Evaluation of a system based on the combination of liquid and dry diets for establishing early weaned pigs

Extract

Pigs which are small and relatively ill-thriving when their litter-mates are due to be weaned constitute a major problem in practice because they are much more difficult to establish after weaning than their larger litter-mates. Because of this, many producers foster 8 to 10 of these poorer pigs to a newly weaned ‘nurse’ sow following weaning from their own dam and delay weaning them for a further week or more. Such fostering of poor pigs when weaned from their own dam suffers from the disadvantage that it delays the rebreeding of the ‘nurse’ sow and it can be ineffective if the sow fails to milk well. The chore-time Baby Pig Feeder, developed at North Carolina State University, has the potential to cater for the needs of poorer pigs at weaning and to reduce the need for ‘nurse’ sows. The Chore-time is an automatic feeder which involves the mixing of dry milk substitute and cold water and delivery of the mixture to a round trough, around which up to 10 pigs can feed. It can be programmed for milk to be delivered at hourly intervals or less frequently. The usefulness of this equipment was evaluated on a 200 sow commercial unit in which weaning took place around 3 weeks of age.