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The number of piglets born alive is frequently greater than the functional teats, and some farms are equalizing litters with surplus piglets, limiting piglet udder access. Removing the barrier among farrowing crates may allow piglets to socialize and seek other sows. Thus, we evaluated the effects litter size at cross-fostering and socialization on the sow and piglet performance during lactation. Two factors were included in a 2 × 2 factorial design: socialization and litter size relative to sow functional teat number at cross-fostering. Litters (n = 189) were then assigned to one of four groups: CONT+0 (litters not co-mingled with no additional piglet), CONT+1 (not co-mingled with one additional piglet), Co-M+0 (co-mingled with no additional piglet), Co-M+1 (co-mingled with one additional piglet). Piglets were cross-fostered from 12-16 h after birth, and 24 h later, Co-M groups were socialized by removing the barrier between two adjacent pens. During lactation, sows lost more caliper units in the + 1 group than in the + 0 group (P = 0.04). The number of functional teats did not differ among groups, but Co-M sows had a higher udder lesion score at weaning than CONT (6.55 vs 4.83; P < 0.01). Furthermore, +1 sows had fewer vacant teats throughout lactation (P < 0.01). Milk yield did not differ among the groups (P ≥ 0.13). Regarding the number of weaned piglets, no difference was observed for socialization (P = 0.84), but + 1 sows weaned 0.67 more piglets than + 0 (P < 0.01). Although CONT+0 had the heaviest piglets at weaning (P < 0.01), litter weight did not differ among the groups (P ≥ 0.08). Facial and joint lesions were frequently observed in Co-M (P < 0.01) than CONT. Piglet loss rate did not differ among treatments (overall rate = 12.6%; P ≥ 0.26). The removal rate, however, was more frequent in + 1 litters than in  + 0 (P < 0.01). Death due to starvation was higher in CONT+1 than CONT+0 (P < 0.01) but did not differ between the Co-M groups (P = 0.99). Litters formed with one additional piglet relative to functional teat number weaned more piglets, albeit with lower individual weight. Litter socialization may alleviate the impact of high litter size but shows greater percentages of udder injuries and facial and joint lesions in weaned piglets., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: It is proven that B vitamins through promote a wide range of metabolic pathways in animals as cofactors improve animal performance., Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the impacts of maternal B complex vitamin injection on performance and plasma parameters in goats and their offspring, as well as the faeces status of newborn kids., Methods: In this research, the pregnant goats (3 years old) were randomly divided into two groups: the control group (without B complex vitamin injection) and the B complex vitamin group (5 mL B complex vitamin injection per animal). The animals were injected with 5 mL B complex vitamin twice during the transition period (5 weeks pre- and 5 weeks post-kidding). The goats during the transition period and kids on days 10, 20 and 30 were weighed. Feed intake by goats and consumption of milk and starter in kids were recorded daily. The dry matter digestibility by kids was tested by collecting samples of faeces and feed for 5 days in the last week. Chemical analysis was determined using the AOAC method. The kids' faeces were prepared daily during the study. The blood samples of goats and newborn kids were taken 7 days after kidding. Then, levels of B group vitamin, as well as concentrations of liver enzymes, thyroid hormones and immunological parameters, were determined in plasma of goat and their offspring. In addition, concentrations of glucose and insulin were measured in goat plasma (Asadi et al., 2024)., Results: According to results, the performances of goats and their offspring, as well as kids' faeces status, were improved by maternal B complex vitamin injection (p < 0.0001). The levels of cobalamin, pyridoxine, thiamine, folic acid, nicotinic, pantothenic and unconjugated pteridine increased in the plasma of goats and their kids in the B complex vitamin group compared with the control group during the transition period (p < 0.0001). Injection of maternal B complex vitamin raised the plasma levels of triiodothyronine and tetraiodothyronine, immunoglobulin G and immunoglobulin M in goats and their offspring (p < 0.0001). Higher levels of glucose and lower levels of insulin were determined in the goats injected with B complex vitamin (p < 0.0001)., Conclusions: These results suggest that maternal B complex vitamin injection is required for the improvement of performance, health status and the blood plasma parameters in pregnant goats and their kids., (© 2024 The Author(s). Veterinary Medicine and Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Lepidosaurian reptiles, particularly snakes, periodically shed the outer epidermal layers of their skin (ecdysis) to restore or enhance vital functions such as regulating water and gaseous exchange, growth, and protection against insult, infection or physical injury. Although many studies have focused on the nature and mechanisms of skin shedding, little attention has been paid to the timing of the first ecdysis in neonates following birth or hatching. A recent study investigated patterns of the time to first postnatal ecdysis in snakes based on a large dataset taken from the literature. The analysis demonstrated patterns in the time to first postnatal ecdysis related to phylogeny as well as several life history traits. While this assessment provides important advances in our knowledge of this topic, data on known biophysical drivers of ecdysis - temperature and humidity - were largely unavailable and were not evaluated. The first postnatal ecdysis of neonatal snakes can be viewed as an adaptive adjustment to the transition from the aqueous environment of the embryo to the aerial environment of the newborn. Hence, the timing of the first postnatal ecdysis is logically influenced by the aerial environment into which a newborn snake or hatchling finds itself. Therefore, in this Commentary, we first emphasize the putative plasticity of ecdysis with respect to epidermal lipids that structure the water permeability barrier and are established or renewed during ecdysis to reduce transepidermal evaporative water loss. We then discuss the likely importance of biophysical variables as influential covariates that need future investigation as potential co-determinants of the timing of first postnatal ecdysis., Competing Interests: Competing interests The authors declare no competing or financial interests., (© 2024. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.)

