Impact of teat order on feed consumption in swine from birth to nursery

This study evaluated the relationship between teat order and its impact on feed consumption in pigs through nursery. Pigs were observed 48 h after birth to be in either a cranial, middle, or caudal teat position. Growth performance data, and active and total plasma ghrelin concentrations (determined by radioimmunoassay) were analyzed from 2 pigs in each position from 6 litters (n = 36) at 7 d of age, 21 d of age (weaning), and 62 d of age (end of the nursery stage) to determine a relationship with teat order. At weaning, pigs were moved to an off-site nursery and housed 2 pigs/pen based on teat position and litter, resulting in 6 pens/ teat position. Overall, no effect of teat order was found on average daily gain (ADG; P = 0.91), average daily feed intake (ADFI; P = 0.67), gain-to-feed ratio (G:F; P = 0.33), or body weight (P = 0.94) among pigs from each teat position. A linear relationship was found between teat order and ADG (P = 0.01) as well as G:F in nursery phase-1 (P = 0.01) with caudal pigs gaining more rapidly and being more efficient than cranial pigs. Yet, in nursery phase-2, cranial pigs had the greatest ADFI (linear, P = 0.05). No difference was seen in active (P = 0.18) or total (P = 0.63) ghrelin concentrations or the active to total ghrelin ratio (P = 0.68) in relation to teat order, although there were differences in active (P = 0.04) and total (P < 0.01) ghrelin concentrations among the sampling days with the least concentrations being on d 21 for active and total ghrelin. Further study should investigate what factors would contribute to these data contradicting previous inferences about the relationship of teat order and feed consumption in pigs