Description
The robust KZB family feeder, made of durable stainless steel 304 with bead edges, is perfectly accessible for sows with farrowing piglets. This unique feeder is designed so that the piglets can eat along with the sow.
It includes a stainless steel drinking nipple for the sow. Using the KZB farrowing crate family feeder, the sow can teach her piglets to eat and drink at an early stage. Piglets regularly take in some solid sow food as early as 5 days, allowing the intestinal system and salivary glands to slowly get used to solid food. As a result, there is virtually no growth check at a later stage.
Users praise the KZB for its simplicity, affordability and the results achieved, such as prevention of growth check. The KZB family feeding system for all farrowing houses is a so-called Quick Win that pays for itself very quickly. In addition to preventing growth check, we see that an excellent litter weight at weaning can be achieved, one can get by with cheaper feed, the sow comes out of the farrowing pen fitter because of a higher feed intake and that there is less dropout and dead lying piglets because the sow is so calm.
The low trough does not spill feed, unlike a feeding plate for floor feeding. In fact, measurements show that even less feed is spilled from the KZB family trough than from a traditional sow trough. Meanwhile, 8,000 KZB family feeders have already been sold in Europe since 2016 and demand is increasing. If the sow is placed out of the farrowing pen, any weaned piglets left behind can continue to eat from the familiar feeder.
The KZB is available in a 310mm wide and 400mm wide model, so there is always enough feed width for large litters of piglets that can be left behind in the pen when the mother is away. The 400mm wide KZB feeder is the most sold model. Extra water pipes on the family feeder, a transparent viewing window and a piglet drinking bowl mounted on the side are examples of extra options.
The best dosage is 4 g per movement.
Some different client outcomes:
- "The average weights per piglet of 14 litters after 4 weeks on the KZB were 800-900 grams heavier than with my conventional system."
- "My failure rate among piglets to wean has dropped 3% after I replaced my conventional troughs with the KZB family feeder."
- "My sows used to struggle to eat 7KG a day, now they take 9KG a day. I have fitter sows that have better milk production as a result".
- "During the test at the KZB family feeder, my second litter sow ate 11.5kg of feed at the end. The weights of the piglets where very good. Average per piglet 13kg at 5 weeks weaning. I quickly came to the conclusion that I supply all my farrowing pens with the KZB".
- "My piglets still eat single 1 type of piglet feed from the KZB family feeder instead of previously 4 types of piglet feed and my feed conversion has gone from 1.66 to 1.55. And yet after 28 days, a "KZB piglet" is on average 1 KG heavier than a "trough piglet."
- "Because the sows could decide for themselves when and how much feed they wanted to take in, they gained a certain calmness about them compared to before with my conventional system. They produced more milk and were more social because they could eat and drink from the same feeder together with their piglets. As a result, more and better quality piglets were weaned".
- "The conditions in the piggery were not too prosperous, but I nevertheless immediately replaced all 160 troughs in the free-range farrowing pens with the KZB, because the immediate gain was so enormous." Read this German sow farmer's interesting article about the KZB family feeder here.
Trouw Nutrition says in an article in Nieuwe Oogst magazine, that one cannot start teaching piglets to eat early enough. Piglets must be taught to eat well in the farrowing pen to avoid not eating well after weaning. Research shows that piglets that eat little in the first 14 days after weaning have a 70 percent chance of becoming a light porker. That is much higher than the 30 percent chance of becoming a light porker if piglets are low birth weight or still light at weaning. Trouw says it is very important that the feed stays fresh. The KZB family feeder is a very good solution for this that is also fairly easy to implement afterwards.
Wageningen University and Research from November 2020 shows that piglets that learn to eat solid feed already in the farrowing house benefit substantially through better growth, better health and better behavior of the farrowing piglets. Read the article from Nieuwe Oogst about healthy piglets here: Article from Nieuwe Oogst November 2020
