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Is well known that ad libitum feeding can cause excessive gains in weight during pregnancy, which is detrimental to both health and reproductive performance of sows. For this, several studies have demonstrated that high-fiber diets can reduce stereotypic behaviors of gestating sows in stalls. For group-housed sows, roughage and high-fiber diets tended to reduce aggressive interactions in the long term. In this case, ethanol industry produces distillers’ dried grains with solubles (DDGS), readily available and widely used as a feed ingredient for farm animals. The DDGS contents high fiber that may affect the behavior and well-being of limit-fed gestating sows, both in stalls and group-housed systems. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of diets containing DDGS on stereotypic behaviors of gestating sows housed in individual stalls and aggressive interactions at mixing among sows housed in a group-housed system with electronic sow feeders. Sows were fed corn-soybean-based control (CON) or treatment (DDGS) diets starting from their previous breeding cycle (40% and 20% DDGS as-fed basis during gestation and lactation, respectively). Group-housed sows were mixed in pens with an electronic sow feeder within 1 wk after mating. Behaviors of focal sows (n=27 in stalls, n=40 in pens) were video-recorded for a period of 24 h between 4 and 8 d after mating. Salivary cortisol levels were measured on 32 focal sows (n=16 in stalls, n=16 in pens) during the week before mating (week 0), 1 wk and 12 wk after mating.
In this study, one of the major findings was that DDGS sows were more aggressive than CON sows at mixing in the group-housed system. In pens, DDGS sows fought for longer periods (P=0.05), tended to fight more frequently (P=0.06), and had greater cortisol concentrations (P<0.001) at mixing compared with CON sows. In stalls, DDGS sows spent more time resting (P=0.02), less time performing stereotypies (P=0.05), and had lower cortisol concentrations (P=0.03) in week 12 compared with CON sows.
In conclusion, the effect of DDGS diet on behavior and welfare of gestating sows appears to be dependent on the housing system, so DDGS diets may affect the welfare of sows in pens, but improve the welfare of sows in stalls.
Li, Y. Z., Phillips, C. E., Wang, L. H., Xie, X. L., Baidoo, S. K., Shurson, G. C. and Johnston, L. J. (2013). Effects of distillers’ dried grains with solubles on behavior of sows kept in a group-housed system with electronic sow feeders or individual stalls. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 93: 57-66. doi:10.4141/CJAS2012-043