Effects of different feeder and floor space allowances on growth performance and welfare aspects in nursery pigs

Abstract

Due to increasing litter size at weaning, the stocking density in the nursery phase has increased and feeder space reduced. Understanding how both factors work is potentially relevant to reduce the negative implications for piglet growth performance and welfare. A 3 × 4 factorial arrangement with 2160 pigs was used in a 42-day study to investigate the effects of floor space allowance (0.15, 0.25, and 0.35 m2/pig) and feeder space (1.6, 3.2, 4.8, and 6.4 cm/pig) on growth performance, and tail and ear lesions in nursery pigs at a commercial farm. Pen dimension provided 0.35 m2/pig, and divider fences were used to provide 0.15 and 0.25 m2/pig, with 20 pigs per pen for all treatments. More pigs were removed in 0.15 than 0.25 and 0.35 m2/pig (P < 0.01), and with 1.6 cm/pig than 4.8 and 6.4 cm/pig (P < 0.05). The occurrence of ear lesions was higher with 0.15 m2/pig or 1.6 cm/pig than with higher floor or feeder spaces (P < 0.05). Tail lesion occurrence was affected by the interaction between floor and feeder spaces (P < 0.05), i.e., minimized by an increased feeder space when floor space was limited or increasing floor space when feeder space was limited. Increasing the floor space allowance linearly increased the average daily feed intake (P < 0.01). The overall gain:feed increased as feeder space increased from 1.6 to 3.2 cm/pig, after which there was a plateau (P < 0.05). The optimal responses for ADG, mean body weight (BW) at 42 days, and final pen weight (> 380 g/day, > 22.5 kg, and > 440 kg, respectively) were obtained with floor space ranging from 0.25 to 0.35 m2/pig, and feeder space from 4.0 to 4.4 cm/pig. Furthermore, low ADG (< 360 g/day), mean BW (< 22 kg), and final pen weight (< 420 kg) were obtained when low floor space was combined with low feeder space (0.15 m2/pig combined with 1.6 and 3.2 cm/pig, or 0.25 m2/pig with 1.6 cm/pig). When 0.15 m2/pig was used, the CV of BW was reduced in feeder spaces of 4.8 and 6.4 cm/pig, contrasting with little variation in pigs provided with 0.35 m2/pig. In conclusion, feeder and space allowance affected nursery pig performance mostly in an interrelated way. An increase in feeder space allowance can, to some extent, mitigate the negative effect of restricted floor space allowance on growth performance and the occurrence of tail lesions.