Feeding a pig will increase its food and friendliness level. The food level is necessary to keep above 20% or the pig will start losing happiness. Mroz Z, Jongbloed AW, Van Diepen JThM, Vreman K, Keeme PA, Jongbloed R, Lenis NP, and Kogut J. Excretory and physiological consequences of Use experienced pig nutritionists to formulate rations for liquid feed containing co-products and advise them of any changes in ingredients that may affect the formulation of Which change in the pattern of daily usage is the best predictor of pig health and performance is still unclear. Based on producer observations, when water usage drops for three continuous days, or drops more than 30% in one day, this may indicate that a potential health challenge may be occurring. These changes in usage pattern should serve as an indication to the caregiver to look more closely at the pigs that caused that pattern change for signs of illness or discomfort. A spreadsheet to create barn sheets for the purpose of charting water patterns is available at: http://porkcentral.unl.edu.

Finally, consider the male of the species. Higher mature body weights for sows and boars means that many boar pens used for service do not allow good courtship behaviour and sometimes extreme difficulty in mounting. Minimum length of any side of the pen should be 2.5m (8ft 3ins) and ideally more to achieve an effective service. Brumm MC and Reese DE. Weaned pig management and nutrition. NebGuide 86-821(Rev 1992), Lincoln: University of Nebraska; 1992. Anyone setting up a liquid feeding system will be classified as an “on-farm mixer of animal feed stuffs”, and accordingly will need to be registered with the local Trading Standards office under Statutory Instrument No. 1872, “Feeding Stuffs (Establishments and Intermediaries) Regulations 1999”. Under this legislation,Trading Standards are required to inspect the premises and examine mixing facilities, equipment, processes and quality control.

If a controlled fermentation is used, do not feed a newly mixed ration until fermentation has been well established. Ensure that pigs have access to potable water in addition to liquid feed and bear in mind that rations containing co-products may vary in salt content.

With on-farm data logging, producers are recording water usage every 5-15 minutes. Figure 1 shows the record of water usage every 5 minutes (blue lines) in three finishing facilities in Nebraska using three types of water delivery devices for a one-week period in May, 2004. Notice the distinct differences in disappearance patterns. In the top graph, water disappearance gradually increases during the day, peaking around 1800 hrs. At Farms 2 and 3, the patterns are closer to those reported by researchers [4, 6]. However, at all three farms, the peak in water usage occurred in late afternoon/early evening. These on-farm results agree with others who reported that the maximum drinking activity for grow-finish pigs occurred from 1700 to 2100 hr [7, 8]. Therefore, water delivery systems must be sized with the expectation that peak demand will occur in mid- to late-afternoon for grow-finish pigs. Several studies have documented the impact of water restriction on the health and well-being of gestating swine [25, 26]. Signs of water deficiency in trough watering systems for gestating females include [27]: How fast does water need to flow from drinking devices? The drinking speed of grow-finish pigs was 1,422ml of actual water intake/min at a nipple drinker flow rate of 2,080ml/min [38]. This was a 23.2% spillage rate versus an 8.6% spillage rate when the flow was 650ml/min.

Memes

General recommendations exist for the number of pigs per drinking device [15], but research to support these recommendations is limited. Researchers using 3- to 4-week-old weaned pigs reported a slight reduction in average daily gain and an increase in weight variation within pens of 16 pigs given access to one versus two nipple drinkers for 5 weeks post weaning [16]. Generally, for groups larger than 10 pigs in a nursery and 15 -20 pigs in a grow-finish facility, a minimum of two delivery devices is recommended [15, 17]. Shields Jr. RG, Mahan DC, and Graham PL. Changes in swine body composition from birth to 145 kg. J. Anim. Sci. 1983; 57:43-54.