Swine Research

The Trouw Nutrition Swine Research Centre, dedicated to basic and applied research in sows, piglets and grower/finisher pigs, supports the development of new, sustainable and innovative nutritional solutions.

The Trouw Nutrition Swine R&D team is comprised of highly educated scientists from around the globe with diverse backgrounds and experience. Each has an area of specialisation – sow physiology/biochemistry, piglet nutrition, gut health, and quantitative nutrition – that allows us to find novel solutions by working collaboratively on complex industry challenges. Our work is coordinated by a dedicated team of research and farm technicians who specialise in feed production, quality control, sow management, nursery and grow-out pig management, animal welfare and statistics.

Swine researchers focus on innovative nutritional solutions

Our team of well-skilled research scientists, research technicians and trained farm technicians focuses on the development and validation of innovative nutritional solutions to address the needs of our swine producer partners. Research areas cover a broad range of industry issues including nutrition (feed), management (farm), and health, with the aim of developing a program-based approach to sustainable swine production.

Basic and applied research studies are being conducted to:

Create nutritional solutions for sustainable healthy animal growth while reducing the reliance on antibiotics and therapeutic levels of trace minerals (e.g., Cu and Zn).
Explore how to support the sow and early life piglet nutrition through programs, such as Gestawean and Milkiwean, as well as ways to enhance a sow’s lifetime performance.
Drive value in the grower/finisher phase by improving sustainable production efficiency, animal welfare and meat quality.

Developing sustainable solutions for a post-antibiotic world

We recognize our customers’ needs vary by geography and local market conditions. Increasingly, however, producers around the world are challenged by shortages of skilled farm labour, pressures on sow lifetime performance, and a drive for improved efficiency. Innovation is required to deal with the stress of the weaning process and its impact on transition from liquid to dry feed. Our focus is on improving animal welfare by lowering early mortality and improving feed intake, all while increasing profitability with sustainable solutions for a post-antibiotic world.

The success of nutritional solutions is no longer measured solely by improved profitability, but by the contribution made to reduced use of antibiotics to ensure a sustainable future. Value is also gauged by considering performance metrics, such as higher growth, lower feed conversion, reduced mortality and improved meat yield and quality. Finally, producers also seek nutritional solutions that improve their quality of life with reduced labour requirements.

Designed to monitor individual animals

Our facilities are equipped with sensitive electronic feeding and water stations and video surveillance, enabling us to monitor individual feeding behaviour, even in group housing. In addition, our investment in a new swine nutrition and health unit allows for flexible study designs to address health-related, physiological and digestibility issues. Four identical bio-secure units simulate environmental conditions from around the globe. Performance is evaluated through all phases of production, from gestation of sows, through piglet production and grow-out. Additionally, with industry partners, we evaluate carcass yield and quality parameters for an integrated approach to solution design.

The traditional value of nutritional solutions for producers is measured by improved profitability. Increasingly however, sustainability of our solutions has become paramount to ensure we are reducing antibiotic use to better feed the future.

Greg Page, PhD, Manager Swine Research Centre