Effect of out-of-feed events and diet particle size on pig performance and welfare
Objective: To determine the impact of repeated out-of-feed events on pig performance.
Materials and methods: In each of two experiments, out-of-feed events of 20-hour duration were created by closing the feeder delivery devices from noon until 8:00 am the following morning. In Experiment One, the treatments were never or weekly out-of-feed events for a 16-week period, and 1266-micron versus 1019-micron mash feed-particle size. In Experiment Two, the treatments were zero, one, two, or three out-of-feed events on random days every 2-week period in the 16-week study. In each experiment, there were four pens per treatment combination or treatment and 15 pigs per pen.
Results: Weekly events resulted in a 68-g per day lower daily gain for the first 8 weeks (growing period; P < .001), and 35-g per day lower gain over the entire trial (P < .01), compared to the never out-of-feed treatment, with no impact on feed conversion (P > .05). Feed conversion was better when feed particle size was 1019 microns versus 1266 microns (P < .01). In Experiment Two, there was a linear decrease in daily gain with increasing numbers of out-of-feed events during the first 8-week period (P < .01), with no impact during the second 8-week period. There was no effect of treatments on feed conversion.
Implications: Repeated out-of-feed events have a bigger impact on growing pigs than on finishing pigs, with the impact expressed as lower weight gain with no effect on feed conversion.
Brumm MC, Colgan SL, Bruns KJ. Effect of out-of-feed events and diet particle size on pig performance and welfare. J Swine Health Prod 2008;16(2):72-80.