A High Percentage of Pigs Born Dead in Litters in High-, Intermediate- and Low-Performing Herds

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The objectives of the present study were to measure a percentage of pigs born dead in the number of total pigs born (PPBD), and to investigate an association between PPBD and total pigs born by parity groups and three herd groups formed on the basis of the pigs weaned per mated female per 6 years (PWMFY). The studied data included 236,805 parity records of 51,443 sows in 110 herds. The three herd groups, high-, intermediate-and low-performing herds, were formed on the basis of the upper and lower 25th percentiles of PWMFY. Linear mixed-effects models were performed to analyze the data. Mean ( SEM) PPBD was 9.6 ( 0.03) %. Sows in high-performing herds had lower PPBD for all parity groups than those in low-performing herds (P<0.05). Parity 2 sows had the lowest PPBD between parity groups (P<0.05). The PPBD increased from 7.0 to 13.2% as the parity number increased from 2 to  6. Parity 1 sows had higher PPBD than parity 2 and 3 sows (P<0.05). As the total pigs born increased from 10 to 16 pigs, PPBD increased in all the parity groups (P<0.05). In parity 3 or higher, PPBD in low-performing herds increased more steeply than that in high-performing herds as total pigs born increased form 6 to 10 pigs. We suggest that farrowing management including assisted farrowing improve PPBD for sows in parity 3 or higher.

Benchmarking in Animal Agriculture : Concepts and Applications

“…Additionally, the number of pigs born dead does not account for the association between the total pigs born and the pigs born dead, although the number of pigs born dead increases as the number of total pigs born increases 6,23) . The percentage of pigs born dead in the total pigs born is another measurement that includes the information on the total pigs born and pigs born dead in performance and health of the herd 15) .…”

Preweaning piglet mortality and colostrum consumption associated with parity number, season, newborn traits and dietary L-arginine supplementation in gestating sows

“…The effect of herd size on piglet preweaning mortality maybe related with postpartum management and quality of stock persons. Hoshino et al ( 2009) demonstrated that high-performing herd in Japan had a lower number of pig born dead than low-performing herd.…”

“…On the other hand, high ambient temperature may decrease feed intake of the lactating sows due to heat stress This may affect milk production and decrease the piglet body weight gain ( McNamara and Pettigrew, 2002) . On average, preweaning mortality in large herds was lower than that in small herds ( Friendship et al , 1986;Hoshino et al , 2009;Nuntapaitoon and Tummaruk, 2013a) . The effect of herd size on piglet preweaning mortality maybe related with postpartum management and quality of stock persons.…”

“…Piglet factors associated with piglet preweaning mortality included BW B , number of littermate pigs, and newborn piglet traits. High number of littermate pig is associated with high piglet mortality before weaning ( Hoshino et al , 2009;Loncke et al , 2009) . An increase litter size ( LS) results in an increase the proportion of small piglets, a reduced uniformity of litter and a decrease average BW B ( Campos et al , 2012) .…”

“…The size of the herd can play a significant role in minimizing neonatal losses (Oliviero et al, 2010). On average, piglet preweaning mortality in large herds was lower than that in small herds (Friendship et al, 1986;Hoshino et al, 2009). The effect of herd size on piglet preweaning mortality is related to post-partum management and the quality of stockpeople, which is usually better in large herds.…”