Escherichia coli post-weaning diarrhoea occurrence in piglets with monitored exposure to creep feed

The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of offering supplementary creep feed to piglets during the suckling period on the faecal shedding of haemolytic Escherichia coli bacteria and occurrence of spontaneous post-weaning diarrhoea 0-5 days after weaning. Supplementary creep feed was offered to half of the piglets in 12 litters, from 2 weeks of age until weaning at 4 weeks, and the individual feed contact was recorded by direct observations. It was found that diarrhoea occurrence was associated with faecal shedding of haemolytic E. coli bacteria (p = 0.003), specifically E. coli O149 (p = 0.004). Occurrence of diarrhoea and faecal shedding of haemolytic E. coli was not associated with creep feeding per se. However, the faecal E. coli O149 shedding occurred significantly less often in piglets that were offered creep feed in the suckling period but only showed limited interest in the feed (i.e. contacted the feed less than or equal to the median level of contact) compared to piglets that had frequent creep feed contact or piglets that had not had access to creep feed at all (p = 0.015). Correspondingly, the diarrhoea occurrence tended to be lower in these piglets (p = 0.081). Piglets with low creep feed contact during the suckling period ate the same total amount of feed during the 5 days after weaning, however, they ate less feed on days 0-2 after weaning compared to the piglets with frequent creep feed contact and non-creep fed piglets. It is suggested that intestinal function associated with a voluntary low creep feed contact during the suckling period leads to decreased feed intake just after weaning, and thus reduces the intestinal proliferation of E. coli O149 in these piglets.