Daily patterns for respiration rates and internal temperatures of heat stressed lactating sows with or without electronically controlled cooling pads.

Lactating sows are especially sensitive to heat stress (HS) due to high metabolic demands resulting from milk output. Therefore, there is a need to develop effective cooling technologies that reduce the impact of HS on lactating sows. The study objective was to determine whether electronically controlled cooling pads (ECP) would allow sows to remain euthermic under HS conditions. Twelve multiparous (2.69 ± 0.85) lactating sows (265.4 ± 26.1 kg) and litters (11.4 ± 0.7 piglets/litter) were assigned to either a non-functional ECP (NECP; n = 6) or an ECP (n = 6), housed in farrowing crates, and tested over two repetitions. Sows were provided feed and water ad libitum and all sows were exposed to HS (28.27 ± 1.42°C nighttime to 35.14 ± 0.70°C daytime). Body temperature (TB), was measured hourly using vaginal implants, and respiration rate (RR) was measured in 30 min intervals from 0600 to 2100 hrs over 2 d representing mid- and late lactation. Mixed model periodic regression equations were fitted to the TB and RR to time. The final model for TB included the effect of replicate, random effect of sow, day of lactation as a covariate, single-phase sine and cosine variables for each treatment and 2-phase sine and cosine periodic regression variables. The final model for RR included the random effect of sow, effect of treatment, replicate, day of lactation, sleeping, and single-phase sine and cosine functions for each treatment. An interaction (P < 0.05) between treatment and sine or cosine was observed for TB. For RR there was no interaction for treatment and cosine (P = 0.07), but an interaction (P < 0.05; -9.94) was observed for sine. The significant treatment by wavelength interactions observed indicate a change in RR and TB patterns when sows are placed on ECPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]