Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-tn8tq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-07T04:42:21.513Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A note on the effect of feeding regime on the performance of sows housed in a novel group-housing system

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

J. Carol Petherick  and
Judith K. Blackshaw
J. Carol Petherick
Affiliation:
Department of Farm Animal Medicine and Production, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4067, Australia
Judith K. Blackshaw
Affiliation:
Department of Farm Animal Medicine and Production, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4067, Australia
Get access

Abstract

The effects on sow reproductive performance of three feeding regimes (ration (R), ad libitum (A) and ration + straw (R + S)), in conjunction with partial barriers placed along the food trough, were investigated. Three groups of four sows were put on the regimes, in a group-housing system, over three consecutive gestations. Each trial lasted 13 days and took place during the first half of the gestation period. Sows on A ate about three times the amount of food that was allocated to them on R and R + S (2 kg per sow per day). Feeding regime did not affect any of the measures of reproductive performance (numbers of piglets liveborn, stillborn, weaned, birth and weaning weights). Sows of parity 7 and over had significantly fewer liveborn and more stillborn piglets compared with parities 2 to 6 (P < 0·05). It is probable that no adverse effects of the feeding regimes were found due to the short time that the sows were on them and because multiparous animals were used. It is suggested that the welfare of ration-fed sows, whose appetite is not satiated, is jeopardized and that this problem may be solved by the provision of fibrous foodstuffs.

Type
Note
Information
Animal Production , Volume 49 , Issue 3 , December 1989 , pp. 523 - 526
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Anonymous. 1982. Pelleted straw to pregnant sows. Pig News and Information 3: 245.Google Scholar
Baxter, M. R. 1982/1983. Ethology in environmental design for animal production. Applied Animal Ethology 9: 207–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brooks, P. H. and Cole, D. J. A. 1971. The effect of increasing feed intake for one day only during the oestrus period on the reproductive performance of sows. Animal Production 13: 669–675.Google Scholar
Carter, A. J. and English, P. R. 1983. A comparison of the activity and behaviour of dry sows in different housing and penning systems. Animal Production 36: 531–532 (Abstr.).Google Scholar
Dyck, G. W. and Strain, J. H. 1980. Post-mating feed consumption and reproductive performance in gilts. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 60: 1060 (Abstr.).Google Scholar
English, P. R., Smith, W. J. and MacLean, A. 1977. The Sow — Improving Her Efficiency. Farming Press Ltd, Ipswich.Google Scholar
Fraser, D. 1975. The effect of straw on the behaviour of sows in tether stalls. Animal Production 21: 59–68.Google Scholar
Frobish, L. T. and Steele, N. C. 1970. Influence of energy intake through three gestations on reproductive performance of sows. Journal of Animal Science 31: 200 (Abstr.).Google Scholar
Heap, F. C., Lodge, G. A. and Lamming, G. E. 1967. The influence of plane of nutrition in early pregnancy on survival and development of embryos in the sow. Journal of Reproduction and Fertility 13: 269–279.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hughes, P. E. and Varley, M. A. 1980. Reproduction in the Pig. Butterworths, London.Google Scholar
Lambert, R. J., M., Ellis., Rowlinson, P. and Saville, C. A. 1983. Influence of housing/feeding system on sow behaviour. Animal Production 36: 532 (Abstr.).Google Scholar
Nelder, J. A. and Wedderburn, R. M. 1972. Generalised linear models. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society 135A: 370–384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, G. L., Casida, L. E., Grummkk, R. H. and Chapman, A. B. 1951. Some feeding and management factors affecting age at puberty and related phenomena in Chester White and Poland China gilts. Journal of Animal Science 10: 841–866.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scofield, A. M. 1972. Embryonic mortality. In Pig Production (ed. Cole, D. J. A.), pp. 367–383. Butterworths, London.Google Scholar
Toplis, P., Ginesi, M. F. J. and Wrathall, A. E. 1983. The influence of high food levels in early pregnancy on embryo survival in multiparous sows. Animal Production 37: 45–48.Google Scholar
Whittemore, C. T., Fraser, D. and Darroch, R. L. 1977. Aspects of ingcstive behaviour which may influence the productivity of piglets and sows. British Veterinary Journal 133: 100 (Abstr.).Google Scholar
Wrathall, A. E. 1975. Reproductive Disorders in Pigs. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Slough.Google Scholar