Allosuckling in domestic pigs: Teat acquisition strategy and consequences

The aims of the study were to identify the strategies used by allosucklers and teat losers during teat acquisition; to assess how teat fidelity was affected by allosuckling and how allosuckling affected weight gain of the allosuckler and teat loser. Ten pairs of sows and their litters were used in this study. For each pair, the two sows were housed individually until their litters were weaned; however, their litters had access to both sows from day 10 post-partum. The behaviour of the animals was videotaped for 6 h on days 10, 11, 16 and 24 post-partum. The strategy of teat acquisition and the teat fidelity were analysed for every pair and for every day of observation. All piglets were weighed on the day of birth, days 10 and 24 post-partum. The predominant takeover strategy (69%) was to occupy a teat from a piglet owning two teats. The other takeover strategy was to usurp a teat from a piglet owning one teat. In almost all cases (95%) teat losers were able to find a new teat in that nursing before milk ejection. The occurrence of allosuckling had no significant effect on the teat fidelity of the non-dam sow's litter (GLMM, NS). Permanent allosucklers did not differ in weight gain (Student's t-test, NS) from faithful piglets and the teat losers did not differ in weight gain from their littermates (Student's t-test, NS) on day 24 post-partum before weaning. Our results indicate that allosuckling does not confer any major advantage for allosuckling piglets but it does not impair the growth of the non-dam sow's litter.