Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange
Abstract
It has been demonstrated that larger pigs at birth have a greater survival rate than do small pigs, particularly in large litters. It is assumed that part of the death loss is because smaller pigs are weaker and do not compete well in establishing the peck order for position of nursing. It would seem logical that lessening the competition due to size differences at birth would lead to less death loss before weaning. The experiment reported herein was designed to evaluate the effect on pig performance and survivability of sorting pigs into groups of similar weight
