The Effects of Creep Feeding on Pre- and Post-weaning Pig Performance

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Abstract
The importance of creep feeding to pigs weaned at 5 wk of age were studied in 2 experiments with a total of 42 litters. In both experiments pigs receiving creep feed had a significantly higher weaning weight than pigs without access to creep feed. The pigs utilized the creep feed very efficiently as indicated by feed conversion rate for creep feed of less than 1:1. During a 3 wk post-weaning period there was no significant difference in average daily gain or feed conversion rate between pigs that had been creep fed or not. There was a tremendous variation in the creep feed consumption of different litters (0.4-22.8 kg). Creep feeding pigs before weaning did not influence growth rate of feed intake in the post-weaning period. Pigs with the largest feed intake before weaning also ate the most after weaning and were heavier at 8 wk of age. There was a slight positive correlation between pig weight at 2 wk of age and consumption of creep feed. A within litter test and a between litter test gave similar results suggesting that the within litter test could be a useful method in studying creep feeding, since the number of pigs required can be considerably reduced due to the fact that the variation between litters is eliminated.