Pigs Per Cage, Flooring Materials and Use of Soybean Hulls in Starter Diets for Pigs Housed in Triple Deck Nurseries

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Abstract
Three series of trials were conducted to compare performance of 21- to 28-day-old weaned pigs housed in triple deck cages. The first set of trials compared the performance of pigs housed six, eight and 10 to a cage (.25, .18 and .15 m2 of floor space per pig, respectively). The second set examined the performances of animals housed in cages with three types of floors: galvanized expanded metal, galvanized woven wire and oil tempered wire cloth (quarry wire). The third series focused on the effects of feeding soybean meal starter diets containing 10% dried whole whey with (1) 0 or (2) 10% soybean hulls. In addition, performance of pigs housed in the top, middle and bottom deck was compared in all trials and was found to be similar for all decks. Pigs were progressively cleaner from the top to bottom decks. In the first series, which involved 384 pigs with an average initial body weight of 5.7 kg, body weight and accumulative daily gain were lower (P<.05) for pigs housed 10 per cage than for those housed eight or six per cage after the fourth week of the trial. After the third week, accumulative daily feed was greatest (P<.05) for pigs housed six per cage. Accumulative feed to gain ratio was higher (P<.05) during the third, fourth and seventh week for six pigs than for eight pigs; the ratio was intermediate for pigs housed 10 per cage. The results suggest that 10 pigs may be housed per 1.2 × 1.2 m cage from 5 to 12 kg and that a maximum of eight pigs may be housed from 12 to 22 kilograms. In the second series, conducted with 312 pigs with an average initial weight of 7.0 kg, performance did not differ (P<.10) among pigs housed in cages with expanded metal, woven wire and quarry wire floors. However, foot pad scores were higher (P<.05) for pigs kept in cages with quarry wire floors, indicating more cuts, cracks and abrasions. In the third series, which involved 96 pigs with an average initial weight of 5.0 kg, the addition of 10% soybean hulls to the starter diet had no significant effect on performance, fecal consistency or cleanliness score. Copyright © 1980. American Society of Animal Science . Copyright 1980 by American Society of Animal Science