Pigs in production systems are routinely exposed to challenging situations including abrupt weaning, painful husbandry procedures, intense contact with stockpeople, and exposure to novel social and physical environments. The resilience of pigs to these stressors has implications for animal welfare and productivity and can be affected by early life experiences. In rodents and primates, early experiences with stressors that the animal can adequately cope with confers future stress adaptability, leading to less abnormal behaviour, lower behavioural and physiological responses to stressors, and faster recovery after stress exposure. Early experiences that can affect the ability of pigs to overcome challenge include interactions with the dam, conspecifics, humans, and the overall complexity of the environment. Farrowing crates limit the sow's ability to show maternal behaviour towards piglets, and negatively affect piglet social behaviour during lactation, with less play and more manipulation of pen mates in crates than in large pens. Rearing in pens has been proposed to improve the ability of pigs to cope with routine stressors, but the evidence for this is conflicting. The early housing environment can affect general fearfulness and fear of humans, and surprisingly, most studies have shown fear responses to be greater in pigs reared pens than in crates. Given the potential for fear to affect animal welfare and productivity, more detailed research on early housing effects is needed. While there is limited evidence that early housing influences fear in the longer term, human contact early in life appears to have a more profound and sustained effect, with regular positive human interaction early in life having an enduring effect on reducing pigs' fear of humans. The practicality of positive human-pig interaction in a commercial environment needs to be examined further, but only a small amount of positive human contact early in life can improve the resilience of pigs to routine husbandry stressors. Early social experience with non-littermates reduces stress at weaning and mixing, while early weaning before 3-4 weeks of age increases abnormal behaviours. Environmental enrichment, such as foraging substrates and increased floor space, reduces abnormal behaviour in piglets, but housing in an enriched environment early in life and subsequently in a non-enriched environment can increase abnormal behaviour if these environments are dramatically different. Although the later environment can modify the influence of the early environment, overall, early life experiences can be important in shaping how pigs cope with stress in both an immediate and longer-term capacity., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Survival of growing pigs through to slaughter age is not only a key driver of profitability but also has implications for animal welfare. Changing preweaning mortality by over 3% gives a similar change in profit per pig as changing postweaning mortality by 1%. There is significant scope to improve both traits through management and breeding to improve survival. The aim of this literature review was to explore the relationship between litter size and piglet birthweight and the detrimental impact this negative association has had on pig survival, along with genetic strategies that have been implemented in breeding programmes. It is suggested that the primary effect of litter size on mortality was indirect, through the effects of litter size on individual piglet birthweights. The circumstances affecting the litter a piglet was born into were the most important for determining the birthweight of individual piglets, rather than the genetic make-up of the individual piglet itself. Therefore, breeding programmes should include the average piglet birthweight of a litter (i.e., a sow trait) rather than individual piglet birthweight to maintain the weight of piglets at birth. The relative weighting of litter size and average piglet birthweight should be done in a manner that avoids selecting heavy pigs from small litters. Additional genetic strategies to improve survival include survival at the litter level, or survival of individual piglets or enhanced through the use of genomic information. At the litter level, litter size at day 5 and weaning can be considered as sow traits, but the use of these traits depends on the recording environment. At the individual piglet level, pre- and postweaning survival can be recorded as 0/1 traits and analysed directly. Although heritabilities are low for all these traits, genetic improvements can be made. For preweaning survival, the genes of the nurse sow are more important than the genes of the individual piglet. The nurse sow model captures both the lactation and gestation effects, and the information obtained when piglets born from different litters are reared together. However, once a piglet is weaned, its own genes became more important for the expression of postweaning mortality outcomes. Finally, for a successful selection programme, combining the average piglet birthweight at the litter level and mortality data based on individual piglet records (not solely birthweight) might yield the best response in piglet survival., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)