Weaning Management

At the end of this lesson, students are able to:

• Define pig weaning

• Identify the different types of weaning

• Analyze the appropriate age of weaning

• Apply the tips for better weaning

• Identify creep feeding

• Analyze how to overcome the stress on the separation of sow and piglets

• Define the terms used in weaning management

Co-mingling (CoM) - to mix together things with different types.

Creep feeding - is the practice of feeding a solid diet to piglets while they are suckling the sow, preparing their digestive system for weaning.

Gastrointestinal Tract (GIT) - also called digestive tract or alimentary canal, pathway by which food enters the body and solid wastes are expelled.

Intermittent suckling - A gradual weaning regimen where a sow and her piglets are separated for specified period of time daily during the last part of lactation,

Mimic - to imitate ( someone or their actions or words), especially in order to entertain or ridicule.

Novel intermittent suckling (NoIS) - system where the same two litters are housed together during the period of separation from the sow.

Littermate - one of the offspring in a litter in relation to the others

Weaning is a stressful experience for young piglets, affecting them both socially and physiologically. In many piggeries weaning is more stressful than it should be, with severe growth checks and even deaths.

These deaths and growth checks have a large impact on grower herd performance, resulting in reduced profitability. However, high standards of management can dramatically reduce post-weaning losses and improve growth rates by moderating the stress of weaning. The shorter the suckling period, the more sophisticated the housing, feeding and management skills required to raise the piglets.

The stage that comes after lactation (after the weaning event), in which the piglets are taken away from their dam and normally proceed to eat only solid food (compound feed) and water. It normally lasts 7-8 weeks and the piglets can grow approximately 20-25 kg during this stage.

Weaning is usually undertaken in one of the three following categories:

• Conventional weaning: 3–5 weeks of age.

• Early weaning: 10 days of age to 3 weeks.

• Specialized weaning: segregated early weaning (SEW) and medicated early weaning (MEW).

At this age, pigs are of a size and age to fend for themselves under average farm conditions. It must be remembered that age of weaning is an integral part of the breeding program and to reduce weaning age will involve changes in the mating and farrowing programs. The sow’s milk production has fallen dramatically by 5 weeks, therefore it is uneconomic to feed the piglets via the sow’s milk beyond this stage.

However, in order to maintain piglet growth rates, they must receive additional feed. Fortunately, by this age and weight, pigs are becoming accustomed to dry feed and can better adjust to temperature changes and stress. However, a high standard of hygiene must still be maintained. Where a suitable environment can be maintained and producers have the expertise, they can progressively reduce the weaning age to a point where they feel they can still gain the necessary benefit of the pigs undergoing an earlier weaning.

At 2–3 weeks of age, piglets have reached a stage when their digestive system is able to handle the more complex carbohydrates. At this age the piglet’s heat regulatory system is also beginning to function efficiently, being able to adjust to reasonable surroundings. During the period 21–28 days, it is not uncommon to have piglets scour due to the various immunological and physiological changes which occur. The severity of the scouring will depend on the causal organism, hygiene level, nutrition and the producer’s livestock handling skills. The use of specialized weaner facilities has helped considerably in the success of early weaning.

Segregated early weaning (SEW) This is weaning pigs at an ‘early’ age, usually less than 18 days old and removing them from the breeding herd immediately after weaning as a means of eliminating, or at least reducing, the disease load in pigs entering weaner facilities.

Medicated early weaning (MEW) This technique is used to obtain pigs free from some of the pathogens endemic in the herd. Sows are dosed with high levels of antibiotics when they enter the farrowing house until their piglets are weaned. The piglets are weaned at 5 days of age and moved to an isolated early-weaning unit. Piglets are dosed from birth until about 10 days of age, with similar drugs to those given to the sows.

