Relevance of roughage feeding to pigs

Summary

With combined feeding, the energy requirement of pregnant sows can be reduced by up to 50 % in the first stage of gestation and up to 20 % in the last stage of gestation by providing energy-rich roughage products like grass or corn silage
• For pregnant sows, the daily feed intake capacity for clover grass and maize silage is 2-4 kg fresh matter.
• In addition to clover grass silage (with a high protein value), a cereal and minerals mixture without pro-tein-rich feed components should be used.
• In addition to maize silage, a very protein-rich concentrate is needed. The daily intake of 3.5 kg maize si-lage per sow can compensate for a concentrated feed quantity of up to 1 kg per day compared with pure concentrated feed.
• In addition to grass silage, 85 % of complete feed requirement for pregnant sows could be provide.
• Feeding silage to suckling piglets and weaned piglets prevents diarrhoea.