Comparisons of Simple and Complex Diets for Baby Pigs: Effect of form of Feed and of Glucose Addition

THE sudden change of diet which occurs when piglets are weaned at three weeks of age often results in an immediate postweaning period when the piglets consume very little feed and hence do not grow and are susceptible to digestive disturbances (Smith and Lucas, 1956). Complex dietary formulations including dried milk products are often used in attempts to alleviate the effects of this sudden change from sows' milk to solid feed. However, Meade et al. (1965) found that a simple corn-soybean meal diet was just as satisfactory for baby pigs as more complex diets containing dried milk products. They also found that the post-weaning check occurred with both types of diet. Smith and Lucas (1956) were unsuccessful in their attempts to encourage piglets to consume their feed by the addition of sucrose, but Kidder et al. (1968) have shown that glucose was well absorbed by the baby pig. Jensen and Becker (1965) found that the common practice of feeding baby pigs with pelleted feed did not produce the improvement in performance that is observed when growing chickens receive pelleted feed (Bayley et al., 1968a).