Ad libitum feeding of group housed Meishan synthetic sows during pregnancy

Extract

The future abolition of stall and tether systems has meant that, increasingly, producers are opting for group housing systems. Generally sows are fed a restricted concentrate ration during pregnancy at levels which do not induce satiety, leading to increased feeding motivation and competition between penmates for food. Feed competition can lead to compromised production in less dominant individuals. A possible solution would be to feed ad libituma lower energy diet which would restrict voluntary food intake (VFI) so that large undesirable weight gains would not be encountered. Brouns.(1993) found that diets containing 60% unmolassed sugar beet pulp (SBP) were capable of restricting intake to match energy requirements. Recently there has been heightened interest in the use of prolific strains of Chinese pigs such as the Meishan to develop commercial crossbreeds. Chinese breeds are reported to be capable of utilising dietary fibre to a greater extent than European breeds which would make the Meishan a more suitable option for an ad libhigh fibre feed system.