Ekogea’s BioComplex PLUS Feed Ingredient Significantly Improves Pig Behaviour
Animal Health
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Animal Health
Recently we reported that a Dorset-based pig farmer has been analysing the results of using Ekogea’s PLUS granulate pre-mix feed ingredient in the diets of their growers and finishers.
Amongst other benefits, including a significant return on investment due to feed cost savings and improvements across all recognised KPIs, was the major improvement in pig behaviour.
The farmer using PLUS in the home mix rations for his growers and finishers noted that tail and flank biting more than halved in the PLUS treated batches.
This led to the farmer treating his reared gilts with PLUS to see if that would improve their behaviour too. Last month the farmer disclosed to Ekogea’s Animal Health UK head, Mike Clarke, very impressive feedback, saying:
“I’ve been rearing gilts for years now, at around 4 to 5 batches per year. Out of those batches there has only ever been one without tail biting. Since treating batches with PLUS, I have had no tail biting in any of the successive 3 batches. It really is clear that the pigs are much calmer and better behaved.”
Ekogea’s PLUS feed ingredient is part of our BioComplex range of marine algae derivatives. It has a prebiotic effect, by improving the balance of beneficial microbes in the gut, alongside delivering key trace elements and minerals. Together these provide significant and sustained improvements to gut health. Not only does this improve KPIs such as weight gain and Feed Conversion Ratio, it also reduces the stress of the pig, leading to a healthier, happier and better behaved batch of animals.
Reducing the incidences of tail and flank biting in batches is a key focus for pig farmers. Not only is it an important part of good animal husbandry, it also protects the profitability of the farm. Damaged tails can lead to downgrading at market and lower margins when the pigs hit their target weight.
In significantly improving the behaviour of the animals, a fact noted by all of our pig farm clients, Ekogea’s PLUS increases its return on investment by protecting margins and helping to ensure healthy, less stressed animals by the end of the finishing phase.
For more information the benefits of using Ekogea’s BioComplex PLUS as a feed ingredient on your farm, please visit Ekogea’s website or contact Mike Clarke on mike.clarke@ekogea.co.uk or 07484 187050.
Ekogea is an Agri-tech business with proprietary, sustainability-focused technology in livestock, waste management and anaerobic digestion (AD) optimisation. Ekogea sells a diverse range of award winning ‘organic’ additives and systems to enhance the ‘circular farm economy’.
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