Why water intake is so important after weaning.
In addition to feed intake, water intake is one of the most important factors affecting piglet health and performance. This is also reflected by the welfare requirement stating that ‘Pigs older than 2 weeks of age should have access to sufficient and fresh drinking water 24 hours per day’.
Water intake in pigs, and therefore also in weaned piglets, depends on several factors such as type of feed, water quality, accessibility of the drinking nipple/water bowl, and environmental temperature. The importance of water is reflected by its role in several body functions in pigs, like overall health, digestion, and thermoregulation.
To get a better understanding of the water intake of weaned piglets, a trial was performed where the water intake of piglets in the first week after weaning was monitored. During this trial, it was tested whether providing water via drinking option A. via a drinking nipple or option B. via a drinking nipple and water bowl affected the water intake of the piglets. This trial started after weaning. The first week after weaning piglets were fed a creep feed followed by a weaning and rearing diet. During this first week, water and feed intake was recorded per day per pen.
The total water intake in the first six days after weaning was 3.7 liters for Group A and 4.1 liters for Group B.
A noticeable difference was seen on day 1 where water intake in group B, the group with both the drinking nipple and water bowl, was higher compared to group A (385 ml/piglet/day vs. 610 ml/piglet/day; figure 1). This shows that piglets after weaning do require water and will fulfill this need when sufficient drinking options are available. The water intake seen during this trial corresponds to the average water intake measured in an earlier trial in weaned piglets.
An earlier trial showed that water intake is higher than feed intake (figure 2). This validates the theory that piglets who drink sufficient water will have a higher feed intake. On the first day after weaning, both water and feed intake are relatively low. Especially, if you take into account that before weaning piglets drink an average of 1 liter of sow milk per day.
With sow milk having a dry matter content of approx. 20%, this indicates that piglets will have approx. 0.8 L/piglet/day of moisture intake and 200 g/piglet/day of dry matter intake through sow milk. Figure 2 shows that it takes three days after weaning before piglets eat more than 200 g/piglet/day.
These trials show that weaned piglets on the first day after weaning have a lower water intake (400-500 ml/piglet/day), but that water intake can be increased by adding extra drinking options such as extra waterbowls. On consecutive days, piglets have an average water intake of 600-800 ml/piglet/day. This is higher than the feed intake, which doesn’t reach 200 g/piglet/day until 2-3 days after weaning and remains at approx. 300 g/piglet/day in the first 6 days after weaning.
In the article How to Make Sure Piglets Stay Hydrated? you can find more tips on how to check water intake and quality on your farm.
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home • News • Do your weaned piglets have good access to the water nipple or bowl?