University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Impact of multiple suckling of litters during lactation on pre-weaning piglet performance

Gainey, Noah Christopher

Content Files
GAINEY-THESIS-2023.pdf

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/121542

Description

Title
Impact of multiple suckling of litters during lactation on pre-weaning piglet performance
Author(s)
Gainey, Noah Christopher
Issue Date
2023-07-19
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Ellis, Michael
Department of Study
Animal Sciences
Discipline
Animal Sciences
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
M.S.
Degree Level
Thesis
Keyword(s)
  • multiple suckling
  • piglets
Abstract
Multiple suckling involves the grouping together of sows and litters such that piglets can potentially access teats on all of the sows in the group. Historically, multiple suckling involved moving the group of sows and litters into large pens. More recently, there has been interest in an approach to multiple suckling that involves leaving the sows in crates in farrowing accommodation and removing the dividers between the farrowing pens. It has been proposed that such an approach could improve piglet weight gain and reduce piglet mortality during lactation. The objective of the study reported in this thesis was to evaluate the effects of multiple- compared to single-suckling (piglets having access to only one sow) on pre-weaning performance of the piglets. The study was carried out in a commercial farrowing facility that consisted of pens with farrowing crates that were designed to house one sow and litter. A randomized complete block design (blocking factors were farrowing date, sow parity, body condition score, and number of functional teats) was used to compare 2 treatments: 1) Control (sow and litter kept in an individual farrowing crate/pen); 2) Multiple Suckled (group of 3 sows and litters kept in 1 group). The Multiple Suckled treatment was created at 5 days after birth by removing the pen dividers between 3 adjacent farrowing pens with the sows remaining in the farrowing crates. A total of 210 sows and litters (2950 piglets) were used, representing 36 replicates of 6 sows (3 litters on each treatment). The study started at 5 days after birth and ended when the piglets were weaned (at 19 ± 2 days of age). Piglet weights were collected at birth and weaning and piglet mortalities were recorded. Data were analyzed using the glmer and lmer functions of R with the model including the fixed effect of treatment and the random effect of block. There were no differences (P > 0.05) between the treatments for pre-weaning growth rate (195 and 191 g/day, SEM 0.01, for the Control and Multiple Suckled treatments, respectively) or pre-weaning mortality (13.5 and 13.9 %, SEM 0.01, respectively). These results suggest no benefit from using multiple suckling of litters under the conditions of the study for the pre-weaning performance of piglets.
Graduation Semester
2023-08
Type of Resource
Thesis
Handle URL
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/121542
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2023 Noah Gainey

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