Partnering the right vaccine with sanitation and hygiene measures can head off a lot of headaches in your farrowing space.
Your new nursery pigs have one job: to eat and grow. Your task is to manage their environment in such a way to minimize stress as they adjust to a different social structure and a solid diet.
To better understand the importance of preparation, it’s worth knowing a little more about the effects of stress. Pigs, like other livestock (and us), have a hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis — glands that trigger adrenaline and cortisol in response to stressors. This is helpful when in danger, such as escaping a predator, as the hormones can help the body override physical limitations or injury to get away.
The problem is that even stress from non-deadly situations can trip the HPA, and sustained stress keeps cortisol levels elevated. Going from the farrowing space to nursery is one of the more stressful events in a pig’s entire life. Everything is changing — their diet, environment, social structure, as well as sudden separation from their sow and littermates — and comes with a steep learning curve.
For the wean pig, sustained cortisol release suppresses its immune system. One side effect of this is damage to the integrity of the gut’s microbiome. Successful nursery stress management goes back to trying to prevent too much cortisol-spiking.
Thoughtful preparation of the nursery goes a long way toward reducing stress and promoting pig health and welfare. One measure is to make sure your barn is set up correctly. This includes preheating the space, making sure brooders work correctly and having comfort mats. Check the ventilation — do the fans work? Are the controls set appropriately for the season and environment? Manage humidity to make sure the pigs get plenty of fresh air.
Use proper handling techniques when picking up and moving young pigs. You can learn more about the correct manner of handling through Pork Quality Assurance (PQA) Plus guidelines from the Pork Checkoff. Rough handling increases cortisol levels and the chance of injury, as well as contributing to the pig’s fear of people; proper handling can provide comfort and calm.
Stocking density is also important in managing young pigs’ stress levels. Ensure they have adequate square footage according to their age and size.
Also, make sure the space is sturdy — you don’t want them breaking through pens as they get bigger, since some aggression is normal as they socialize. Genetics companies can often provide specific recommendations about ideal stocking density and other metrics for animals from their lines.
Another source of potential stress for the newly weaned is in transport. Your hauler should maintain clean, dry trucks that are disinfected thoroughly between runs — some producers will run empty trailers through a “bake” to reduce the possibility of infection. Drivers should use the shortest safe routes possible, to minimize animals’ time on the road, especially in extreme temperatures. In hot weather, pigs rely on evaporative cooling since they can’t sweat, so spraying with water when appropriate is critical to survival and welfare.
Maybe the biggest source of stress on the wean pig is the most basic: Food. Switching from an all-milk diet to solid food is a major life change.
Not only do they have to get used to new flavors and textures, they are learning how to access this food in pans or other feeders alongside competing pigs. There are also waterers and other equipment to learn to navigate. It’s important they learn to use these new tools adequately within the first 48 hours of weaning off milk.
I am in favor of electrolytes or other additives in water for freshly weaned pigs — this helps them want to hydrate frequently, and some additives also stabilize their gut microbiome and may help immunocompromised piglets get started. Producers shouldn’t use these for long, since too much could lead to diarrhea, but for those critical first few days in the nursery they can be an effective tool to help breed good habits.
Not many of the producers I work with use creep feeding. Exposure to this kind of transitional diet before weaning can help prepare the piglet’s gut for better digestion in the nursery, though there are also potential health and cost challenges to consider. This sort of thing is excellent to discuss with your veterinarian and nutritionist team.
This team will also help develop a plan with maximum benefit for your nursery pigs — with or without advance creep feeding — that addresses gradual diet changes as they age, use of any functional additives and probiotics, a vaccination program tailored to health status and geared for the prevention of disease and more to aid in stress management.
One good way to gauge a pig’s stress level is if it is eating and drinking adequately. Monitor your pigs’ interest level as well as consumption. Are they interested in the waterers? Are they going to the feeders on their own and interacting with the equipment well? Group huddling and zero interest in getting up to eat at feeding time should be of concern.
Another thing to monitor is the character of the pigs’ feces. Is it loose or solid? Discolored? Stool can provide some of the first clues to health challenges, in addition to the behavioral observation I mentioned above.
Mitigating weaning stress is ongoing, but producers who understand its triggers and plan ahead for the pigs’ comfort and learning curve can make the transition smoother for both their herd and themselves.
