Sow and piglet behaviour during lactation: A review focusing on selected behaviour manifested by foster sows and their fostered piglets

¹ University of Debrecen, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
² University of Debrecen, Doctoral School of Animal Science, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
³ Faculty of Animal Science, Universitas Gadjah Mada, 55281 Yogyakarta, Indonesia
⁴ Centre for Agricultural Genomics and Biotechnology, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
⁵ Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
⁶ University of Veterinary Medicine, Budapest, Hungary

^* Corresponding author: yogi.sidik.p@ugm.ac.id

Abstract

Foster (F) sows are used to nurse piglets from other sows. Nurse (N) sows are used to nurse other piglets after weaning their own piglets during lactation. Sows nursing non-biological piglets can reject or attack unfamiliar piglets. Similarly, N/F sows could fail to recognize the adopted piglets, which may result in delayed or denied suckling. Behaviours such as rejection, aggression, and failure to suckle pose both physical and nutritional challenges to the fostered piglets. Therefore, after collating the literature, this review was able to establish the following: nurse or foster sows showed antagonistic behaviour towards adopted piglets through aggression and discrimination. Similarly, N/F sows terminated nursing bouts more frequently than non-N/non-F sows. Most N/F piglets upon encountering N/F sows showed wandering squealing syndrome with escape attempts. Nurse/foster piglets exhibited more post-teat massage behaviour, a sign of ‘begging for more milk.’ Resident piglets frequently attacked fostered piglets through fighting. Management of large litters in pig production entails the use of N/F sows, and the knowledge in this review could help in improving N/F sow production systems, especially on lactational behaviour. Explanations of possible interventions that are likely to reduce negative behaviours among foster sows and their piglets has been given.