Effect of drinker type on water intake and waste in newly-weaned piglets

¹ Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Dairy and Swine Research and Development Centre, Sherbrooke, Quebec, J1M 1Z3, Canada
² Department of Animal and Poultry Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1, Canada

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: torreys{at}agr.gc.ca.

	Abstract

During the first few days after weaning, pigs often experience BW loss as they adapt to eating solid food. During this time period, they are also observed to drink excessively and develop abnormal oral behavior such as belly nosing. The excessive drinking may be from piglets' attempting to satiate hunger through gut fill from a familiar ingestive source. Gut fill through water intake may affect establishment of feeding behavior. Using drinker devices other than the standard nipple drinker may ease piglets' transition at weaning by facilitating initiation of feeding and preventing development of behavior problems such as excessive drinking and belly nosing. In this experiment, we examined the effect of drinker type on water and food intake, growth rates, and belly nosing in newly-weaned piglets. Eighteen pens of 15 piglets each (270 piglets) were weaned at 18.1 ± 0.1 d of age and housed in pens containing 1 of 3 drinker devices (standard nipple, push-lever bowl, float bowl). Piglets' water and feed intake, water usage, BW, and behavior were examined on a pen-basis through 2 wk after weaning. Piglets with nipple drinkers wasted more water than other piglets (P < 0.001; float: 295 ± 70 mL·pig^-1·d^-1; nipple: 1,114 ± 63 mL·pig^-1·d^-1; push-lever: 186 ± 63 mL·pig^-1·d^-1), while piglets with float bowls consumed less water than other piglets (P < 0.001; float: 475 ± 81 mL·pig^-1·d^-1; nipple 870 ± 76 mL·pig^-1·d^-1; push-lever: 774 ± 76 mL·pig^-1·d^-1). Drinker type affected feeding behavior (P = 0.02); piglets with push-lever bowls spent less time at the feeder than other piglets, although no difference was detected in feed intake (P = 0.64) or overall ADG (P = 0.16). Piglets with push-lever bowls also tended to perform less piglet-directed nosing behavior than piglets with the float bowl (P = 0.04). Piglets appear to use more water during the first 2 d after weaning with certain drinker devices. However, piglets do not appear to attain satiety through water consumption because most of the water used during the first few days after weaning is wasted. This excessive drinking and water wastage can be abated through use of push-lever drinkers without negative implications on feed intake and growth rates.

Key Words: behavior, belly nosing, drinker device, drinking, early-weaning, piglet