Long-stemmed straw as an additional nesting material in modified Schmid pens in a commercial breeding unit: effects on sow behaviour, and on piglet mortality and growth

Damm, B.I; Pedersen, Lene Juul; Heiskanen, T.; Nielsen, N. P.

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2004.10.013

Cited by 46 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…piglet survival) so that they equal or surpass the performance of farrowing crates. The outdoor system offers a competitive level of survival (Meat and Livestock Commission, 2006), but alternative indoor systems (Edwards and Fraser, 1997;Marchant et al, 2000;Wechsler and Weber, 2007) often only return favourable survival figures at the experimental level, which are not replicated in commercial evaluation (Damm et al, 2005). Notable exceptions are the results reported by Weber et al (2007) when comparing crates and indoor loose systems in Switzerland.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Indicators of piglet survival in an outdoor farrowing system

et al. 2009

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Indicators of piglet survival in an outdoor farrowing system

et al. 2009

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“…However, those piglets most likely did not consume any colostrum, as indicated by their weight loss (Milligan et al, 2001;Damm et al, 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Only two of them were still alive at weaning, and 14 died within 3 days of birth. Damm et al (2005) reported that 72% of piglets that die within the first 4 days post partum have not consumed any colostrum. Therefore, colostrum intake of those 17 piglets was estimated to be 0.…”

Section: Reproduction Performancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variability of colostrum yield and colostrum intake in pigs

Devillers

Farmer²,

Dividich³

et al. 2007

Animal

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Colostrum yield and composition of 40 Landrace3Large White sows were determined from the onset of parturition until 24 h post partum. Colostrum yield was calculated by adding individual piglets' colostrum intakes for each litter. Colostrum was assayed for prolactin, progesterone, oestradiol-17b, immunoglobulin G and its nutritional composition was determined. Piglets' individual colostrum intake averaged 300 6 7 g and sows' colostrum yield averaged 3.67 6 0.14 kg (minimum 1.91 kg, maximum 5.31 kg). Live weight and characteristics at birth (umbilical cord already ruptured, splayleg, difficulty to breathe) were the major factors influencing individual colostrum intake. Colostrum yield was not affected by litter size, tended to be influenced by parity (P 5 0.059) and was lower when farrowing was induced (P 5 0.017). On the other hand, no relationships were found between hormone concentrations in colostrum and colostrum yield. Mean piglet birth weight and litter weight variation at birth were related to colostrum yield (r 5 0.38; P 5 0.015 and r 5 20.34; P 5 0.030, respectively). These results suggest that determinism of colostrum yield depends, in part, on global vitality of the litter but seems to be, most probably, affected by the capacity of sows to produce enough colostrum for the whole litter. Further studies are needed to understand the endocrine regulation of colostrum secretion in sows.

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“…On the other hand, the straw data are again within the theoretic range of litter size at weaning for line V (7.0-10.0 pups/litter, according to Baselga, 2002), whereas wood shavings data are lower than expected as a consequence of the lower litter size at birth. In pigs, Damn et al (2005) indicated that larger amounts of straw and other nesting materials are relevant for piglet survival and growth. In rabbits, González Redondo (2010) found a higher accumulated mortality until weaning in function of the presence of straw and hair in the nest box.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%