Parsing the characteristics of a simulated udder to determine relative attractiveness to piglets in the 72 h following parturition

Abstract

Crushing of piglets by their sows in modern production systems is a tremendous financial loss to the swine industry and a topic of much research. Our lab had previously designed a “simulated udder” (SU) which successfully used several attractive stimuli that, when placed in the farrowing crate, served to draw the piglet away from the sow to a “safe area”. The current study sought to parse out the relative contributions of the various stimuli to the simulated udder as a whole during the first 72 h postpartum. Three experiments, each comparing a variation of the simulated udder and/or a heat lamp only were conducted and the ratio of piglets from each litter using a modified simulated udder to all live piglets in the litter was determined. A cotton cloth without sow odor versus heat lamp resulted in ratios of .85 ± .01 versus .67 ± .01 ( P < .005), respectively, across all time points. A cotton cloth with odor versus cloth with no odor resulted in ratios of .63 ± .02 versus .82 ± .01 ( P < .005), respectively, during the 12–24 h post-farrowing, but not during the remaining 48 h post-farrowing. Treatment effects were not found at other time points or in other comparisons ( P > .20). Our results confirmed that some characteristics of the simulated udder are more effective at attracting piglets than a heat lamp, though the role of some individual components remains unclear. Similar to results from the original simulated udder, no treatment was effective at reducing the number of crushed piglets.