<%@LANGUAGE="JavaScript1.3"%> Swine Production Management - Farrowing - Nursing
   

Nursing

 
 
What attracts new born piglets?

1

Vocalisation of sows

2

Dark areas

3

Afterbirth and birth fluids

4

Movement along hair patterns

Suckling after birth

1

Piglets contact teat as quickly as 3 minutes, but average 15 minutes to contact the udder and 30 minutes to contact the teat

2

Milk continuously available for several hours little aggression as pigs sample teats

3

Cyclic milk ejection, approximately hourly, results in more aggression

Cyclic nursing and suckling (approximately once every hour)

 

Sow

Piglets

Slow grunting

Assemble at udder

Increase grunt rate

Nosing and teat location

Rapid increase in grunt rate

Slow suckling

Milk flow (15 sec)

Rapid suckling

Grunting declines

Slow suckling or nosing

Sleep or change position

Fall sleep

Other factors

1

Fan noise may interfere with nursing cycles

2

Piglets which miss a nursing do not eat until next bout

3

Nurse within a room to synchronise

4

Nursing can be stimulated by sound or massage

5

Post-suckling massage related to milk yield and gut hormones

Teat Order

1

Established within 3 days

2

Consistence often over 90%

3

Less stable in large litters

4

About 10% of piglets use more than one teat

5

Multiple teats more common in small litters

6

Unused teats regress

7

When sow turns over, so does the piglet teat order, it is teat specific

Consequences of a teat order

1

Stable teat orders lead to more uniform growth

2

Relative weight gain within litters depends on competition for teat

3

Evening out litters by weights (first  3 days) or selective teeth clipping reduced problem piglets

4

Unused teats produce less milk in subsequent lactation

5

Mixing after day 9 difficult to re-make teat order (1-2 days)

In with natural state, a sow would introduce her piglets to other sow's piglets around day 10.  After day 14, the group of piglets join the main group.

Fostering:

  • When a pig is fostered after 48 hours total litter performance is reduced

  • Fostering is about two events

  • Foster after day three if you want more even litters (total litter size will be reduced)

  • Do not foster after day three if you want to maximise total litter weight (litter may be variable)