Guro Vasdal defended her thesis on December 10th 2010

Ane Gro Siri Skjelfjord

The environmental requirements of piglets and use of the creep area

Around 15% of all liveborn piglets die during the lactation period, and this poses a major economical and welfare challenge for the pig production. It has been hypothesized that an increased use of the creep area early after birth will reduce piglet mortality as it provides the piglets with heat and protection from crushing. The aim of this thesis was to investigate environmental requirements and preferences in newborn piglets, and to use this information in an attempt to design a more attractive piglet creep area. Furthermore, we wanted to test the hypothesis that a more attractive creep area would increase the use of the creep area, and reduce piglet mortality. The results showed that piglets were increasingly capable of using thermoregulatory behaviors like posture changes and to a lesser extent, degree of huddling, in order to adapt to changes in the thermal environment, but these strategies were not fine tuned at birth. The thermoregulatory behaviors affected the space occupied by a resting litter, and the creep area must be 1.26 m2 in order to accommodate 14 piglets at three weeks of age. In the 60 minute preference test, the piglets preferred to rest in 42°C, and in a thick layer of sawdust. Piglets in crates spent more time in the creep area compared to piglets in pens. However, the piglets still chose to rest near the sow when a creep area large enough for the whole litter, containing high infrared temperatures and a thick layer of sawdust was presented in the farrowing pen. The findings from this thesis indicate that piglets are able to assess and adjust to their thermal environment and that they have clear preferences for high infrared temperatures. However, our results also show that quality of the creep area does not increase time spent in the creep area when the sow is present, and more importantly; increased time spent in the creep area does not reduce piglet mortality.

Updated: 13.12.10
Printerfriendly version

Del med en venn:

Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences

P.O. Box 5003
N-1432 Ås

Phone: +47 64 96 51 00
Fax: +47 64 96 51 01

E-mail: iha@umb.no

Webmaster: Janne Karin Brodin