Teat productivity in second lactation sows: influence of use or non-use of teats during the first lactation

Abstract

AbstractPrevious research has shown that piglets using the sow's more anterior teats tend to have greater average weight gains, but this difference is often slight in the first lactation and increases in subsequent lactations. In this study, 27 sows were used to determine whether this difference develops because of the piglets' preferential use of the anterior teats during the first lactation. In their first lactation, 14 sows had their anterior teats (pairs 1 to 3) and 13 sows had their posterior teats (pairs 4 to 7) covered so that the piglets could use only one end of the udder. In the second lactation, all the teats were left uncovered and the sucking positions and weight gains of the piglets were studied. Piglets in the second lactation showed the usual preference for anterior teats regardless of which teats had been used in the first lactation. Where the anterior teats had been covered in the first lactation, there was no difference in weight gain between anterior- and posterior-sucking piglets in the 1st week of the second lactation, but a degree of anterior superiority had developed by the 3rd week (P < 0·01). Where posterior teats had been covered in the first lactation, piglets using anterior teats showed substantially greater weight gains than those using posterior teats throughout the first 3 weeks of the second lactation (P < 0·001). Thus, non-use of a teat in the first lactation tended to reduce its productivity, at least in the early part of the next lactation. We conclude that previous non-use of posterior teats can contribute to their tendency for lower productivity, but the effect does not explain completely the greater piglet weight gains usually associated with using the anterior teats.