Effects of split suckling piglets based on birth weight or birth order
Sorting piglets by birth weight can affect colostrum intake and sorting by birth order affects immunocrit levels. Both birth weight and birth order have effects on traits that are important for prenatal growth and survival.
23 June 2020
We found that WT piglets were heavier (P ≤ 0.05) at 7 d after farrowing and gained more body weight (BW) from farrowing to day 7 than control (CON) piglets which were raised in litters with ad libitum nursing during the same period. Further, we found that the heaviest piglets consumed more (P < 0.001) colostrum and gained more (P < 0.001) BW during the preweaning period but did not have (P > 0.10) greater immunocrits. Although ORD piglets had similar colostrum intake, immunocrits, and preweaning weights as controls, we found that overall the piglets born in the first half of litters had greater (P < 0.01) immunocrits than piglets born in the last half of the litter.
Therefore, both birth weight and birth order have effects on traits that are important for prenatal growth and survival, but they differ in that birth weight is more closely related to colostrum intake and birth order affects immunocrit.
Morton JM, Langemeier AJ, Rathbun TJ, Davis DL. Immunocrit, colostrum intake, and preweaning body weight gain in piglets after split suckling based on birth weight or birth order. Translational Animal Science. 2019; 3(4):1460-1465. https://doi.org/10.1093/tas/txz131
Source:https://www.pig333.com/swine_abstracts/effects-of-split-suckling-piglets-based-on-birth-weight-or-birth-order_15987/