The big decision on when to wean your piglets should be based on both the piglets and the sow. It should be noted that the time to wean is also dependent on the type of pig you are raising. Piglets will give off social indicators that will clue you in as to when to wean. Be on the lookout for the following:

• When piglets are eating & drinking well on their own

• When piglets show independence

• When piglets are not completely dependent on their mother sow

All of the above are tell-tale signs that your piglet is ready to be weaned. Depending on the breed of pig, this can be anywhere from 4-8 weeks of age. If you have a sow that is being severely depleted by a large litter, you can wean the most independent and largest sized piglets quicker than the rest, preferably not before the 4 week mark. The only exception to this if you feel it is crucial for the health/survival of the sow.

1. Introduce food pre-weaning

Introducing dry creep feed to piglets can help them become accustomed to the new feed when it’s time to wean. Place 1 ½ – 2 ½ pounds of dry feed in their crates, anywhere between three to five days before you wean. Select a feed that contains highly digestible ingredients and also tastes and smells like sow’s milk.

2. Keep Similar Feeds

It’s important to continue feeding your piglets a similar starter feed through the weaning transition. When the piglets move to the nursery or wean-to-finish facility, be sure to select starter feed that is similar in taste to the creep feed you introduced to your piglets. Taste is important to piglets. They have to like what they are eating to continue to return to the feeder.

3. Provide Fresh Feed

As soon as the piglets arrive to the new nursery or wean-to-finish facility, make sure to put out fresh feed both in feeders and sparingly on mats. Pigs are more likely to eat in groups, so concentrate on a group routine to encourage eating throughout the day. Make sure fresh feed is available throughout the day, and make sure to show the pig can easily find the mats, feeders and water.

4. Comfortable Housing

When the piglets are moved into the nursing facility, the rooms need to be disinfected and cleaned. Make sure the rooms are dried after they are cleaned. Pigs need warmth. Rooms should be no colder than 77 F to avoid health problems with your piglets (read more on pig temperature requirements).

In addition to sows' milk, pigs need a creep feed to make maximum gain through weaning. Provide a fresh creep feed at one week of age in a place where pigs can get away from the sow.

A creep ration should be high-quality, complete mixed feed that is eaten readily. Good creep rations can be purchased or mixed on the farm. When creep rations are formulated and mixed on the farm, take particular care to use a high-energy palatable mixture that meets the pig's nutrient needs.

Getting pigs to eat adequate amounts of a creep ration is often a problem. Place the creep feeder in a warm, dry, well-lighted area. Feed small amounts, and feed frequently to keep the ration fresh. Sprinkling feed on the floor or placing it in a shallow pan may help pigs start to eat. Pelleted feeds are usually eaten more readily than meal.

Weaning piglets is something you need to do slowly, carefully, and thoughtfully. You can’t just pull the piglet away from its mother and proclaim, “Ok! Weaned!” You need to put some thought into how you wean your piglets to prevent stress for both the piglet and its mother.

There are a few steps to follow to ensure success at weaning time.

1. The Weaning Process

First, start by introducing dry feed pre-weaning. Do this while piglets are still with their mothers. This will help them get used to the new feed and prevent changes from happening too abruptly. If you don’t utilize a farrowing crate, chances are, your piglets are already being exposed to dry feed because they’re around their mother’s food.

If you are using a farrowing crate, though, you will want to start putting dry feed in with the piglets at a rate of 2lbs of feed per litter (you can put in a little less for small litters and a little bit more for bigger litters – use your judgment).

Don’t use any old feed, though. Even if your piglets have some exposure to their mother’s food, it’s important that you give them creep feed. This will contain digestible ingredients that taste and smell just like their mother’s milk. Creep feeds are formulated specifically for piglets and have the complex nutritional profiles these young pigs need. This will encourage them to eat.

During the weaning period, you will want to keep feeds similar. Gradually switch to a starter feed that looks and smells like the creep feed. This will encourage them to eat more and to go to the feeder instead of the teat when they feel hungry.

2. Group Feeding

Another tip is to make sure your feeder is accessible to multiple piglets at once – not just one piglet at a time.

Piglets like to eat in groups. This is a behavior you probably already noticed when they all flock to the sow’s teats at feeding time. Make sure your piglets know where the food and water are, and allow them to feed in groups.

