PIGLETS’ GROWTH PERFORMANCE IN THE FIRST 3 DAYS OF LIFE IN CONNECTION WITH SUCKLED MAMMARY GLANDS
Keywords:
suckling piglets, mammary gland milk productionAbstract
The trial was carried out in the maternity of a pig commercial farm, on three sows
with 9 piglets each, during the first 3 days of life of the latter. We monitored the
piglets for 72 hours daily from the point of view of the number of feedings per
mammary gland to quantify the degree of use and milk production in relation with
the anatomical location of the mammary glands. We could see there are daily
variations of the daily weight gain in relation to their body weight at birth, and that
mammary glands were differently used, i.e. the number of feedings is higher in
pectoral mammary glands. Mean milk production per feeding varied between 14.49
and 59.73 ml, depending on the anatomical position and on the number of secreting
cells in the mammary glands.
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