Effect of lactation feeder type on sow performance in a commercial unit

Abstract Text:  Maintaining production while increasing efficiency and decreasing costs is a major concern for pork producers. Feed is the single largest component of the cost of pork production and poor feeder design can lead to significant feed wastage.  Decreasing the amount of feed wastage would greatly impact feed cost per sow. A new feeder was designed to reduce the amount of feed wasted by sows during lactation. The new feeder is a raised (25.4 cm) stainless steel flat-bottomed feeder with a fan agitator. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of lactation feeder type, either a conventional feeder (Round) or a new feeder design (Millerdale), on average daily lactation feed disappearance and sow performance.  A total of 218 sows from nine different farrowing groups were utilized in this study at a commercial operation. In each farrowing group, 26 sows were randomly assigned by parity to one of two treatments at time of farrowing. Daily feed disappearance, number born alive and weaned, litter weight at birth and weaning, sow weight 24 h after farrowing and at weaning, and return to estrus were measured for each sow. Average daily feed disappearance was evaluated using sow parity, treatment, replicate, the interaction between treatment and replicate, sow weight at farrowing, sow weight at weaning, and litter weaning weight.  There was no difference observed in sow weight 24 h after farrowing, number weaned, litter weaning weight, and return to estrus between the two feeders (P > 0.05). Average daily feed disappearance was different between the feeder types (P < 0.05), with sows utilizing the Millerdale feeders exhibiting lower daily feed disappearance than the sows using the Round feeder.  Sow weight at weaning tended to be lower (P = 0.073) for sows on the Millerdale feeder.  Feeder type had no effect on the change in litter weight or size between birth and weaning. These data indicate that using the Millerdale feeder resulted in lower daily feed disappearance, while having little effect on sow performance. Since piglet performance was not changed and sow weight only tended to be reduced, it could be assumed that most of the extra feed disappearance by sows using the Round feeder was feed being wasted and not actually consumed. Therefore, it appears that the Millerdale feeder decreased the amount of feed wasted by sows, which would have a positive impact on profitability for pork producers. 

Keywords: sow, feeder, feed wastage