Alain Desiron

Comparison of feeding behaviour and performance of weaned piglets fed with two types of dry feeders with integrated Drinkers

Performance of 80 (tests 1 and 2) or 60 (tests 3 and 4) weaned pigs were compared when using ‘Tubetype’ feeder (T), allowing the animals to mix meal and drinking water, or another type (V) where drinking and eating places are separated. The difference in growth rate was not significant but the mean daily water consumption (1 per pig per day) was higher with T than with V in each test but significantly only in tests 1 and 3 (1·84 v . 1·40, and 2·11 v . 1·26, P Feeding behaviour was assessed during tests 2 and 4. Multifactor analysis of variance revealed effects ( P v . 21·5 per 24 h and 4·5 v . 3·7, P P P

Comparison of performance, water intake and feeding behaviour of weaned pigs given either pellets or meal

Performance, water intake and feeding behaviour of two groups of 30 (trial 1), 40 (trial 2) or 50 (trial 3) weaned pigs offered either pellets or meal of the same formulation were compared. Average daily weight gains (ADG) were higher for pigs given pellets rather than meal in trials 2 (413 v. 363 g/day, P The occupation time (ОT) and the number of animals using the feeder simultaneously (N) were higher when pigs were given meal rather than pellets, whatever the animal density: trial 1: 82·6 v. 69·9% (P = 0·05) and 3·8 v. 2·3 (P 0·05) and 5·2 v. 3·1 (P The greater the group size, the lower were ADG (both diets) and DWI (only with meal) and the higher were ОT and N (both diets). Furthermore, significant linear and curvilinear regressions of DWI, ОT and N according to time were calculated. In conclusion, pigs need more time to eat meal than to eat pellets. Thus the number of pigs per feeder has to be adapted to the food presentation. Too high a number of pigs per feeder impairs feeding behaviour and eventually welfare, by preventing preferential diurnal feeding activity and this may affect productivity.