0
Weaning in commercial conditions includes social, environmental and nutritional stressors. Reducing the nutritional stressor may help to mitigate weaning-related problems by habituating piglets to solid feed as an alternative energy source while they are with the sow, which may reduce neophobia for the weaner diet. Consequently, this may improve the feed intake and hence the growth of newly weaned piglets, although the impact on these performance parameters seems inconsistent. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of providing fibrous creep feed before weaning and adding this feed to the post-weaning diet on piglet behavior and performance. For this purpose, twenty-two litters with on average 12 piglets from multiparous sows were included in the trial. Pre-weaning, litters were given creep feed (CF, n = 12 litters) or not (NF, n = 10 litters). Post-weaning, piglets (n = 8 pens with 4 piglets/treatment) were given a weaner diet (CON) or weaner diet supplemented with creep feed (CS). Behaviors were scored in the home pen at d11, 16, 22 and 27 after birth and at week 1 and 2 post-weaning. Feed intake, growth and fecal consistency were measured up to d14 post-weaning. A blood sample was taken at d2, 15 and 29 after birth and d2, 5 and 14 post-weaning.
Results showed that CF-piglets consumed on average 397 ± 71 g creep feed before weaning. The group of CF-piglets grew faster in the last week before weaning than NF-piglets (249 ± 7 vs. 236 ± 11 g/d). However, CF- and NF-piglets did not differ in weaning weight, within-litter coefficient of variation in weaning weight, behaviors in the farrowing and weaner pen, and haptoglobin concentrations. Creep feed supplementation enhanced feed exploration at week 2 post-weaning (0.29 ± 0.08 vs. 0.11 ± 0.03%), but did not affect other post-weaning behaviors. Pre-weaning creep feed provision and post-weaning creep feed supplementation did not affect overall feed intake, growth, feed efficiency and fecal consistency for the first 14 days post-weaning, neither body weight at d14 post-weaning. Nevertheless, CF-piglets had a lower within-pen coefficient of variation in body weight at d14 post-weaning than NF-piglets (13.6 ± 1.9 vs. 15.1± 1.5%).
In conclusion, pre-weaning creep feed provision and post-weaning creep feed supplementation had no clear effects on piglet behavior and performance.
Middelkoop A, Choudhury R, Gerrits WJ, Kemp B, Kleerebezem M, Bolhuis JE. Effects of creep feed provision on behavior and performance of piglets around weaning. Frontiers in Veterinary Science. 2020; 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2020.520035