3. Water

Water is important. 80% of a newborn pig’s body weight consists of water. They’ll get thirsty quickly once they stop getting their water from milk.

Make sure you have multiple drinkers in the pen and that they are set low to the ground so the piglets can get to them. You can use nipple waterers if you like but observe your piglets carefully to make sure they know how to use them.

A mother’s love is a tough bond to break, so weaning can cause stress for both the sow and the piglet. However, offering piglets a gradual weaning regimen gives them both the chance to adjust slowly and with less negative consequences on performance and health in the immediate post-weaning period.

Weaning is an abrupt transition to independency that takes place at 21 to 28 days of age.

Despite efforts to familiarize piglets with creep feed during lactation, there is often large within and between litter variation in intake. A lack of familiarity with feed, in combination with other challenges such as a change in housing, maternal separation and mixing with unfamiliar piglets, generally causes a period of reduced nutrient intake immediately after weaning. A large focus has been placed on finding methods that stimulate feeding behavior in this period to avoid a consequential reduction in growth and gastrointestinal tract (GIT) inflammation and dysfunction that generally results from underfeeding in combination with other weaning-associated stressors.

Intermittent suckling, where piglets are separated from the sow for a specified period of time each day during the last part of lactation. Photo: Henk Riswick

Intermittent suckling (IS), a gradual weaning regimen where a sow and her piglets are separated for specified period of time daily during the last part of lactation, mimics the increasing time a sow would spend away from her piglets under natural conditions, and has shown some evidence of improvement in post-weaning feed intake and growth in litters compared with conventional weaning. This improvement is likely mediated through increased familiarization with creep feed as piglets are forced to explore sources of nutrition other than milk. Alternatively, habituation with maternal separation may also prevent or attenuate the weaning-associated stress response, reducing the development of altered behavior patterns such as aggression, manipulation and a lack of play behavior in recently weaned piglets. With an interest towards housing systems that reduce sow confinement, IS has also received renewed interest from a reproductive point of view as a potential way to mate sows during lactation rather than after weaning. Additionally, an IS regimen can be adapted to suit multi-suckling and get-away systems giving piglets opportunity to co-mingle with non-littermates, which once again mimics what would happen in nature. In a study by Weary and co-authors (2002; Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 76:279-290) where a get-away system with a communal piglet area was used, sows spent 14 h/d away from the piglets by the end of lactation (d 27) and piglets spent 40% of the observation time in the pens of other litters, demonstrating that maternal separation and social interaction with non-littermates will happen naturally when pigs are given a choice. Pigs weaned from such systems also generally have a higher solid feed intake after weaning and they are more likely to have positive play experiences and improved social skills, which results in better acceptance of unfamiliar pigs and reduced aggression after weaning.

Murdoch University, Western Australia, in collaboration with the Cooperative Research Centre for High Integrity Australian Pork, devised 2 experiments to test the hypotheses that:

1. Exposure to gradual weaning intermittent suckling (IS) for 8 hours per day, 7 days before weaning)

2. The mixing of non-littermate piglets during lactation (co-mingling (CoM) of 2 litters) would reduce the stress response when piglets were mixed at weaning. This would result in improved production, behaviors and gastrointestinal tract (GIT) absorptive capacity of selected sugars indicating enhanced welfare and improved gastrointestinal tract (GIT) morphology and function.

In Experiment 1, a novel intermittent suckling (IS) system was developed to include the opportunity for pre-weaning socialization co-mingling (CoM), where non-litter mates could interact with each other before weaning during the separation period from the sow to potentially improve social development and reduce post-weaning aggression. It was hypothesized that piglets subjected to intermittent suckling (IS) (8 h separation per day for 7 d) would show better growth, higher feed intake, reduced negative behavior patterns and reduced blood markers of inflammation, stress and lipid mobilization supporting an increase in more feed directed behaviors before and after weaning. Intermittent suckling was applied in 2 regimens, with and without co-mingling (CoM) (the mixing of piglets from two litters during separation), and compared with conventional weaning. It was expected that combining intermittent suckling (IS) with co-mingling (CoM) would improve post-weaning performance in an additive manner and further reduce aggressive behavior in the immediate post-weaning period. However, since a control litter with co-mingling was not included in this study and measures of gastrointestinal tract (GIT) morphology and function were not examined, a second experiment was designed.

