Document type : article published in Réussir Porc
Author: Dominique Poilvet
Preview: Since 2018, Dominique Marchand has been working to support farmers who remove the partitions between their maternity pens to allow piglets to mix. The initial goal was to increase socialisation before weaning by encouraging early contact between litters and thus reduce fear of aggression and the risk of injury during group weaning. However, such a measure called for in-depth work to evaluate all possible consequences, be they economic, behavioural or, most importantly, health-related. "We still have in mind François Madec of the Ploufragan AFSSA's recommendations for better control of wasting pig syndrome (WPS), among which the non-mixing of batches was a key measure," emphasises the veterinarian. But these recommendations were intended for post-weaning and fattening animals. Maternity pens were not included. Second, there were questions over the way the sows would behave in the presence of piglets from other litters, possible disturbances to suckling, monitoring of the piglets and their behaviour at weaning.
Thanks to the work carried out by Dominique Marchand and her colleagues at the Réseau Cristal, all these questions have now been answered. And the results are particularly positive, according to a survey of eighteen farmers who tested this socialisation of piglets. Ten of them were entirely satisfied. They reported higher weaning weights and more uniform batches, better feed intake, less antibiotic treatment and significant time savings at weaning. Six others were generally satisfied but had experienced difficulties in implementing the technique. "Only two farmers have given up the socialising," says the vet. The reasons for this were health-related (presence of diarrhoea) and organisational (having to manually feed sows using a trolley brought into the gangway) and there were also procedural issues on large farms. A majority of them (9 farmers) are removing the partitions between the pens from 7 to 10 days after farrowing, and six farmers are doing so between 10 and 12 days after farrowing. "The timing of the removal of the partitions has no effect on the behaviour of the animals. However, we advise that they should not be removed for a week if diarrhoea is present" Dominique Marchand emphasises.
