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Effect of hunger and exploration on first consumption of solid food by piglets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2017

H. F. Lee ,
M. C. Appleby  and
C. A. Morgan
H. F. Lee
Affiliation:
Institute of Ecology and Resource Management, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JG, UK
M. C. Appleby
Affiliation:
Institute of Ecology and Resource Management, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JG, UK
C. A. Morgan
Affiliation:
Animal Biology Division, SAC, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian EH26 0PH, UK
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Extract

Piglets are usually supplied with solid food - creep food - at a time when most are still obtaining adequate nutrition from milk. Getting piglets started on solid food may help their growth performance both before and after weaning. As young piglets are highly exploratory animals (A'Ness et al., 1997) and food restriction increases the tendency of older pigs to express foraging behaviour (Lawrence et al., 1988), the objective of this experiment was to examine the relative importance of exploratory behaviour and hunger on initiation of creep feeding by piglets.

Eight litters of Large White x Landrace piglets were used in this study. Each piglet was ear tagged and weighed within 24h of birth. When a litter was 16 days old (d16), each piglet was weighed and 8 piglets were taken in pairs, between nursings, to one of two experimental pens for 30 mins familiarization and filming, twice each.

Type
Programme
Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science , Volume 1999 , 1999 , pp. 181
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 1999

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References

A'Ness, P. J., Horrell, R. I. and Chen, T. S. 1997. The responsiveness of suckling piglets to solid food presented in different forms. In Animal Choices (ed. Forbes, J. M., Lawrence, T. L. J., Rodway, R. G. and Varley, M. A.), British Society of Animal Science Occasional Publication, no. 20, pp. 113–114.Google Scholar
Lawrence, A. B., Appleby, M. C. and MacLeod, H. A. 1988. Measuring hunger in the pig using operant conditioning: the effect of food restriction. Animal Production 47: 131–137.Google Scholar