High Feed Cost and Uneven Growth in Pigs: Matching the Enzyme Blend to Each Growth Stage
Which enzyme blend suits weaned piglets, growing and finishing pigs and breeding sows, with per-tonne starting rates, common mistakes and a fermented-forage route.
Maize and soybean meal prices swing, and most pig producers respond by buying cheaper feed, cutting soybean meal out of a home-mixed ration, or feeding less. The result is poorer feed use, undigested feed in the manure, repeated scours, rough coats and pigs that stop putting on weight, and the money saved on feed goes into medicines and lost condition. Adding an enzyme to the feed is the low-cost answer experienced units use, but most producers buy one compound product, mix it in the same way all year for every pig, and get nothing back for the spend. This page sets out which enzyme blend belongs with which stage, from the weaned piglet to the finisher and the breeding sow, and it ends with an email that gets you a blend suggestion and a sample for your own feed.
What the wrong enzyme programme costs
An enzyme is not a cure-all additive: the wrong type at the wrong stage adds a cost and can add a metabolic load on the pig instead of taking one away. Each stage has a different digestive gap. The piglet's gut is short of digestive enzymes, the grower and finisher handle crude fibre poorly, and the sow needs help with the toxins in her feed. One product fed from piglet to slaughter fits none of them well, and the gain is close to nothing. For a feed mill or premix house, that shows up as customers who say the enzyme "did not work" and go back to buying on price alone.
What a matched blend does for the pig
The enzymes used in pig feed do four jobs.
They break down the anti-nutritional factors in maize and bran: phytate, pectin and crude fibre that the pig's own enzymes cannot split, which otherwise leave in the manure as wasted feed. • They fill the piglet's own gap: a young pig secretes too little amylase and protease, digests feed badly and scours under stress, and an added enzyme supplies that capacity and protects the gut villi. • They reduce the undigested feed that sits and ferments in the gut, where it feeds harmful bacteria and causes bloating and scours. • They free the phosphorus bound in phytate and improve calcium and phosphorus uptake, which means fewer piglets going down on their legs and fewer sows down after farrowing.
An enzyme does not fatten, carries no hormone and does not change the formula; it raises how much of the feed the pig absorbs, so less of each tonne ends up as manure.
The four enzyme families and where each one fits
A producer does not need to stock many products; each family is bought for a need and mixed in for that need. The inclusion rates below are per tonne of finished feed and are a working starting point, to be confirmed against the activity of the grade you buy.
Enzyme family, the job it does, the pigs it suits and the starting inclusion: Phytase: splits the natural phytate in feed, frees phosphorus and calcium, lets the formula carry less limestone, lowers phosphorus in manure and smell in the house; all stages, most important for nursery piglets and for sows before farrowing and in lactation; 200 g per tonne of feed, as a routine addition • Fibre-splitting (non-starch polysaccharide) complex: splits the crude fibre and pectin of bran and meal by-products and opens the cell walls of coarse grain; growing and finishing pigs, empty and gestating sows, home-mixed rations high in bran; 250 g per tonne of feed, a little more as the bran share rises • Amylase and protease combination: mimics the digestive enzymes of sow's milk, splits starch and plant protein fast, eases the load on the young gut and helps villi recover after weaning; weaned nursery piglets only, too costly for big pigs; 300 g per tonne of starter feed • Multi-function blend: carries the three activities above in one product: digestion, phosphorus release and fibre breakdown; mixed herds, smaller units, new producers, finished pellet feed and ordinary home-mixed rations; 220 g per tonne of feed, long-term and routine
Phytase is the best value of the four and belongs on every unit. The fibre-splitting complex is the first choice for a farm that mixes its own ration, because it is what lets a high-bran, low-cost formula work without the pig eating more, dunging more and growing slowly. The cheapest single enzyme on the market only splits starch and cannot touch crude fibre or anti-nutritional factors, so its fit is narrow and on most rations it adds nothing. The multi-function blend is the answer for the buyer who wants one container instead of several. Many feed buyers still purchase single enzymes such as protease, lipase and amylase and assemble their own mix, which works only when someone on site owns the stage plan.
The programme stage by stage
Weaned nursery piglets: protect the gut and stop scours. Use the amylase and protease combination with a little phytase, and keep fibre-splitting enzymes out of this feed. Start mixing it into the feed just before weaning and carry on for two to three weeks. The aim is less protein-stress scouring, better intake and absorption of the starter feed, and no stunted pigs coming out of the nursery.
Growing and finishing pigs: less feed per kilogram of gain. Use the fibre-splitting complex together with phytase for the whole period. Lean on phytase early, while the pig builds frame, and on the fibre-splitting complex later, during fattening. The programme is credited with a higher daily gain on the same feed and a clear saving of feed per pig by slaughter weight, with the feed-to-gain ratio down by 0.25. Treat that as a figure to verify in your own pen trial, on your own ration.
Breeding sows: a low, steady dose and a stop before farrowing. Use the multi-function blend at a low rate through the whole of gestation. It is there to deal with traces of mould toxin and with phytate, and to ease the load on the sow's liver and kidneys. Units that run it report less eye discharge and tear staining, fewer sows off feed after farrowing, less thin milk and heavier piglets at birth. Stop the enzyme a few days before the sow is due; the usual farm advice is that faster gut movement at that point can bring farrowing on early.
What a working programme looks like in the house
The changes are visible without a laboratory.
Manure is fine and formed, with no whole maize or bran particles in it, the volume of manure is down by 20%, and the ammonia smell in the house drops. • Coats are smooth, tear stains fade, pigs eat faster and lie down quietly after feeding. • Seasonal scouring is down by 60%, weaning diarrhoea falls and routine medication of the feed becomes less frequent. • The home-mixed formula can carry a slightly higher share of bran and coarse grain, so the unit does not need premium feed to finish pigs well.
