is an important concern, but getting sows back to prime conditioning during farrowing and lactation is also important. This not only keeps her healthy throughout her life, but it also keeps her piglets healthy by allowing her to produce enough milk without hurting herself. Sows that have been feed properly leave your farrowing barn in a better condition. This gets them to return to estrus quicker and maximizes the amount of eggs flushed from her ovaries.

This automated feeding system feeds your farrowing sows their ration over multiple servings throughout the day. This makes sure that the trough stays fresh, and it improves feed intake. When you improve feed intake, lactating sows will produce more milk for their piglets. These piglets then grow more quickly and will have better health than the average piglet. 

While the Nedap Farrowing Feeder has been designed for farrowing barns, they can also be used in your breeding stalls. They are perfect for customizing feed rations to help the sows recover after nursing with maximum feed intake. The sows will spend most of their life out in the group gestation pen, but it is important to focus on their health and your budget in every aspect of your operation. Implementing automated feeding in all areas of your barn is a great way to keep your herd healthy while also saving you time and money. Remember, “Targeted Feeding” will place the right amount of feed in front of each animal, reducing waste or inefficient feed usage while greatly improving overall herd conditioning.

Interested in learning more about adding farrowing feeding to your sow housing? Give us a call or learn more about how we design our barns by clicking below.