From birth to lying on- or under a supplemental heat source: How long does it take for half the litter to lie down and how long do they stay?

Piglets are susceptible to hypothermia because they lack hair and energy reserves, have a large surface area to body weight ratio, and have poor body thermostability. Different heat sources are used on farm, but it is not known how long it takes half a litter to locate it and lie down. The objectives of this study were to determine 1) how long it took for ≥ 50% of piglets to locate and lie on- or under the supplemental heat source for ≥ 5 min after the birth of the last-born pig and, 2) how long this cohort of piglets laid on- or under the heat source. A total of 12 sows were enrolled in the study (parity 1 = 4; 3 = 2; 4 = 2; 5 = 2; and 7 = 2). The stall containing one sow and her litter was the experimental unit. Two treatments were compared: 1) Baby Pig Heat Mat—Single 48 (MAT) and 2) Poly Heat Lamp (LAMP). Temperature was 32°C for both heat source treatments. Sow and litter video recordings occurred continually over a 24-h period on the day of farrowing. Two measures were determined 1) how long it took for ≥ 50% of piglets to locate and lie on- or under the supplemental heat source for ≥ 5 min after the birth of the last-born pig (h:min), and 2) how long this cohort of piglets laid on- or under the heat source (min:sec). Lying was defined as either sternal or lateral recumbency with ≥ 75% of the piglet’s body touching the heat mat or inside the lamp heat circle. Production records were used to verify farrowing date, total number of piglets born, and born alive. No cross fostering occurred during this study. All data will be presented descriptively. On average, sows assigned to the LAMP treatment took ~2 ½-h to farrow, and for sows assigned to the MAT ~3 ½-h, respectively. Piglets took between ~5-h (LAMP) and ~9-h (MAT) for ≥ 50% of piglets to locate and lie on- or under the supplemental heat source for ≥ 5 min after the birth of the last piglet. Cohort of piglets laid on- or under the heat source as follows, LAMP piglets spent ~29 mins lying and for MAT piglets ~42 mins, respectively. Average pre-weaning mortality was 11% (LAMP) and 18% (MAT). The MAT heat source used less energy than the LAMP (16 vs. 63 kWh) over the study duration. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first published study using a continuous sampling method to precisely examine a new measure (time needed for ≥ 50% of piglets to locate and lie on- or under the supplemental heat source for ≥ 5 min after the birth of the last-born piglet) and to determine how long this cohort of piglets laid on- or under the heat source. Our findings show an immense range in locating and lying under- or on the heat source. Therefore, we suggest that caretakers should assist all piglets to locate the heat source after farrowing is complete to improve piglet livability.This article is published as Stambuk CR, Johnson AK, Lane KJ, Stalder KJ (2023) From birth to lying on- or under a supplemental heat source: How long does it take for half the litter to lie down and how long do they stay? PLoS ONE 18(12): e0294336. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294336. © 2023 Stambuk et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

More Nipple Cup Drinkers to Fewer Pigs on the Day of Weaning Into a Conventional Nursery Results in Reduced Aggression and More Visits to the Drinker

More nipple cup drinkers to fewer pigs on the day of weaning into a conventional nursery results in reduced aggression and more visits to the drinker. Background: Piglets develop their drinking behaviour over the first few days after weaning. Enhancing drinking opportunities for nursery pigs can affect growth, health, welfare, and overall profit. The objectives of this study were to determine how 1, 2, or 3 drinkers per pen affected drinker visit numbers, length of visits at the drinker, and aggressive interactions in the drinker vicinity on placement day for nursery pigs. Methods and Findings: One-hundred and fifty crossbred gilts (21 ± 4 days of age at weaning) weighing 5.38 ± 2.65 Kg were enrolled and assigned to pens by body weight with 25 pigs per pen. Six pens were used with 2 pens per treatment. Each pen contained 1, 2, or 3 stainless steel nipple cup drinkers. Four measures were collected: number and length of visits to the drinker which started each time the individual nursery pig’s head was in the drinker and terminated when the pig’s head moved out of the drinker for a period lasting 5 s or more and number and length of aggressive interactions in the drinker vicinity defined as any fight, bully, head-knock, or chase which occurred in a radius of 0.61 m or less from the edge of the drinker. Total number and length of visits to the nipple cup drinker were greatest for treatment 2 (2 drinkers per pen; 1,894 ± 289 visits and 21,413 ± 6,236 s) and lowest for treatment 1 (1 drinker per pen; 1,129 ± 88 visits and 13,277 ± 1,117). Pigs in treatment pens given 3 drinkers had the lowest total number (676 ± 269 interactions) and the shortest length (4,614 ± 1,912) of aggressive interactions in the vicinity of the drinkers. Conclusion: Offering multiple drinkers provided more frequent and longer water access along with decreased aggression near the water source which could improve nursery pig welfare on placement day.This article is published as Stambuk CR, Sadler L, DuBois PR, Edler RA, Holck JT, et al. (2020) More Nipple Cup Drinkers to Fewer Pigs on the Day of Weaning Into a Conventional Nursery Results in Reduced Aggression and More Visits to the Drinker. J Anim Sci Livest Prod Vol.4 No.2:3. DOI: 10.36648/2577-0594.4.2.3.</p