These are the results claimed for the programme; measure them against a control pen before you change a whole formula.
Five ways to get more from the same blend
1. Dissolve the enzyme in warm water and mix that into the feed; this works better than dry mixing, and it matters most in winter, when cold slows the enzyme down. • 2. Pair the enzyme with a probiotic: the enzyme breaks the feed down and the probiotic looks after the gut, and the two together do more than either alone. • 3. For pelleted feed, choose a heat-stable grade, because an ordinary enzyme is destroyed by the heat of pelleting. • 4. In the hot season, raise the fibre-splitting enzyme a little to speed up fibre digestion and reduce pigs going off their feed. • 5. Do not rely on the blend to rescue spoiled feed: badly mouldy feed is still thrown away.
Mistakes that waste the enzyme
Cutting soybean meal because an enzyme was added: an enzyme helps break the feed down; it does not replace protein, and a ration with the soybean meal cut back still leaves pigs undernourished and slow. • Running a high-bran ration without a fibre enzyme: once bran makes up more than a tenth of the ration, the fibre-splitting complex is a must. • Mixing the enzyme with antibiotics or disinfectant powders: an enzyme is an active protein and an antibiotic in the same mix knocks out its activity; feed the two several hours apart. • Doubling the dose: the usual farm advice is that too much enzyme attacks the protein of the gut lining and causes slow, chronic gut damage. • Poor storage: keep the product sealed and out of the light; direct sun or damp can leave it inactive within days. • Expecting the enzyme to fix a runt: weak and stunted pigs need protein nutrition alongside it. • Giving the piglet product to big pigs: it costs more and is built for a gap that an older pig no longer has.
A second route for forage farms: fermenting instead of cooking
Some small units do not feed a compound ration at all: they boil forage, sweet-potato vines and pumpkin every morning. The cooking takes hours of labour and fuel, the heat loses nutrients, and raw material that is stored badly goes mouldy. Cooking also does not make crude fibre digestible, so the herd still shows diarrhoea and constipation, piglets take weaning hard and the house is full of ammonia and flies. The alternative is a fermentation starter that combines bacteria and enzymes: lactic acid bacteria at its core, with yeast and Bacillus strains and a compound enzyme preparation.
The method is short. 1. Chop or grind the forage; straw can be used as well. • 2. Mix in the starter at the rate given on its own instruction, together with some ground maize and a little salt. • 3. Adjust the moisture to 50-60%. The hand test: a squeezed handful forms a ball, no water drips between the fingers, and the ball holds its shape when the hand opens. • 4. Press the material down firmly, seal it and leave it to ferment for 7 days.
Coarse, dry forage comes out with a strong, pleasant smell and pigs eat it readily, because the bacteria and enzymes have broken part of the crude fibre into small, easily absorbed nutrients. With starchy pumpkin, fermentation releases the nutrients and forms small peptides. Farms that switch report normal dung, less smell and fewer flies, an easier weaning, more milk from the sow and fewer treatments, and they no longer light a fire to feed pigs. The saving comes from replacing part of the complete feed with crop by-products.
Choosing between the routes
1. Mixed herd, one feed line, no one to manage several additives: take the multi-function blend. • 2. Home-mixed ration with a high bran share for growers and finishers: fibre-splitting complex plus phytase. • 3. Weaning scours are the main complaint: the amylase and protease combination in the starter feed, with a little phytase. • 4. Pelleted feed: ask for the heat-stable grade of whichever blend you choose. • 5. Forage-based unit that cooks its feed: the fermentation starter route.
What to tell us when you email
A blend is matched to the feed, so the more of the following you send, the closer the first suggestion will be.
The stages you feed: nursery, grower and finisher, gestating and lactating sows, or all of them from one line. • The share of bran and other fibrous by-products in the ration. • Whether the feed is pelleted or fed as mash. • Whether you want one multi-function blend or separate enzymes per stage. • Whether antibiotics or probiotics go into the same feed. • Tonnes of feed per month, and the pack size that suits your mixer.
Next step
Email us your stages, your bran share and whether the feed is pelleted, and ask for a sample and dosing help: we reply with a one-page blend and inclusion suggestion and a sample to run in a pilot pen.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Which enzyme blend suits weaned nursery piglets?
Use the amylase and protease combination with a little phytase, and keep fibre-splitting enzymes out of this feed. Start mixing it into the feed just before weaning and carry on for two to three weeks.
When does a home-mixed pig ration need a fibre-splitting enzyme?
Once bran makes up more than a tenth of the ration, the fibre-splitting complex is a must. The fibre-splitting complex is the first choice for a farm that mixes its own ration, because it is what lets a high-bran, low-cost formula work without the pig eating more, dunging more and growing slowly.
Can the enzyme go into the same feed as antibiotics?
An enzyme is an active protein and an antibiotic in the same mix knocks out its activity; feed the two several hours apart.
What changes for pelleted pig feed?
For pelleted feed, choose a heat-stable grade, because an ordinary enzyme is destroyed by the heat of pelleting.
What should I send to get a blend suggestion?
Email us your stages, your bran share and whether the feed is pelleted, and ask for a sample and dosing help: we reply with a one-page blend and inclusion suggestion and a sample to run in a pilot pen.
Planning a pig feed enzyme programme?
Email us your stages, your bran share and whether the feed is pelleted, and ask for a sample and dosing help: we reply with a one-page blend and inclusion suggestion and a sample to run in a pilot pen.
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