How vitamin C and iron supplementation benefit gestating sows

A team of Spanish researchers evaluated the effect of supplementing vitamin C and vitamin C plus ferrous sulphate monohydrate (iron) during the last third of gestation on the sows’ blood hemoglobin concentration and individual birth weight of piglets. The increase in litter size and farrowing period of hyper-prolific sows increases the iron requirement for gestating sows. However, the absorption of iron in sows is greatly hindered by its gut absorption. Although standard diets for pregn