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Newborn pigs start to suckle quickly after birth. Pigs are the only animals that show an establishment of teat order within hours. Heavier piglets tend to suckle the anterior teats and the smaller ones suckle those located in the posterior part. It is known that the average daily weight gain of piglets is significantly higher when suckling anterior teats than posterior teats. In order to achieve the healthy growth and weaning of piglets, it is important to elucidate if volume of colostrum secretion and immunoglobulin A (IgA) and IgG concentrations differ among the teats of a sow. In this study, it was directly evaluated the difference in colostrum secretion volume (CSV) from each teat for 21 h following parturition. In addition, IgA and IgG concentrations in the colostrum from each teat were also analyzed. In total, nine sows (Large White × Landrace) were studied in five sets of experiments (Study 1, three sows; Study 2, one sow; Study 3, two sows; Study 4, one sow; Study 5, two sows). The study evaluated the difference in CSV. Four of these sows were assessed for IgA and IgG concentrations from each teat. Colostrum was collected by hand-milking at 0, 6, 12, 18 and 21 h after the birth of the first piglet. Teats were assigned anatomical locations of teat (1 to 7) from anterior to posterior. The newborn piglets were removed from sows and fed a milk-replacer during the colostrum sampling.
The results showed that CSV was markedly and evidently different depending on the anatomical location of the teats. More than 20% of the colostrum was obtained from the teats at location 1 at all collection times except for 18 h post-parturition (18%). Approximately 14%–18% of the colostrum was obtained from the teats at locations 2 to 4 (P < 0.05). At 0 h post-parturition, no correlation of CSV was found with either IgA or IgG concentrations. A positive correlation of CSV was observed with IgA and IgG concentrations from 12 h and 6 h post-parturition, respectively (P < 0.05).
This study indicates that piglets suckling teats at location 1, have an enormous advantage in obtaining nutritional and immunological components from the colostrum; thus, they are expected to grow faster and healthier than the piglets suckling posterior teats.
Ogawa, S., Tsukahara, T., Tsuruta, T., Nishibayashi, R., Okutani, M., Nakatani, M., Higashide, K., Iida, S., Nakanishi, N., Ushida, K. and Inoue, R. (2014). The evaluation of secretion volume and immunoglobulin A and G concentrations in sow colostrum from anterior to posterior teats. Animal Science Journal, 85: 678–682. doi: 10.1111/asj.12211.
