Behavior and performance of suckling piglets provided three supplemental heat sources

Yunhui Zhu; Yuzhi Li; Michael Reese; Eric Buchanan; Joel Tallaksen; Lee Johnston

doi:10.3390/ani10071155

Behavior and performance of suckling piglets provided three supplemental heat sources

Yunhui Zhu, Yuzhi Li, Michael Reese, Eric Buchanan, Joel Tallaksen, Lee Johnston

West Central Research and Outreach Center

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study compared water‐heated mats (WM) and electric‐heated mats (EM) with heat lamps (HL) as supplemental heat sources for suckling piglets. Forty‐two litters were studied in 3 trials. In all trials, behavior of piglets was video‐recorded on day 1, 3, 7, 14, and 21 postpartum. Videos were scan‐sampled to register postures (lying and standing) and locations (on or away from mat) to assess piglet use of heat sources. Litter size and weight at birth and weaning, and pre-weaning mortality were recorded. Data were analyzed using Glimmix Procedures of SAS. Piglets spent more time on WM than under HL (67.5% vs. 51.0%, p = 0.002). No difference in piglet performance between WM and HL was observed, except mortality tended to be higher in WM (22.9% vs. 8.9%; p = 0.06). Piglet performance and use of the heat source were comparable for HL and EM. When comparing WM with EM, piglets provided WM spent more time on the mat compared to those provided EM (21.8% vs. 17.1%; p = 0.02). No difference in pre‐weaning mortality, litter weight, and individual daily gain was observed between WM and EM group. These results suggest EM and HL were comparable to maintain performance and postural behaviors of piglets.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	1155
Pages (from-to)	1-15
Number of pages	15
Journal	Animals
Volume	10
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10071155
State	Published - Jul 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Funding: This work was partially supported by the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station Rapid Agricultural Response Funds (Project title: Development of low‐carbon footprint energy systems for swine production facilities, Grant #00066686).

Funding Information:
This work was partially supported by the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station Rapid Agricultural Response Funds (Project title: Development of low?carbon footprint energy systems for swine production facilities, Grant #00066686). The authors appreciate A. M. Hilbrands, M. Smith, K. T. Sharpe, K. Janni, B. Hetchler, B. Lozinski, and students and staff of the University of Minnesota?s West Central Research and Outreach Center for assisting in conducting the animal trials and data collection from video?recordings.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Keywords

Behavior
Heat source
Performance
Piglets

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title = "Behavior and performance of suckling piglets provided three supplemental heat sources",

abstract = "This study compared water‐heated mats (WM) and electric‐heated mats (EM) with heat lamps (HL) as supplemental heat sources for suckling piglets. Forty‐two litters were studied in 3 trials. In all trials, behavior of piglets was video‐recorded on day 1, 3, 7, 14, and 21 postpartum. Videos were scan‐sampled to register postures (lying and standing) and locations (on or away from mat) to assess piglet use of heat sources. Litter size and weight at birth and weaning, and pre-weaning mortality were recorded. Data were analyzed using Glimmix Procedures of SAS. Piglets spent more time on WM than under HL (67.5% vs. 51.0%, p = 0.002). No difference in piglet performance between WM and HL was observed, except mortality tended to be higher in WM (22.9% vs. 8.9%; p = 0.06). Piglet performance and use of the heat source were comparable for HL and EM. When comparing WM with EM, piglets provided WM spent more time on the mat compared to those provided EM (21.8% vs. 17.1%; p = 0.02). No difference in pre‐weaning mortality, litter weight, and individual daily gain was observed between WM and EM group. These results suggest EM and HL were comparable to maintain performance and postural behaviors of piglets.",

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note = "Funding Information: Funding: This work was partially supported by the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station Rapid Agricultural Response Funds (Project title: Development of low‐carbon footprint energy systems for swine production facilities, Grant #00066686). Funding Information: This work was partially supported by the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station Rapid Agricultural Response Funds (Project title: Development of low?carbon footprint energy systems for swine production facilities, Grant #00066686). The authors appreciate A. M. Hilbrands, M. Smith, K. T. Sharpe, K. Janni, B. Hetchler, B. Lozinski, and students and staff of the University of Minnesota?s West Central Research and Outreach Center for assisting in conducting the animal trials and data collection from video?recordings. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.",

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AU - Johnston, Lee

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N2 - This study compared water‐heated mats (WM) and electric‐heated mats (EM) with heat lamps (HL) as supplemental heat sources for suckling piglets. Forty‐two litters were studied in 3 trials. In all trials, behavior of piglets was video‐recorded on day 1, 3, 7, 14, and 21 postpartum. Videos were scan‐sampled to register postures (lying and standing) and locations (on or away from mat) to assess piglet use of heat sources. Litter size and weight at birth and weaning, and pre-weaning mortality were recorded. Data were analyzed using Glimmix Procedures of SAS. Piglets spent more time on WM than under HL (67.5% vs. 51.0%, p = 0.002). No difference in piglet performance between WM and HL was observed, except mortality tended to be higher in WM (22.9% vs. 8.9%; p = 0.06). Piglet performance and use of the heat source were comparable for HL and EM. When comparing WM with EM, piglets provided WM spent more time on the mat compared to those provided EM (21.8% vs. 17.1%; p = 0.02). No difference in pre‐weaning mortality, litter weight, and individual daily gain was observed between WM and EM group. These results suggest EM and HL were comparable to maintain performance and postural behaviors of piglets.

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Behavior and performance of suckling piglets provided three supplemental heat sources

Abstract

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Keywords

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