The effect of supplementing dry feed with a nutritional gel additive at the time of vaccination on nursery pig behaviour

A nutritional gel supplementation reduces the negative impact of vaccination on piglet behaviour.

An experiment involving 64 weanling pigs (4.2 kg BW) was conducted to determine if feeding a nutritional gel supplement when vaccinated altered behaviour. Pigs were sorted by size and sex and penned in groups of four (4 pens/treatment) in an off-site nursery. Dietary treatments were applied to pens in a 2x2 factorial arrangement. First factor was with and without vaccination and second factor was with and without the nutritional gel supplementation. Pigs in the vaccinated groups received a single dose commercial Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae killed bacterin (2 cc vaccine/pig) on day 10 post-weaning and pigs on the gel group received the nutritional supplementation in a gel form on d 9 to 11 post-weaning. All pigs were fed common phase 1 (d 0 to 7) and phase 2 (d 8 to 14) diets. Scoring of video began at 10:00 am on day 9 and ended at 10:00 am on day 11. One day prior to recording of behaviour, all pigs in a pen were identified with an individual number placed on the back between the scapulas. One 12 v black and white CCTV recorded at 10 fps and the acquisition of two postures (active and inactive) and two behaviours (at drinker and feeding station) were collected by two experienced observers who viewed the DVDs utilizing a 10 min scan sampling technique.

There were no differences between treatments for active (P=0.60), inactive (P=0.99) or at drinker (P=0.37), respectively. There was a difference (P=0.0085) between treatments for the percentage of time at the feeding stations with pigs receiving vaccine and no gel spending the least amount of time at the feeding stations (6.86±0.43%) compared to pigs that received the gel/no vaccine (9.11±0.43%) and gel/vaccine (9.07±1.43%).

Therefore, the availability of a gel product when pigs are either vaccinated or not provided some benefit, as the time spent at the feeding station was increased compared to pigs that did not have access to the gel.

J Kline, A Johnson, R Witte, L Sadler, B de Rodas, D Brown, L Layman, W Holt, L Karriker, and K Stalder, 2010. Journal of Animal Science, 87 (E-Suppl. 3):44.

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The effect of supplementing dry feed with a nutritional gel additive at the time of vaccination on nursery pig behaviour

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