From Fixed to Strategic: Rethinking Swine Nursery Nutrition

• May 29, 2026
• News

By Brian Arnold, Sr. Product Manager – Direct Fed Microbials

For decades, nursery nutrition has followed a simple, straightforward model: feed pigs based on age and weight, moving them through a set of defined phases. But the industry is beginning to realize that this outdated approach falls short of addressing the diverse needs and changing dynamics across modern production systems.

Most feeding programs still operate the way they always have—build the diets, set the schedule, run the system—but this model assumes that pigs, barns, and conditions behave consistently. That assumption is where the problem starts.

The Hidden Gap in Traditional Nursery Programs

Feeding strictly stage-based nutrition functions under the core premise that pigs move through the nursery in a relatively uniform way, with the same starting points, health statuses, and growth curves. In reality, that’s rarely the case.

A single system can contain dramatically different pig flows:

• Hard-starting flow with a high percentage of fallbacks
• High health flow positioned for aggressive growth, which can incur additional costs
• High disease pressure flow

Despite these differences, most systems still apply the same feeding program across all three. This one-size-fits-all approach forces producers into compromises: Some pigs are under-supported when they need it most, while others are overfed unnecessary nutrition. In either case, both performance and economics take a hit.

The Cost of “Set It and Forget It” Nutrition

Even small mismatches between nutrition and need can carry meaningful economic consequences at scale. Consider a system with 100,000 nursery pigs from three different pig flows:

• Hard-starting flow: If underperforming pigs fall back just 1 lb at nursery exit, the downstream impact compounds through finishing, resulting in an over 2-lb loss at end of finishing. This equates to $1.00–$1.50 per pig in the current economic environment and a lost opportunity of $30,000–$50,000.
• High health and cost pressure flow: If feed costs increase by $0.50 per pig, but action isn’t taken to modify diets to economic conditions, this can erode margins. This results in a lost opportunity of $15,000–$20,000.
• High enteric pressure flow: If health-challenged pigs aren’t supported early, and nursery mortality increases by just 1%, this can cost an estimated $1.00 per pig, with a lost opportunity of $30,000.

None of these losses happen because of a single decision. They happen because the feeding program didn’t match what each group of pigs actually needed. And in many cases, that need wasn’t clearly defined to begin with.

A Better Question to Ask

Instead of asking, “What should we feed pigs at this weight or age?”, leading systems today are starting to ask a different question: “What are we trying to accomplish with this group of pigs?” This subtle shift to defining long-term objectives rather than simply short-term needs makes nutrition a tool producers can use to achieve their goals:

• If the goal is to stabilize health in a compromised flow, nutrition should prioritize strengthening resilience by supporting immunity, pathogen reduction, and gut health.
• If the objective is to drive nursery performance to maximize profitability downstream, diets should be optimized to capture that opportunity.
• When markets shift and cost pressures rise, nutrition can be adjusted to protect performance while eliminating unnecessary expenses.

In each case, the feeding strategy aligns with both the timeline and the desired outcome.

From Fixed Programs to Flexible Strategies

This is where nursery nutrition is evolving. Rather than treating all pigs the same, forward-thinking systems are building flexibility into their nutrition strategies. These producers are moving away from rigid, stage-based programs and toward approaches that can adapt to real-world variation across flows.

Not every pig flow starts the same or has the same health status, and market conditions will continue to evolve. A flexible approach recognizes this and implements feeding strategies that can shift, too.

Take the Next Step

Nursery nutrition has long been built around predicting what pigs should need. But the future is about responding to what they actually need. As the industry continues to evolve, the most successful systems will be the ones that move beyond the feeding calendar and adopt a strategic plan instead.

Learn more about how United Animal Health has brought a different approach to nursery nutrition, building nutrition strategies for what producers want to accomplish. Learn more about our Nursery Programs or contact a United Animal Health account manager today.