Group size and floor-space allowance can affect weanling-pig performance

Area of Science:

• Animal Science
• Swine Nutrition
• Agricultural Engineering

Background:

• Optimizing nursery piglet growth performance is crucial for economic viability in swine production.
• Understanding the impact of environmental factors like group size and floor space is essential for improving animal welfare and productivity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the effects of group size (Small vs. Large) and floor space allowance (Calculated Requirement vs. Calculated Requirement minus 50% free space) on the growth performance of crossbred weanling piglets.
• To investigate potential interactions between group size and floor space allowance on piglet growth metrics.

Main Methods:

• Two 9-week trials were conducted with 1,920 weanling piglets in a 2x2 factorial arrangement.
• Treatments involved group sizes of 20 (Small) or 100 (Large) pigs per pen and two floor space allowances: Calculated Requirement (CR) and CR-50.
• Growth performance, including body weight, average daily gain (ADG), feed intake, and gain-to-feed ratio (G/F), were monitored throughout the trials.

Main Results:

• Piglets in Large groups were lighter and had lower ADG throughout the trial compared to piglets in Small groups.
• Piglets provided with Calculated Requirement (CR) floor space had greater ADG and G/F, and were heavier at the end of the trial compared to those in CR-50 groups.
• Interactions between group size and floor space were observed for gain-to-feed ratio in early weeks, indicating complex effects on feed utilization.

Conclusions:

• Both larger group sizes and reduced floor space allowance negatively impact piglet growth performance in the nursery phase.
• Adequate floor space and smaller group sizes are recommended to optimize growth and potentially improve uniformity in weanling pigs.
• Further research could explore the long-term effects and specific behavioral impacts of these environmental factors.