Seizing opportunities
Nursing more piglets per sow
Are DanBred sows capable of nursing more piglets than they are given credit for? Definitely yes. This was confirmed by The Danish Pig Research Centre after completing an extensive trial, which explored the nursing capacity of DanBred sows.
BY TRINE LUND PEDERSEN, HEAD OF TECHNICAL SERVICES, DANBRED I
n 2018, DanBred documented an impressive average of 17.2 liveborn piglets per litter in Denmark, and in the same period, reports showed that Danish herds had around 12 piglets weaned per weaning. The Danish Pig Research Cen-
tre (DPRC) decided to investigate this discrepancy, set up a trial and asked the question “Are DanBred sows capable of nursing more piglets than they are given credit for?”
Nursing capacity of DanBred sows tested The Danish Pig Research Centre carried out the trial in a Dan- ish commercial herd with 600 DanBred sows using on-farm replacement. The sows gave birth to an average of 19 live- born piglets per litter. At litter equalisation, the smallest pig- lets were gathered with a nurse sow and were not a part of the trial. The nursing capacity of the sows was tested by di- viding sows into two groups with 14 and 15 functional teats,
Figure 1 - DanBred sows successfully nursing 13-15 piglets (%).
14% 46% 97% 37% 93%
respectively. All litters were equalised to 15 piglets regardless of the number of functional teats, and the piglets had ac- cess to dry feed from the first week of age but did not have access to supplementary milk. The anecdotal assumption of the DPRC was that the group of sows with 14 functional teats would have fewer piglets at day 21 after farrowing compared to the group of sows with 15 functional teats. However, this was not the case. As seen in Figure 1, 97% of the DanBred sows had no problems nursing at least 13 piglets, which is one extra piglet per litter compared to the reports from Danish herds. 93 % of the DanBred sows with 14 functional teats weaned at least 13 piglets, and 33% of the DanBred sows with 14 functional teats weaned all 15 piglets. This show that the potential for weaning 14+ piglets does not depend on the number of functional teats but rather on the condition of the sow. Additionally, the trial found no significant difference in the average daily weight gain, in weight at weaning or in litter weight gain between the two sow groups with 14 and 15 functional teats, respectively. Also, no considerable difference in body condition on day 21 was found between the two groups. The conclusion is that when equalising litters to 15 piglets without adding milk replacement, it has no significant influence if the sow has 14 or 15 functional teats at farrowing
Figure 2 - DanBred sows with 14 teats at farrowing successfully nursing 13-15 piglets (%).
15%
45%
33%
Numbers of piglets nursed 11
10 32 12 13 ▶ WEANING | JUNE 2020
14
15
Numbers of piglets nursed 11
10 12 13
14
15
PHOTO: LARS MIKKELSEN
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