EFFECTS OF ACCOMMODATION TYPE AND STRAW BEDDING AROUND PARTURITION AND DURING LACTATION ON THE BEHAVIOR OF PRIMIPAROUS SOWS AND SURVIVAL AND GROWTH OF PIGLETS TO WEANING

The behaviour of 64 primiparous sows and the survival and growth of their piglets to weaning were recorded in an experiment with 16 replicates to investigate the effects of accommodation type (crate vs. pen) and substrate (straw absent or present) around farrowing and during lactation. Litters of sows that farrowed without straw had more (P < 0.01) live-born piglets than sows with straw (9.4 vs. 9.1 piglets). while litters in crates tended to have tower (P < 0.06 ) pre-weaning mortality levels than litters in pens (10.5% vs. 16.5% of liveborn). A high proportion of piglet deaths was because of savaging by the sow and overlying (4.1 % and 3.1 % of live-born, respectively), and the occurrence of overlying was higher in the pen than crate treatments. Mean piglet liveweight at weaning and weight gain front birth to weaning were less in the no-straw than straw-added treatments because of a strong (P < 0.001) factor interaction: litters of sows in the pen/straw-added treatment were heavier at weaning and grew faster from birth to weaning than litters in the other treatments. There were no differences in the levels of total activity of sows during lactation. but there were effects of factors and treatments on some classes of behaviour. On Day 1 of lactation, the presence of straw increased (P < 0.01 ) the duration of rapid suckling grunts. In the first week of lactation, there was a significant interaction effect on time spent side-lying and belly-lying: sows in the crate/no-straw treatment spent less (P < 0.05) time side-lying and more (P < 0.05) time belly-lying than sows in most of the other treatments. Also, sows in the straw-added treatments tended (P < 0.07) to perform more piglet-oriented vocalisations and investigation than sows in the no-straw treatments. It is concluded that the increased performance of maternal behaviour by sows does not appear to contribute to piglet survival. especially in the intensive farrowing crate environment.