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– Pig milk is nutritious and tastes different.
– However, the production of pig milk is low and the cost is high. Selling pig milk will only make a loss but not make a profit…
I had ribs for lunch today and my daughter had another glass of milk.
My mother-in-law suddenly asked me, “Now that pork is cheap, why is there no pig milk on the market?”
1
No nutrition?
As a kind of food, as long as it can become a commodity, in addition to safety, there must always be one or two places that “attract” people in terms of nutrition, taste, scarcity, feelings, etc. , the business is good for publicity.
Now even camel milk is on sale, but the market has not even seen the shadow of pig milk. Could it be that the nutrition of pig milk is too poor?
Nutrition not inferior to milk, in line with national standards
In every respect, pig’s milk is as nutritious as milk, which has the largest share of the dairy market, and its fat And the protein content is even higher than that of milk. [1]
Image data from: Reference [1]
Referring to the nutritional requirements of raw milk in my country’s “GB 19301-2010 National Food Safety Standard for Raw Milk”, the content of fat, protein and non-fat milk solids in pig milk is in line with National standards , which means that pig milk is nutritiously passable as a raw material for dairy products.
Although the specific value of non-fat milk solids of swine milk is not marked in the literature, only the sum of lactose, protein and minerals can meet the national standard of non-fat milk solids
strong>≥8.1g/100g standard.
Screenshot from “GB 19301-2010 National Food Safety Standard Raw Milk”
– If you are interested, you can learn more about the nutritional content of animal milk –
2
Not good?
Since it is not a nutritional issue, it is because the taste of pig milk is particularly bad and cannot be accepted by everyone?
After all, there are also sensory requirements in the national standard of raw milk.
Screenshot from “GB 19301-2010 National Food Safety Standard Raw Milk”
There are people who don’t like the taste
The market has never sold pig milk. What does pig milk taste like? Can only “hearsay”.
Swine industry workers from abroadAccording to the information, pig milk has a taste of “mutton”, which is stronger than that of goat milk. If you don’t like goat milk, you probably won’t like pig milk either. [2]
Domestic reports say that the color of pig’s milk is similar to cow’s milk, goat’s milk, and camel’s milk, and it smells fragrant. It tastes a bit like almond milk, but The texture is thicker. [3] The taste of almond milk sounds better, but some people can’t accept the unique fragrance of almonds in almond milk, and feel “like plastic/paint/gasoline”, in short, it has a strange smell.
Pig’s milk is nutritious, but some people don’t like the taste, which doesn’t seem to be the real reason to keep it from being a commodity. After all, goat milk and almond milk are not everyone’s favorite, but they are still on the market.
3
Too little yield is the key
The lactation period of a cow is 10 months, a camel can even be 14 months, and a pig has a short >2months…
During this 2-month lactation period, less than 6 kg (13 lbs) of milk per day was produced, and no more than 50 kg in total . [2,4] Under natural conditions, a sow can give birth at most 2 times a year, and annual milk production is at most 500+kg.
And what about cows as we know them? With milk yields of up to 30 kg (65 lbs) per day, plus a 10-month lactation period, Holstein cows, known for their milk production, average annual Milk yields up to 10,220 kg! [5]
20x difference!
In this way, the milk production of the sows is often not enough for the piglets, and if the piglets are not full or eat well, the survival rate will be affected. Considering the production of pig milk and the economic benefits of surviving piglets, farmers will definitely not grab milk from piglets’ mouths.
At present, the survival and growth of piglets is the main goal of the pig industry. [6]
4
It costs more
In fact, the low yield and the importance of pig milk to the survival of piglets have already determined that humans will basically not commercialize pig milk.
However, since that’s it, let’s talk about the cost of pig milk.
Milking is too hard
When it comes to milking, all we can think of is a cow standing quietly, with workers/machines busily milking the cow’s rear udder.
This is because the 4 nipples of the cow are concentrated on a large “udder”, and there are developed milk pools in the mammary gland to store the secreted milk. When will the calf and lamb eat it? There is milk, which is also convenient for arranging milking. Concentrate on 2-3 times of milking a day, and you can “squeeze” as you go.
