As litter size continues to increase, the number of small pigs also rises. It is crucial to ensure survival of these piglets or there are no benefits to larger litters. Immediately after post-weaning, many problems such as poor growth rate, low feed consumption and an increase in diarrhea occur. It is crucial to decrease the interval between weaning and resuming feed consumption. Often this is done by using high quality feed that is very expensive. This complex dense feed was used to see if the weaning weight of the pig affected the response seen post-weaning. A simple and complex diet were used, with both meeting the nutrient requirements for piglets, with the complex diet having extra nutrients and costed $400 more than the simple diet per tonne. Growth of piglets was not reduced when using the simple diet. Further research is needed to see if the cheaper diet affects the piglets’ response to stress and disease.
