Document type : article of a talk at the 55èmes Journées Recherche Porcine
Authors : Gwendoline Hervé, Lisa Chopin, M. Monziols, Valérie Courboulay
English preview (provided by the authors) : Tooth resection: variability in pig production and ways to reduce its prevalence
Although tooth resection remains widespread on pig farms, some farmers no longer perform it on some or all of their piglets. The objectives of this experiment were to (1) measure the impact of leaving teeth intact on skin lesions in sows and piglets, (2) observe the variability in teeth grinding among operators, and (3) identify risk factors for the emergence of skin lesions in sows and piglets. Piglets from five consecutive batches of 24 sows each were used for this experiment at the Ifip experimental farm. Two batches were used to compare "ground" litters to "non-ground" ones and to assess variability in tooth grinding among operators (n = 757 piglets). The risk factors for the emergence of skin lesions on piglets' heads and on sows' mammary glands and teats were assessed on half of these two batches (non-ground litters) and three other batches (n =1420 piglets). For each batch, piglets were weighed at birth, at seven and 14 days of age, and the day before weaning. Skin lesions were recorded at the same time using a streamlined assessment table. At weaning, the number of functional teats was also recorded. Information about piglet health and the causes of delayed grinding, if necessary, were also noted. Grinding piglets' teeth had no impact on piglet growth during lactation, but it did decrease the emergence of skin lesions on them during each recording period (P ≤ 0.05). Operators differed in the quality and regularity of tooth grinding (P ≤ 0.001). Among the risk factors tested, piglet birth weight, sex, and illnesses; being part of a litter with adopted piglets and the ratio of the number of functional teats to the number of piglets after adoptions were the most important. However, these factors were not sufficient to provide a satisfying predictive model.