Cow udders and teats
But for pigs, the operation of regular and centralized milking is basically an impossible task.
First Physiologically not supported. The nipples are scattered and scattered, the breast pools in the mammary glands are underdeveloped or even absent, can not secrete and store milk in advance. Under natural conditions, piglet sucking is the only way for the sow to produce milk, that is to say, only the piglet can stimulate the mammary gland by sucking first, and then the milk can start to secrete. [7]
Chinese commercial pigs generally have 6-7 pairs of teats, which are symmetrically distributed on the ventral side
Secondly, single feedingtime is too short, only a few times. Even high-production sows can only pass 20 seconds or more per pass, and can pass 30 times a day and night…[8] p>
This physiology, combined with the way milk is produced, milking a pig is far more difficult and more expensive than milking a cow. Even if it is operated by a machine, the operation of holding more than a dozen teats but only expressing milk for more than ten seconds is a bit high for the industrial design of the milking machine. Considering the output of pig milk, this R&D investment is obviously a loss-making business…
The milker “milks” the milk
By the way, there is a particularly important point that the sow is extremely cooperative. Lactating sows are even more irritable, far from domesticated cows/sheep, have a docile temper and can cooperate with milking.
The ratio of feed input to output is too low
The high cost of pig milk is also reflected in the feed. [4]
Whether it is a pig or a cow, a sufficient and rich nutritional supply must be ensured during lactation. Pig feed is slightly more expensive than cattle feed. [9,10]
Pigs are omnivores and eat concentrate. Cattle are herbivores, mainly forages such as long grass, but also need to supplement a certain proportion of concentrated feed. Although lactating cows eat more than sows, roughly 1.5-3 times [11,12], but don’t forget the year of milk The yield is 20 times that of pig milk.
From the perspective of milk production, the input-output ratio of pig feed is much lower than that of cattle feed.
Low yield, difficult milking, and low feed input-output ratio make it almost impossible to commercialize swine milk that has passed the nutritional test. It is more economical to raise pigs or sell meat, let alone milk~
If you insist on commercializing pig milk, it will probably be very, very expensive~
References
[1] Elemental Composition of Human and Animal Milk. Retrieved 19 March 2022. https://inis.iaea.org/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/14/767/14767925. pdf
[2] Pig Milk. Retrived 19 March 2022. https:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_milk
[3] Why is pig milk not sold in the market? [J]. China Rural Science and Technology, 2013(10):57.
[4] Zhang Yujie. Factors affecting sow lactation and countermeasures [J]. Zhejiang Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, 2018,43(06):25-26.
[5] Holstein Friesian cattle. Retrieved 19 March 2022. https:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holstein_Friesian_cattle
[6] Hughes E H , Hart H G . Production and Composition of Sow’s Milk[J]. The Journal of Nutrition, 1935, 9(3):311-322.
[7] Liu Zikui. On the mammary gland development of sows[J]. Swine Science, 2019,36(05):132-133.
[8] Ji Lili. Judgment basis of sow lactation ability and measures to improve milk yield[J].Modern Animal Husbandry Science and Technology, 2020(08):31-32.DOI:10.19369/j .cnki.2095-9737.2020.08.016.
[9] National Development and Reform Commission Price Monitoring Center – Pig, Chicken and Egg Feed Price Comparison in the 2nd week of March 2022 (2022.3.14). http:https://jgjc.ndrc. gov.cn/Detail.aspx?newsId=12504&TId=708
[10] “Reducing costs and stabilizing milk prices” is the keynote of this year’s dairy industry development (2022.1.10). https:https://www.cfsn.cn/front/web/site .newshow?newsid=70749
[11] National Standard of the People’s Republic of China – Pig Nutritional Requirements GB/T 39235-2020
[12] People’s Republic of China Agricultural Industry Standard Dairy Cattle Feeding Standard NY/T 34-2004