Can stimulating exploratory behaviour improve pre-weaning creep consumption?

Friday, December 5, 2014

Research at the Prairie Swine Centre suggests that it can and raises the question of whether the benefits continue post-weaning

by YOLANDE SEDDON, SARA FAIRBROTHER, KRISTA DAVIES, MEGAN BOUVIER and JENNIFER BROWN

Stress at weaning results from the abrupt change from a liquid to a solid diet, a change in the environment and pig grouping, and often leads to a reduced feed intake for two days following weaning, and the potential for increased disease susceptibility and mortality.

Familiarizing pigs with a solid diet prior to weaning through provision of creep aims to help piglets transition to solid feed, to decrease the time spent non-eating and prevent weight loss in the period post-weaning. In addition, the provision of creep can help to accustom the gut to solid food gradually.

However, observations have shown that less than 50 per cent of piglets in a litter will actually consume the creep. In the wild, piglets learn to consume appropriate feedstuffs while foraging in groups, imitating the behaviour of the dam and the littermates. In contrast, the intensive environment is relatively barren and uniform, and combined with the restriction of the sow in a crate, provides little opportunity for sow piglet interaction or exploration.  

But if the pigs' natural exploratory drive could be stimulated in the farrowing pen, this may stimulate interest and exploration of the creep feed between the littermates, and help them more readily accept solid feed post-weaning. This study investigated whether providing environmental enrichment or increasing the opportunity for social feeding could stimulate exploratory behaviour and result in greater creep consumption and improved growth performance, before and after weaning.

The research questions were:

• Can stimulating exploratory behaviour increase pre-weaning creep feed consumption in piglets?
• Is exploratory behaviour best stimulated by provision of pen enrichment (ie: suspended ropes) or by a shallow tray feeder that facilitates synchronized feeding, stimulating group foraging?
• Does this result in increased growth performance before or after weaning?

Twenty-eight litters were studied over four treatments (seven litters per treatment), with creep feed provided to all litters from 10 to 28 days of age (weaning). Treatments consisted of creep offered in one of two feeder designs (a standard commercial feeder, or a low edge baking tray), with or without enrichment provision, as follows: T1) creep provided in a standard feeder (SF); T2) creep provided in a standard feeder with enrichment (SF&E); T3) creep provided in a tray feeder (TF); and T4) creep provided in a tray feeder with enrichment (TF&E).       

Enrichment treatments received strips of cotton rope suspended in the pen from day five until weaning. Piglet weights and creep consumption were recorded weekly, from birth up to six weeks of age, including an additional weight at day one post-weaning. Piglet behaviour was recorded from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on days 12, 19, and 26 of age, and on days one, seven and 14 post-weaning. Footage was scanned at five minute intervals to determine the number of piglets interacting with the feeder (head in feeder), and the number of piglets interacting with the enrichment.

Results. To date, only preliminary data for the pre-weaning period has been analyzed. When provided with enrichment, piglets used it on average 11 times per day. However, the provision of enrichment had no effect on the number of feeder visits, but rather the feeder type did.

On day 12, there were significantly more visits to the tray feeder than to the standard feeder, and this trend continued as a tendency on days 19 and 26 of age (see Figure 1). In addition, there was a tendency for a greater number of piglets at the tray feeder per visit (P=0.060). Litters supplied with the tray feeder had greater daily creep disappearance (In g/pig/day: SF: 5.4; TF: 13.2, SEM 1.33, P<0.0005), with no effect of Enrichment Pre-weaning growth rate did not differ between treatments, however treatments given the tray feeder showed no weight loss in the first day post-weaning.    

The bottom line. Provision of a large tray feeder encouraged social feeding and foraging by piglets and was more effective at attracting piglets to the creep than a standard feeder, or the provision of rope enrichment. This may be because the tray feeder provided a greater opportunity for group foraging and rooting behaviour.

Provision of the tray feeder before weaning led to a positive effect on piglet growth immediately after weaning. These growth benefits may have arisen from piglets more readily taking to solid feed post-weaning, having had increased exploration of solid feed pre-weaning. The greater feed disappearance from the tray feeder may have been due to increased feed wastage.

However, if increasing the foraging behaviour is enough to encourage feed intake immediately post-weaning, then providing expensive creep feed in the tray may not be necessary – and rather suggests that any material the piglets can forage and ingest would do, such as beet pulp. This is an area for further research.

Analysis of the post-weaning data is ongoing, and results will help determine if the use of the tray feeder pre-weaning has lasting positive effects post-weaning. BP

The authors are researchers with the Prairie Swine Centre. This study was funded by the Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program (CAAP), with supporting funds contributed by Sask Pork, Alberta Pork, Manitoba Pork and Ontario Pork.