Newly weaned animals

Changes in the diet formulation are essential at various stages of growth, especially during weaning.

During this period, animals switch from consuming mother’s milk to solid feed, which may involve an initial rejection of the new feed due to differences in taste, texture and flavour, causing a significant reduction in intake. The rejection and the stress associated with separation from the mother can negatively affect the growth and digestive health of the offspring.

To mitigate these problems, it is crucial to introduce solid feeds gradually while the animals are still with the dam, and it is recommended to use flavour, sweetener or palatant type additives, which improve the smell and taste of the feed, attract the animal to the feed, increase intake, reduce stress, promote digestibility and improve zootechnical indices.

These strategies will facilitate the transition by making it smoother and reducing stress and digestive problems, which will result in better growth and development of newly weaned animals.