247 Prediction of daily water intake of pigs during a 41-day nursery phase

Abstract A total of 3,080 pigs (5.5 to 21.8 kg) were utilized to determine the estimated daily water intake of pigs during a 41-d nursery period. The data set included results from 11 experiments with 28 pens (10 pigs per pen). Pigs were weaned between 18–22 d of age and housed in an environmentally-controlled nursery. Pigs were blocked by BW and allocated to pens upon arrival. Pens contained one stainless steel feeder and one cup waterer (Suevia model 929TM). Waterers had a water meter (Assured Automation WM-PD seriesTM) tracking daily intake and meter values were recorded at a similar time daily in each experiment. Barn temperature at arrival was 31.1 oC and decreased 1 oC per week. Pigs were fed standard corn-soybean meal diets formulated to meet or exceed swine NRC requirements (2012) for nursery pigs in a 4 or 5-phase feeding program. Data were analyzed using SAS to generate a regression equation and correlation between intake by day using PROC REG/PROC COR. Pen served as experimental unit with day as the dependent variable and intake the independent variable. Pen water intake was corrected to daily water intake/pig by dividing pen water intake by pig days. Average daily water intake during the nursery period was 1.70 ± 0.30 L/pig and total volume of water consumed during the nursery period was 65.5 ± 13 L/pig. There was a strong linear increase (P < 0.001) in water intake as days progressed with a prediction equation: Daily water intake, L/pig = (0.06983*day) + 0.24892 (R2 = 0.73). Water intake and day were highly correlated (r = 0.85; P < 0.0001). There was no effect of experiment or pen on prediction of water intake. In conclusion, water intake increases as nursery days increase and can be predicted based on day in the nursery.