In Experiment 2, Intermittent suckling (IS) or novel intermittent suckling (NoIS) was applied with or without co-mingling (CoM) to determine how intermittent suckling (IS) and co-mingling (CoM) each contribute to pre and post-weaning performance through effects on growth, feed intake, gastrointestinal tract (GIT) absorptive capacity, behaviors, and immune, inflammatory and neuroendocrine indices compared with a conventional weaning regime. Only primiparous litters were examined in Experiment 2 since piglets born to primiparous sows seem to be the most disadvantaged at weaning.

A novel intermittent suckling system where the same two litters are housed together during the period of separation from the sow. Photo: Hans Banus

Results show that the IS regime of Experiment 1 improved daily gain and daily feed intake in the immediate post-weaning period compared with conventional weaning. However, this improvement did not seem to occur through increased familiarization with creep feed, but rather through the prevention or attenuation of the weaning-associated stress response as evidenced by increased sleeping behavior and reduced manipulative behavior immediately after weaning, as well as reduced post-weaning haptoglobin levels. In Experiment 2, IS reduced the plasma cortisol concentration on the day of weaning, possibly reflecting:

1. the advancement of adaptive GIT changes during lactation, as supported by a reduction in galactose absorption before weaning, or

2. iless stress at the time of weaning as supported by more observations of positive behavior such as sleeping.

The addition of CoM to the IS regime also improved post- weaning performance in multiparous litters (Experiment 1), most likely due to social learning facilitating more eating before weaning and reduced aggression after weaning also reducing stress, but did not have an effect on performance with or without IS in primiparous litters (Experiment 2). Pigs that were kept in the same co-mingled groups after weaning performed the best (Experiment 1). There was strong evidence from both experiments that CoM does reduce aggression, but this did not seem to impact on selected measures of stress, inflammation or immune status. CoM also improved mannitol absorptive capacity after weaning. These results suggest that mimicking certain aspects of weaning under natural conditions, such as gradual maternal separation and the opportunity to mix with non-litter mates in lactation, can positively affect post-weaning performance and highlights opportunities for housing systems that enhance piglet welfare whilst also potentially facilitating mating in lactation.

A logical progression from the work completed in this project would be to explore a group lactation system where piglets (or sows) could be separated on a daily basis as a group to mimic the gradual nature of weaning under natural conditions. Due to the reduction of the suckling stimulus, sows may begin to cycle allowing them to be mated while still nursing their piglets. This system would allow for pre-weaning socialization, an older weaning age and gradual weaning without the loss of sow reproductive efficiency. Alternatively, since CoM is relatively easy to implement on farms (i.e. the removal of barriers between farrowing crates rather than major changes to infrastructure), further studies examining optimal group size and methods to keep the group together after weaning could also be explored.

Piglet Management - Weaning

• https://www.pig333.com/pig-glossary/W/weaning-or-weaner-pigs-stage_89/

• https://www.thepigsite.com/articles/basic-pig-husbandry-the-weaner

• https://osbornelivestockequipment.com/news/when-to-wean-piglets/

• https://images.app.goo.gl/8UA6sq71psRTMRV39

• https://www.pigprogress.net/Piglets/Articles/2017/11/Easing-the-stress-of-maternal-separation-209600E/

• https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g2500

• https://morningchores.com/how-to-wean-piglets/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gisCBDxIHsY

INSTRUCTION:

1. Each student will make a essay about the importance of pig weaning.

2. You can create it in microsoft word application or in hand written form.

3. The file name of your output is always start with your Surname_Firstname_Activity 8.docx

4. Put your output in the Activity 8 folder.

5. Pass your output in the google drive link below.