This article is about 2000 words and takes about 4 minutes to read
Too long to look at
- Pork milk nutrition pass, taste of the difference.
- However, pig milk production is low and the cost is high, and selling pig milk will only make a steady loss...
Today I had ribs for lunch and my daughter had another glass of milk.
My mother-in-law suddenly asked me: "Now that this pork is cheap, why is there no pig milk on the market?" ”
1
No nutrition?
As a kind of food, but everything that can become a commodity, in addition to safety, in terms of nutrition, taste, scarcity, feelings, etc., there must always be one or two places that "attract" people, and the merchants can be well publicized.
Now even camel milk is sold, but the market has not even seen the shadow of pig milk, is it because the nutrition of pig milk is too poor?
Nutrition is not inferior to milk, in line with the national standard
From all aspects of the data, the nutrition of pig milk is not inferior to milk, which occupies the largest share of the milk market, and its fat and protein content is even higher than that of milk. [1]
Image data from: References[1]
Referring to the mainland "GB 19301-2010 National Standard for Food Safety Raw Milk" for the nutritional requirements of raw milk, the content of fat, protein and non-fat milk solids of pig milk is in line with national standards, that is to say, pig milk as a raw material for dairy products is nutritionally passed.
Although the literature does not indicate the specific value of non-fat milk solids of pig milk, only the sum of lactose, protein and minerals has met the national standard of non-fat milk solids ≥ 8.1g/100g.
Screenshot from "GB 19301-2010 National Standard for Food Safety 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 matter of nutrition, that is the taste of pig milk is particularly bad and cannot be accepted by everyone?
After all, in the national standard of raw milk, there are also requirements for the senses.
There are people who don't like it in taste
Pig milk has not been sold in the market, what is the taste of pig milk? It can only be "hearsay".
Information from foreign pig industry staff said that the taste of pig milk is particularly "fat", heavier than the taste of goat milk, if you do not like goat milk, then there is a high probability that you will not like pig milk. [2]
Domestic reports say that the color of pig milk is similar to milk, goat milk, camel milk, smells fragrant, tastes a bit like almond dew, but the texture is stronger. [3] The taste of almond dew sounds a little better, but some people can't accept the unique scent of almond in almond dew, feeling "like plastic flavor/paint/gasoline", in short, there is a strange smell.
Pig milk is nutritious, but some people don't like its taste, which doesn't seem to be the real reason to stop it from becoming a commercially available commodity. After all, goat milk and almond dew are not everyone's favorite, but they are still on the market.
3
Too little production is key
The lactation period of cattle is 10 months, camels can even be as long as 14 months, and pigs are only 2 months...
During this 2-month lactation period, less than 6 kg (13 lbs) of milk was produced per day, and the total milk production was just over 50 kg. [2,4] In its natural state, sows produce up to 2 calves a year and up to 500+ kg of milk per year.
And the cows we know so well? Producing up to 30 kg (65 lbs) of milk per day, plus a 10-month lactation period, The Holstein cows, known for their milk production, produce an average of 10,220 kg per year! [5]
20x gap!
In this way, the milk production of sows is often not enough for piglets to eat, and if piglets are not full and do not eat well, the survival rate will be affected. Considering the production of pig milk and the economic benefits that can be brought by the survival of piglets, the breeders will certainly not grab milk from piglets' mouths.
At present, the survival and growth of piglets is the main goal of the pig industry. [6]
4
The cost is also high
In fact, the low yield and the importance of pig milk to the survival of piglets have determined that humans basically do not commercialize pig milk.
However, since this is the point, let's go on to 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, workers/machines busy milking at the back of the cow's udder.
This is because the 4 nipples of the cow are concentrated on a large "breast", and there is a developed milk pool in the mammary gland to store the secreted milk, and the calves and lambs have milk whenever they eat, which is also convenient for arranging milking, concentrating 2-3 milking times a day, with "milking".
Cows' udders and nipples
But for pigs, the operation of regular centralized milking is basically an impossible task.
First of all, the physiological structure is not supported. The nipples are mostly scattered, and the milk pool in the breast gland is not developed or even absent, and milk cannot be secreted and stored in advance. Under natural conditions, piglet sucking is the only way for sows to milk, which means that only when the piglet first sucks to stimulate the mammary glands can it begin to produce milk. [7]
Mainland commercial pigs generally have 6-7 pairs of nipples, symmetrically distributed left and right on the ventral side
Secondly, the single milking time is too short, and it can only be a small number of times. Even sows with high milk production can only last more than 20 seconds per milking time, but the number of milk releases in a day and night can reach 30 times... [8]
This physiological structure, coupled with the way of milking milk, makes it much more difficult and costly to milk pigs than milking cows. Even if it is operated by a machine, the operation of holding a dozen nipples but only milking milk for ten seconds is a bit demanding for the industrial design of the milking machine. Considering the production of pig milk, this R&D investment is obviously a loss-making business...
The milker "milks" the milk
Oh, and a particularly important point is that the sow's fit is extremely low. Nursing sows are even more grumpy, far less like domesticated cows/sheep, with a gentle temper and ability to cooperate with milking.
The feed input-output ratio is too low
The high cost of pig milk is also reflected in feed. [4]
Whether it is a pig or a cow, the lactation period should ensure an adequate and abundant supply of nutrients. The price of pig feed is slightly higher than that of cattle feed. [9,10]
Pigs are omnivores and eat refined feed. Cattle are herbivores, mainly coarse feed such as long grass, but also need to be supplemented by a certain proportion of refined feed. Although lactating cows eat more than sows, roughly estimated at around 1.5–3 times [11,12], don't forget that milk production is 20 times more than pig milk.
From the perspective of milk production, the input-output ratio of pig feed is much lower than that of cattle feed.
Low yields, difficult milking, and a low feed input-output ratio determine that nutritionally passable pig milk is almost impossible to commercialize. Raising pigs, or selling meat is more in line with economic benefits, milk is counted on it~
If you insist on commercializing pig milk, it will probably be very, very expensive
Resources
[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://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_milk
[3] Why doesn't pig milk be sold in the market? [J].China Rural Science and Technology,2013(10):57.
ZHANG Yujie. Factors affecting lactation power of sows and countermeasures[J].Zhejiang Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine,2018,43(06):25-26.
[5] Holstein Friesian cattle. Retrieved 19 March 2022. 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.
LIU Zikui. On breast development of sows[J].Swine Science,2019,36(05):132-133.
Ji Lili. The basis for judging the lactation capacity of sows and measures to improve lactation[J].Modern Animal Husbandry Science and Technology, 2020(08):31-32.DOI:10.19369/j.cnki.2095-9737.2020.08.016.
[9] Price Monitoring Center of the National Development and Reform Commission - Price comparison of pig feed, chicken feed and egg feed in the second week of March 2022 (March 14, 2022). http://jgjc.ndrc.gov.cn/Detail.aspx?newsId=12504&TId=708
[10] "Reducing costs and stabilizing milk prices" is the main theme of dairy development this year (2022.1.10). https://www.cfsn.cn/front/web/site.newshow?newsid=70749
[11] National standard of the People's Republic of China Pig nutrient requirements GB/T 39235-2020
[12] Agricultural Industry Standard of the People's Republic of China Dairy Cattle Breeding Standard NY/T 34-2004