Pigs weaned early have been known to develop behavioral vices.
This fact has produced restrictions on weaning age in several
countries. No one has known if this behavior extends into grow-
finish and questions have been raised whether diets are
contributing to continuation of these vices such as belly
nosing. Researchers at Prairie Swine Centre in Saskatchewan,
Canada investigated the effects of early weaning on behavior
through the nursery and grow-finish periods. Two treatment
groups were compared: weaning at 21 days or 12 days of age. Pigs
were housed in separate, but identical, on-site nursery rooms
and within the same, grow-finish rooms. Result was that pigs
weaned at 12 days of age were slower in developing normal eating
patterns than their counterparts weaned at 21 days of age. But
the younger weaned pigs developed more normal eating behavior by
48 hours after weaning (See Figure 1). The eating patterns of
the two groups are depicted in Figure 1. The 21-day-old weaned
pigs gradually increased eating ove