CORRELATIONS BETWEEN VITALITY OF NEWBORN PIGLETS, TEAT ORDER, MORTALITY, AND LIVE WEIGHT DEVELOPMENT UP TO WEANING

Investigations with 693 piglets have shown, that suckling piglets with preference of cranial teat pairs were significantly superior to their Littermates in all parameters of early postnatal vitality: they stood up and took in first colostrum earlier and showed a lower postnatal d rop in rectal temperature in comparison with their sibblings. Piglets in cranial teat position had the highest daily gain (205 g, p < 0.05) during suckling period. Highly significant influences of vitality of p iglets post natum on live weight development and mortality up to 28th day of age were shown. The faster piglets took in colostrum after birt h and the lower postnatal drop in rectal temperature was, the higher w as the obtained daily gain during suckling period. Piglets which died within the first 7 or 28 days of age had needed a significantly longer time till first postnatal colostrum intake and a more pronounced drop in rectal temperature in comparison with their littermates.