PSIII-5 - Impact of multiple suckling of litters during lactation on pre-weaning piglet performance

Abstract: Multiple suckling involves the grouping of sows and litters so that piglets can suckle from all sows in the group. This approach could potentially reduce pre-weaning mortality and increase weaning weight. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of multiple- compared to single-suckling (piglets having access to only one sow) on piglet pre-weaning performance. The study was carried out in a commercial farrowing facility using a RCBD (35 blocks; total of 210 litters and 2950 piglets). Blocking factors were farrowing date, sow parity, body condition score, and number of functional teats. Two treatments were compared: 1) Control (sow and litter kept in an individual farrowing crate/pen); 2) Multiple Suckled (group of 3 sows in individual crates with piglets having access to all 3 sows). The Multiple Suckled treatment was created at 5 d after birth by removing the pen dividers between 3 adjacent farrowing pens with the sows remaining in the farrowing crates. The study started at d 5 after birth and ended at weaning (19 ± 2 d of age). Piglet weights were collected after cross-fostering and at the end of study; all piglet mortalities were recorded. Data were analyzed using the glmer and lmer functions of R 4.2.1. The model included the fixed effect of treatment and the random effect of block. Average piglet weight at the end of study (5.11 vs. 5.18 kg, respectively) and average daily gain from start to end of study (191.4 vs. 195.2 g/d, respectively) were similar (P > 0.05) for the Multiple Suckled and Control treatments (Table 1). There was no difference (P > 0.05) between the treatments for pre-weaning mortality. These results suggest that under the conditions of this study there was no benefit in piglet pre-weaning performance from multiple compared to single suckling of litters.