Weaning is stressful for piglets, especially for fast-growing piglets who may show signs of anemia. Providing creep diets to piglets can potentially reduce weaning stress and improve piglet health, however pellet size may affect their interactions and motivation to eat creep. This study investigated the influence of providing different forms of creep to piglets, specifically creep interaction and blood parameters. A pilot study was conducted to assess piglet preference for three different creep forms, and found that E17 horse feed (3cm pellet) and crumble starter diet maintained greater interest over a six-day observation period. The main study randomly assigned piglets to one of four diets: 1. Standard creep (SC), 2. Pellet creep (PC), 3. A mix of SC and PC (MC), and 4. No creep (NC). Overall fewer piglets interacted with the diets on day 1, with the greatest interaction on day 4. The greatest amount of interaction with the creep feed occurred in the first minute after it was placed in the feeder, with activity decreasing over time. Piglets were more likely to waste PC diets compared to MC. Creep diet had no effect on blood iron parameters, with large piglets showing greater signs of anemia. Further research is needed to develop creep diets which are nutritionally beneficial for reducing anemia and promote creep interaction and consumption to reduce stress at weaning.
Creep feeding and piglet development: new format and formulation approaches (full article)
