Artificial rearing of pigs

Abstract

1. Pigs were weaned from the sow at 2 d of age and reared on a diet of cow's milk supplemented with vitamin D, and antibiotics. The effects of four levels and two frequencies of feeding, and the temperature of the environment were studied in relation to the performance of the pigs and the digestion of the milk protein. Pigs fed at the two lower levels receivedadiet of cow's milk, but at the two higher levels cow's milk was spray-dried and reconstituted to 20% total solids. A comparison was also made between cow's milk and spray-dried reconstituted milk, both fed hourly with 12.5% total solids. The pigs were slaughtered at 28 d of age.2. No differences in the nutritive value or digestion of the milk protein were found when cow's milk and reconstituted milk were fed with a total solids content of 12.5 yo.3. Increasing the level of feeding resulted in a faster growth rate, and some deterioration in the feed conversion efficiency. The growth rate of the pigs from 2to 28 d of age when fed at a high level greatly exceeded that of sucking pigs reared on the sow. The retention of the dietary nitrogen also improved with increased feed intake. A highly significant inverse linear correlation of N retention with age was found at all levels of feeding. The milk protein was efficiently digested at all levels of feeding.4. The mortality rate was very low but there appeared to be some association of losses with a high level of feeding during the first few days of life.5. Feeding hourly compared with feeding twice daily improved the feed conversion efficiency, although the effect on growth rate and N retention was small. The retention of digesta in the stomach appeared to be an important factor in the regulation of the amount of digesta in the small intestine and in the maintenance of digestive efficiency. The stomachs of pigs fed twice daily contained considerably greater amounts of digesta than those of pigs fed at hourly intervals. There was little difference in the amount and composition of digesta in the small intestine and caecum at either frequency of feeding.6. No differences were found in the performance of the pigs, N retention or the efficiency of digestion of the milk protein when the environmental temperature was maintained either at zoo throughout the experiment, or at 30' gradually reducing to zoo during the first 14d.