Electronic sow feeding: characterizing feeding patterns of gestating sows and their associations to reproductive performance

Abstract Background There is evidence that data recorded by electronic sow feeding (ESF) systems can generate useful information to support decision-making at farms. More specifically, healthy and diseased animals exhibit different patterns of feeding station usage. However, for feeding records to be used as a monitoring tool, it is necessary to understand feeding patterns, and how they differ across age groups and gestation stage, or how they change in response to disease. This study aimed to identify feeding patterns of gestating sows using ESF and to study their associations with parity and reproductive performance. Results Feeding records of 276 group-housed sows in a dynamic group were analysed. These comprised 15 weeks of data for each sow. Visits made to ESF stations were mostly non-nutritive visits (60.01 ± 19.8%), and daily rations were consumed predominantly in a single visit (98.3 ± 1.7% of all individual feeding cycles). Animals displayed a clear preference for a specific feeding station and the number of non-nutritive visits made was negatively related to gestation week (b = -0.067) and parity (b = -0.230) (P < 0.001). Despite the dynamic nature of the group, sows kept the feeding order relatively stable over time, especially among those feeding first. Moreover, the odds of a sow being among the first 15% to eat increased with every additional parity [OR: 2.16, P < 0.010]. Concerning reproductive performance, pre-weaning piglet mortality was negatively associated with average feeding time (P = 0.011). Conclusions The analysis of ESF data revealed evident patterns in the use of feeding stations by sows. These patterns varied according to parity and gestation stage and were associated with reproductive performance. Further research characterizing the feeding behaviour of gestating sows is necessary to support the implementation of ESF records as a monitoring tool for group-housed sows.