Research Progress Report 350 September, 1968

Performance of Feeder Pigs from Slotted and Solid Floor Nurseries after Transfer to Solid and Slotted Floor Finishing Houses
B.H. Sonntag, J.E. Kadlec, W. H.M.Morris, D.H. Bache, H.W. Jones, J.H. Conrad, C.N. Hinkle and A.C. Dale Departments of Agricultural Economics, Animal Sciences and Agricultural Engineering

Summary
Four nursery and finishing experiments were conducted during the period 1966 to 1968 on performance of pigs from slotted and solid floor nurseries after transfer to slotted and solid floor finishing facilities. Average daily rate of gain on pigs from three types of nurseries was compared on both solid and slotted finishing floors.

The results of this study indicated that, in general, the transfer of nursery pigs to different floor types for finishing (solid to slotted or slotted to solid) did not affect pig performance. Pigs from the portable houses and pole nursery had higher rates of gain than those from the slotted nursery in both solid and slotted-floor finishing houses. In most cases, however, the differences were not statistically significant (P < .05).

In general, rates of gain were higher in the open-front pole building than in the slot-
ted floor finishing house. The differences were particularly evident in the summer experiments.

Introduction
Over the past few years production-management researchers at Purdue have investigated various aspects of pig performance during different phases of the pig life-cycle. Experiments were designed to evaluate various farrowing, nursery and finishing systems. Results from these experiments have been reported in a number of publications. 1/ More recently an experiment designed to test alternate building systems for gestating sows has been undertaken. 2/

The various experiments have provided data on pig performance in all phases of the life cycle. These data include rates of gain, mortality, feed consumption, etc., for pigs under alternative environmental conditions. The systems range from pasture with

1/ These include Agricultural Experiment Station Research Bulletin 816, Research Progress Reports 267 and 315, and unpublished Master's theses by D.H. Bache, R. Crawford and R. Daniel.
2/ The results of this research will be reported in 1969 in a Master's thesis in Animal Sciences by J. Baird.

PURDUE UNIVERSITY • Agricultural Experiment Station • Lafayette, Indiana