Abstract
Two farrowing and three weaning systems involving two swine herds were studied to determine whether passively acquired humoral immunity would protect neonatal piglets reared in an automatic feeding device. The two farrowing systems were isolation-farrowed and farm-farrowed. The three weaning systems were: no nursing; 12-hr, nursing and 36-hr, nursing. The source of piglets were two herds: Herd A, with a high level of sanitation, and Herd X with a low level of sanitation. Piglets that were isolation-farrowed, colostrum-free and isolation-farrowed with 12 or 36 hr. of nursing from Herd A and Herd X had excellent growth rates and all survived. Piglets in Herd A, farm-farrowed and weaned after 12 or 36 hr. of nursing, performed similarly and 100% survived. However, those piglets from Herd X that nursed 12 hr., as compared to littermates nursing 36 hr., vomited and had diarrhea within 24 hr. after being placed in the automatic feeding device. Forty percent of those piglets died within 48 to 72 hr. of weaning. Humoral immunity as measured by total serum proteins, optical density of trichloroacetic acid precipitate and relative percent β2-γ globulin was normal for all nursing piglets, regardless of farrowing or weaning procedures. Antibacterial therapy did not affect the course of this disease. Copyright © 1973. American Society of Animal Science . Copyright 1973 by American Society of Animal Science.