Manner and per mother hog 1 head after the becoming pregnant the period when 35 days are included from 14 days 10 - 100mg/day, vis-a-vis the mother hog after the becoming pregnant, allowing the improver of the number of nursing start heads or the number of weaning heads which contain asutakisanchin, orally with asutakisanchin conversion, it tries it will designate that offer the number of nursing start heads or the number of weaning heads which assure the improvement of the number of nursing of the mother hog start heads or the number of weaning heads making use of cheaper component the improver as topic, to solve. The improver of the number of aforementioned nursing start heads or the number of weaning heads, the number of normal product children, has the number of nursing start heads or the number of weaning heads also the augmentation operation in addition to the augmentation operation of the number of product children. When the improver of the number of nursing of this invention start heads or the number of weaning heads is used, approximately 10% to augment it is possible the number of nursing of the mother hog start heads and the number of weaning heads.より安価な成分を用いて母豚の哺乳開始頭数又は離乳頭数の向上を図る方法や、哺乳開始頭数又は離乳頭数の向上剤を提供することを課題とし、アスタキサンチンを含有する哺乳開始頭数又は離乳頭数の向上剤を、母豚1頭あたりアスタキサンチン換算で10~100mg/日、妊娠後の母豚に対して妊娠後14日から35日を含む期間、経口給与して解決しようとする。前記哺乳開始頭数又は離乳頭数の向上剤は、産子数の増加作用に加えて、正常産子数、哺乳開始頭数又は離乳頭数の増加作用をも有する。本発明の哺乳開始頭数又は離乳頭数の向上剤を用いると、母豚の哺乳開始頭数や離乳頭数を約10%増加することができる。
