IMPACT OF MCREBEL (MINIMAL CROSS-FOSTERING) MANAGEMENT UPON NURSERY PIG SALE WEIGHT AND SURVIVAL UNDER PRODUCTION CONDITIONS IN PRRS ASYMPTOMATIC HERDS

摘要

Limiting cross-fostering of piglets between litters during PRRS outbreaks (Management Changes to Reduce Exposure to Bacteria to Eliminate Losses, McREBEL) was demonstrated to control both preweaning and nursery mortality and improve nursery pig growth(1). Cross-fostering has been advocated to aid survival of the smallest pigs by reducing competition at the udder (2). Producers have expanded the practice to moving piglets between litters multiple times before weaning to maintain a constant weight ofpiglet within each litter (3). However, fostering of piglets every third day was experimentally shown to reduce weaning weights by 13% (4). We also observed an increase in weaning weights following implementation of McREBEL (limiting fostering) in a PRRS uninfected herd. Therefore this study was performed to investigate the effect of McREBEL management under production conditions on piglet growth and survival through the nursery in herds not affected by clinical PRRS.