Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
13. Nursing behavior
M. Špinka
*
and G. Illmann
Institute of Animal Science, Department of Ethology, Pratelstvi 815, 104 00 Prague
Uhrineves, Czech Republic;
spinka.marek@vuzv.cz
Abstract
Nursing behavior in domestic pigs differs between the colostral period and later lactation.
During the initial period of colostrum production, the sow passively exposes her udder
and thus gives newborn piglets the opportunity to freely harvest colostrum by moving
from teat to teat. Nursing behavior in swine is particularly complex because of specific
features including nursing synchronization, non-nutritive nursings, the potential for
allo-suckling, ontogenetic shifts in nursing initiation and termination, and the balance
between the sow-litter and piglet-piglet cooperation and conflict. Acoustic, olfactory and
tactile communication play pivotal role in the nursing interactions. The physiological
control mechanisms of milk production and milk ejection determine many aspects of
nursing behavior but, on the other hand, nursing behavior has a strong feedback influence
on physiology, including the hormonal state, of the lactating sow. The functional view
on nursing behavior, based on the evolutionary theory-inspired question 'what survival/
reproduction benefit does the behavior bring to the animal?' can provide important
insights into the links between different features of nursing behavior.
Keywords:
suckling, milk intake, vocalization, maternal behavior, weaning
13.1
Introduction
Nursing behavior in domestic pigs is among the most complex of the nursing interactions
described in mammals (Fraser, 1980; Špinka
et al.
, 2002). Indeed, pig nursing interactions
contain several unique features, including high nursing frequency, very brief milk ejection,
regular non-nutritive nursings and richly structured tactile and vocal communication
between the mother sow and the piglets. The current chapter reviews the mechanisms
and functions of the interactions between sows and piglets during nursings and focuses
on the changes in nursing behavior taking place during the course of lactation.
Nursing interactions occurring during the first day after parturition differ behaviorally
and physiologically from later nursing behavior. Early nursing interactions also have the
specific function of providing colostrum, starting the process of teat order establishment
among the piglets, and securing - or not - the survival of the individual piglets. This brief
but dynamic early period is therefore treated separately in the first section of this chapter.
The second part is devoted to the fully established nursing pattern that commercially-
kept domestic sows maintain from the time when cyclic nursing is established, at the end
of the first postpartum day, until the (artificially imposed) end of lactation at 3-6 weeks
