Can Flaxseed Replace Antibiotics in Starter Diets?

We hypothesized that feeding n-3 FA’s to sows in the form of flaxseed would allow for the removal of Ab’s in starter feeds. Based on the findings from this trial, we can neither accept nor reject this hypothesis, as we found that in our high health herd, Ab’s had no benefit when fed for the first week post-weaning.  Results from this trial have clearly shown that in a high health situation, the use of in feed Ab’s post-weaning had no benefit, regardless of weaning age. This experiment has also shown that, at nursery exit (8 weeks old), piglets weaned at 3 weeks of age had heavier body weights than those weaned at 4 weeks of age, which in part may be due to the fact that piglets weaned at 3 weeks had lower WBC, CK and AST counts relative to those weaned at 4 weeks.

Flaxseed and Antibiotics

Source: Prairie Swine Centre