Efficacy of initial postweaning diet and supplemental coconut oil or soybean oil for weanling swine

Two experiments involving a total of 581 crossbred pigs weaned at 23 +/- 2 d of age evaluated 1) the efficacy of two diets that contained milk products during the initial 14 d postweaning and 2) the effect of coconut oil or soybean oil additions to swine starter diets. In Exp. 1, postweaning performance responses of pigs fed a control corn-soybean meal-dried whey (C-SBM-DW) diet without added fat were compared with those of pigs consuming diets that contained 3, 6, or 9% levels of coconut oil or degummed soybean oil. The results demonstrated no beneficial weight gain, feed intake, or gain-to-feed ratio response during the initial 14 d postweaning to either dietary oil source. From 15 to 35 d, gains increased to the 6% added fat level, but there was no effect on feed intake when the gain-to-feed ratio was improved to the 9% fat level. In Exp. 2, two diets containing milk products were fed during the initial 14-d postweaning period. The first diet contained corn, soybean meal, dried whey, dried skim milk, and fishmeal (high nutrient dense diet, HNDD), and the second was a C-SBM diet with 25% dried whey. During the period from 15 to 35 d, diets contained no added fat or a 6% level of coconut oil, soybean oil or the 1:1 combination of each at 3%. The results demonstrated that for the postweaning period from 0 to 14 d pigs fed the HNDD had higher gains (P < .01), feed intakes (P < .01), and gain-to-feed ratios (P < .01) than pigs fed the C-SBM-DW diet. From 15 to 35 d, pigs consuming diets with the vegetable oils had higher gains (P < .01) and gain-to-feed ratios (P < .01), but there was no effect on feed intake compared with pigs fed the control diet. No additional benefit was gained by feeding the 1:1 combination of vegetable oils. Pigs fed the HNDD during the initial 14 d postweaning retained their weight advantage throughout the 35-day postweaning period.