The performance of group-housed sows offered a high fibre diet ad libitum

Abstract

As a part of a study investigating the extent to which ad libitum feeding of a high fibre diet could mitigate behavioural problems associated with food restriction, the performance of sows given food at restricted or ad libitum levels was compared. Ten subgroups of five were allocated to each of the restricted (R) and ad libitum (A) feeding regimes. Five weeks after service, subgroups were introduced into one of two dynamic groups of sows housed in adjacent straw-bedded pens. R sows received a fixed daily ration (parity 1: 2·2 kg; parity 2: 2·4 kg) of a conventional pregnancy diet (13·1 MJ digestible energy per kg) from an electronic sow feeder. Sows on the A regime had unrestricted access to five single-space hoppers dispensing a high fibre diet (containing 600 g unmolassed sugar beet pulp per kg). Subgroups were maintained on these gestation feeding regimes for two consecutive parities. During both parities, A sows were heavier by day 50 of gestation (parity 1: P < 0·05; parity 2: P < 0·01) and at farrowing (parity 1: P < 0·001; parity 2: P < 0·001) than R sows. No difference was found between feeding regime in sow weight at weaning, due to a greater weight loss during lactation of A (parity 1: P < 0·001; parity 2: P < 0·001) than R sows. No difference was found between feeding regime in sow backfat thickness, sow reproductive performance or litter performance in either parity. This suggests that unmolassed sugar beet pulp diets may be used to feed sows on an ad libitum basis during gestation without compromising productivity. However, food intakes may be too high (estimated at 4·1 kg per sow per day) to make ad libitum feeding of pregnant sows an attractive option for producers.

Preliminary results of <i>ad libitum</i> feeding of diets containing a high amount of fibrous components on the reproductive performance of sows

“…The obtained results are consistent with the observations of Stewart et al (1993), Brouns and Edwards (1994), Sadler et al (1994), Brouns et al (1995), and Whittaker et al (2000) who fed sows ad libitum using diets with a 50%) or higher content of sugar beet pulp. The significantly lower feed intake observed during advanced pregnancy in group III and during lactation in groups II and III is unexpected.…”

“…The significantly lower feed intake observed during advanced pregnancy in group III and during lactation in groups II and III is unexpected. A similar effect was also noticed by Whittaker et al (2000). This could be a possible result of excess energy intake between days 28 and 56 of pregnancy in comparison with control sows.…”

Fertility of Sows Fed ad libitum with a High Fibre Diet During Pregnancy

“…In this study, AD LIB sows consumed an average of 4.3 kg feed/sow/day, which is very similar to the previous studies (Whittaker et al. 2000, 4.1; kg/sow of a diet containing 60% sugar beet pulp; Brouns et al.…”

Performance and individual feed intake characteristics of group-housed sows fed a nonstarch polysaccharides diet ad libitum during gestation over three parities1

“…However, data on the development in individual feed intake characteristics during gestation and in successive parities of grouphoused ad libitum-fed gestating sows are lacking. Re-productive performance of sows of Parities 1 and 2 does not appear to be influenced by providing diets containing a high level of fermentable NSP ad libitum from d 28 of gestation (Whittaker et al, 2000). From a Danish field study, there are some indications that ad libitum feeding of a diet with a high level of fermentable NSP during gestation may decrease piglet birth weight compared with restrictedly feeding a lowfiber diet (Fisker and Sørensen, 1999).…”