Trouw Nutrition launches Milkiwean® ActiBar to boost early piglet feeding behaviour 

EUROPE – Trouw Nutrition, the livestock feed and animal nutrition business of Nutreco, has launched Milkiwean® ActiBar, a new piglet training innovation designed to stimulate pre-weaning feed intake and improve early-life performance in swine production systems.

The product introduces a physical, patent-pending “training bar” that encourages piglets to root, chew and explore, helping them transition earlier from sow’s milk to solid creep feed. 

According to the company, this behavioural activation is critical because many piglets under conventional creep feeding systems consume little or no solid feed before weaning, leaving them physiologically unprepared for the dietary shift.

Weaning is widely recognised as one of the most stressful stages in pig production, often associated with reduced feed intake, gut disruption, diarrhoea and slowed growth. 

Trouw Nutrition says Milkiwean ActiBar is designed to address this gap by promoting earlier and more consistent feed intake before weaning, thereby supporting gut development and resilience during the transition period.

Trials conducted under European production conditions showed that piglets exposed to Milkiwean ActiBar achieved up to 53% higher pre-weaning feed intake than those on creep feed alone. 

The company also reported reductions of up to 50% in watery diarrhoea during the first week post-weaning, attributing this to improved gut maturation, microbiota development and lower stomach pH supported by the product’s high-fibre composition.

Early-life nutrition remains a critical driver of long-term productivity in swine systems, with research indicating that up to 70% of final body weight is influenced by weight achieved at six weeks of age. 

Trouw Nutrition positions Milkiwean ActiBar within its broader Milkiwean platform, which focuses on gut health, feeding behaviour and lifetime performance outcomes based on LifeStart research and decades of swine nutrition expertise.

According to Rick van Oort, Global Strategic Marketing Manager Swine at Trouw Nutrition, the innovation introduces “a completely new way to prepare piglets for weaning” by actively shaping feeding behaviour rather than relying solely on passive creep feed exposure.

Milkiwean ActiBar is now available through Trouw Nutrition’s global swine nutrition network and is expected to complement existing creep feed programmes by ensuring piglets are both behaviourally and physiologically prepared for solid feed intake at weaning.

The launch reflects a broader shift in animal nutrition towards precision early-life interventions aimed at improving feed efficiency, reducing health challenges and enhancing overall productivity in commercial pig production systems.

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