Group feeding behavior of swine
1991
Nienaber, J.A. | McDonald, T.P. | Hahn, G.L. | Chen, Y.R.
Eating time and feed consumption of individual pigs within a group of pigs were measured with an electronic identification and weighing feeder system. For the thermoneutral temperature treatment pigs, there was a threefold increase in meal size, and twofold increase in meal duration over the 12-wk period of study (34 to 98 kg). The interval between meals was more than doubled and number of meals per day decreased by 63%. Conversely, the low temperature treatments caused little change in average meal size, duration, number of meals per day, and interval between meals over the duration of the study. The rate of eating adjusted to metabolic body weight declined similarly over the 12-wk period for all temperature treatments. However, rate of eating was lowest for the lowest temperature treatment. These data show dramatic behavioral differences in response to thermal conditions.
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