Factors affecting the
incidence of belly nosing in early weaned piglets: a preliminary study
C.J. Bench*1,2, S.M. Hayne1,2,
C. Froese3 and H.W. Gonyou1
1Prairie Swine Centre,
Inc., Saskatoon, Canada; 2University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada;
3DGH Engineering, Manitoba,
Canada
In a preliminary study, the incidence of nosing and sucking behaviours were studied in a room of 291 piglets, housed in 19 pens, weaned at 7 days-of-age. At the time of observation, pigs ranged in age from 10 - 23 days post weaning. Piglets were fed a liquid diet for either 7 (L7) or 14 (L14) days following weaning, at which time they were switched to a dry pelleted diet. Pen environment was modified by providing either an air-filled inner tube (Tube), rubber nipples (Nipples) in the feed trough, or neither (Control). Pens were segregated by sex. Within pens, there were both Duroc and Yorkshire established lines. Observations were made between 08:30 and 16:30 on two consecutive days. Live scan sampling observations, at 5-min intervals, were made to determine the number of piglets belly-nosing, belly-sucking, and nosing and sucking on other parts of the body. An analysis of variance was performed with diet, environmental treatment and sex in the main plot, and line difference as a sub-plot. Neither diet nor sex affected any of the behaviours. Nipples reduced the percentage of time spent belly-sucking (1.10%) compared to Tube (3.12%) and Control (4.12%) treatments (P<0.10). Nipples also reduced the total amount of sucking (1.57%) compared to Tube (3.46%) and Control (4.75%; P<0.05). The Yorkshire line engaged in more belly-sucking (3.97 vs. 1.58%; P<0.05), total sucking (4.30 vs. 2.21%; P<0.05), and belly-directed (9.22 vs. 6.21%; P<0.10) behaviour than did the Duroc line. Significant line X environmental treatment interactions were present for several variables. In general, Nipples reduced the level of sucking and belly-directed behaviours in the Yorkshire line, but not in the Duroc line. It was concluded that line differences affect the incidence of nosing and sucking behaviours in early-weaned pigs. Environmental treatments intended to reduce such behaviours may not be effective in all lines of pigs.