February 9, 2012

InVivo NSA's YouPig feed steps into global market

YouPig, the international piglet pre-starter feed manufactured in France by InVivo NSA, is moving further into the world market.

The product has already gained strong market positions in France, Greece, Hungary, Romania and Spain. YouPig will be showcased at Eurotier 2012 and Space 2012.

The YouPig range is produced by InVivo NSA. It consists of three main products adapted to the needs of small and large piglets: YouPig Baby is a creep diet (i.e. a solid diet for the suckling animal) for all piglets before weaning; YouPig 21 is for small, weaned piglets; and, finally,YouPig 28 is for pigs that at the weaning stage but already large.

To improve pig-farm performances, YouPig pre-starter feeds have been formulated to stimulate feed intake, maintain regular feeding, improve growth, avoid diarrhoea problems, and increase homogeneity across each animal batch. YouPig pre-starter feeds uses diverse raw materials.

InVivo NSA has partnerships with powerful R&D centres in France and elsewhere, with numerous private- and public-sector research institutes, and with an international network of trial farms. This means that YouPig pre-starter-feed formulas are produced in line with local requirements and regulations, including those that concern raw materials, targets and sanitary conditions, among others.

This R&D capacity in place with YouPig also enables the individual traceability of pigs from birth to slaughter, providing individual body-weight and feed-intake weighing, as well as nutritional-effect measurement.

The choice of pre-starter feeds plays a key role in pig production. The success of the pre-starter period has significant effects on slaughter and, thus, on pig-farm profitability. For example, two weeks of a pig's life represents 2% of the total feed consumption. In addition, a 1.80 kg difference in a pig's weight at 39 days can result in a seven kg difference at slaughter. At the pre-starter stage, an average daily gain (ADG) of 100 additional grams can represent a reduction amounting to 3.50 days at the fattening stage.