Effect of housing on weanling pigs performance

Abstract

Four hundred and twenty piglets were used in two experiments to compare the efficiency of pens with partial slotted concrete floor and flat deck cages whose floors were made of galvanized woven wire. The mean initial and final live-weight were 8.5 kg and 26 kg respectively. In the first experiment the daily weight gain and the feed conversion of the crossbred Landrace x Large White pigs confined in the pens or in the cages were similar (506 g and 1.84 versus 499 g and 1.83, respectively). In the second experiment the crossbred pigs also showed performance not statistically different (P>0.05) due to the housing system (549 g and 1.79 versus 543 g and 1.84). However, the Landrace pigs housed in the pens showed lower daily weight gain (497 g versus 552 g) than that housed in the cages. The feed conversion was not statistically (P>0.05) different (1.88 versus 1.80). The pigs that showed growth stop and those that lost weight were removed from the experiments. The difference in the number of the pigs removed from the treatments (4.76% from the pens versus 1.90% from the cages) was not significant (P>0.05). The cost per pig housed in the cages was 2.38 times than that calculated for pigs in the pens.