31 July 2024

5 minute read

By: Lee Williamson

North America

Dr. Jon Bergstrom, senior technical expert for swine, and Dr. Sarah Hough, senior technical swine veterinarian, both with dsm-firmenich, spoke to The Pig Site’s Sarah Mikesell at World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa, USA.

Editor's note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Jon, we are seeing more information about vitamin D not only in agriculture but also in human health. What are some of the latest learnings on vitamin D.

As a nutritionist with dsm-firmenich with involvement in swine nutrition but also with an eye on what's occurring in the world of human nutrition, there's certainly been a lot of interest in the medical community and nutrition community in the last decade or two in vitamin D. A lot of information came out during COVID as it relates to human health showing vitamin D as essential for immune function and good outcomes in terms of health, particularly for those more vulnerable populations like the elderly or people who are not getting enough vitamin D from being outside.

Some surveys in the swine industries show that pigs are exceptionally low on their vitamin D status because they are raised indoors now for biosecurity reasons to control the conditions and temperature for their optimal health. However, they are not able to get vitamin D from sunlight like they would have historically or naturally. The recognition that animals may have a low status like humans and the understanding that vitamin D is essential for things beyond simply bone mineralization, which is the classical role of vitamin D. There is a lot of science happening that shows the importance of having a good vitamin D status for both humans and pigs.

Sarah, are all vitamin Ds the same?

No, they are not, and Jon mentioned the status of pigs, or D3 status in the blood, we call that 25 hydroxy-status(25-OH), and it can elevate with several types of intakes of different types of vitamin D.

We have the greatest impact with 25 hydroxy D3 (25-OH D3) or Hy-D which is dsm-firmenich’s vitamin D product. We do see two to three-fold increases in serum status in pigs that are fed Hy-D versus traditional D3.

Hy-D's been on the market now in North America for more than 25 years in poultry and over seven years in swine. We think we are the gold standard. We are the first with the original 25 hydroxy. We have done a lot of research as Jon has alluded to with this product in multiple species and have seen improvement in bone health.

Now we are also looking at immunity because of what we learned with COVID with humans. We are still learning a lot about vitamin D as to how it impacts pig performance, but also learning more with Hy-D and how we can also improve status, which translates into improved overall productivity within our farms.

Sarah, dsm is known for research-based vitamin products and studies.

We are known for being the vitamin experts. We are known in that space to perform extensive research, and we have purity and quality standards that we must meet. It is what we do daily in our positions at dsm-firmenich, performing research with various universities and commercial trials to learn more about our products and how they work in the environment where our pigs are living. We have conducted more than 100 trials, mostly in Europe, but several trials were performed in North America with our product, Hy-D.

Jon, Hy-D is offered here in North America. Is Hy-D a global product as well?

Yes, that is true. In fact, most of the original research on swine occurred in the EU, and it was used there for many years even before we offered it in the US.

Much of that original research showed the benefits and the science, as Sarah was talking about, particularly with feeding it to breeding animals. The effect and importance of maternal nutrition is something that we are very keen on studying more as a company at dsm-firmenich and the science of nutrition in human medicine as well.

Maternal nutrition is critical, and we have found that feeding 25-hydroxy D3 (25-OH D3) does provide a significantly better outcome than just feeding the common levels of D3 that we fed to our pigs. When we fed it to the sows, we have seen improvements in the progeny performance all the way until slaughter. Some of the more recent work has occurred in the US as well as some other regions where you can find 25-hydroxy D3 (25-OH D3) or Hy-D available for swine producers to feed their pigs to ensure a good, healthy status.

Sarah, efficiency is really the name of the game right now. Can Hy-D help producers get to the next level?

We have proven the return on investment (ROI) of this product repeatedly, especially in your breeding animals and gilts. Gilt retention is a huge topic and livability performance. We can impact that with this product and with others, but that has been the topic of conversation with producers in the last few months while trying to be more efficient with what we have because it has been a very tough time economically for producers.

Sarah, achieving balance from a nutrition standpoint can help the herd perform?

Exactly, it is especially important. It’s all part of the immunity story, which we have not always considered, but it plays a huge role in performance and livability, especially in our breeding herd.

Jon, anything to add?

Other vitamins are important too. We are continuing to do research in this area. Often, we find there's relationships with other vitamins such as the principles with amino acid nutrition. If you leave one out, then you are not going to benefit from some of the others. We are continuing to do a lot of research into vitamins and their importance as essential nutrients for animals and so our research continues.