Effects of regrouping, feeding and drinking methods on weight gain of weaned piglets

The effects of alterations in regrouping, feeding and drinking practices we re examined on a pig farm to improve animal welfare and productivity. Weane d at 35 days of age, 720 piglets were randomly assigned to 24 groups of 30 piglets in a factorial design with three factors. During the next 55 days t hey were regrouped once, twice or not regrouped at all, had nipple drinkeis or a water trough and had 3, 6 or 10 cm trough length per animal and four meals a day or 3 cm trough length per animal and six daily meals. Simple fa ctorial ANOVA revealed that the piglets grew Very highly significantly (p < 0.001) faster if they were not regrouped, drank from water troughs and had sufficient trough length available, however, increased feeding frequency p artially compensated for shorter trough length. Similar analysis of the ran ges of body weights within groups showed similar, yet less significant effe cts in the opposite direction, i.e. where pigs grew faster there tended to be also less weight difference. it is concluded that avoidance of mixing an d undisturbed, easy access to food and water is beneficial to both the welf are of the pigs as well as their productivity.