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Project

Introduction and optimization of innovative rearing concepts for resilient piglets

The Flemish pig rearing companies have a number of important technical-economic challenges: perinatal piglet mortality is high, the rearing of increasingly large litters is a major challenge, and the abrupt weaning of piglets causes a drop in performance and an increased susceptibility to infections. The PROJECT aims to introduce and optimize innovative concepts in the rearing of piglets, with the aim of obtaining more resilient piglets in a cost-effective way. 'Resilience' is defined as the ability of the animal to restore equilibrium under normal physiological conditions if it is disrupted. The proposed concepts are: 1 / interventions in the neonatal piglet (alternating suckling, drenching of bioactive substances), and 2 / interventions in preparation for weaning (group rearing in maternity ward with stimulation of foraging behavior).

Date:1 Oct 2017 →  30 Sep 2021
Keywords:veerkrachtige biggen, opfokconcepten
Disciplines:Veterinary medicine, Other agricultural, veterinary and food sciences, Animal biology, Other veterinary sciences
Results:

Together with the sector, this project aimed to give a new impulse to tackle the various challenges in piglet rearing. The project aimed to optimize and introduce innovative concepts in piglet rearing in the Flemish pig industry, with the goal of producing more resilient piglets in a cost-effective way. Resilience in this context was defined as the ability of the animal, under normal physiological conditions, to restore balance when disturbed. The study was able to demonstrate that alternate suckling of neonatal piglets can reduce mortality in the piglet nest, without negative impact on isolated piglets. Alternate suckling of neonatal piglets seems to be required only in those tomes that require extra care, the so-called attention tomes. When alternate lactation is applied, it is recommended to start at the end of or in the first hours after farrowing, determining that the heavier piglets have consumed an initial amount of colostrum. Further details on how to apply this strategy are documented and communicated using a standard operating procedure. The study on drenching could not demonstrate a positive effect on the resilience of neonatal weak piglets of any of the bioactive substances tested (bovine colostrum, quercetin, scFOS, dense milk replacer) in the doses used. This again highlights the difficulty of making piglets with very low birth weight more resilient. As demonstrated during this project, good neonatal management can contribute to this. Despite the already weakened state of low birth weight piglets, the actions during drenching (catching, restraining and supplementing) were not perceived as detrimental by the animals and drenching could be considered a safe intervention. The project further showed that group rearing of lactating piglets in the farrowing house clearly resulted in less aggression after weaning, demonstrated by the lower skin lesion scores in the piglets from the group rearing system. The eating behavior of the piglets could also be positively influenced by group rearing. Group rearing had no effect for the sow in terms of body condition and health. Different settings to apply group rearing were described. Further implementation of these concepts in the pig industry should further confirm the potential of these innovations.