Impact of litter size on sow stayability in Swedish commercial piglet producing herds

Andersson, Emma; Frössling, Jenny; Engblom, Linda; Algers, Bo; Gunnarsson, Stefan

doi:10.1186/s13028-016-0213-8

Cited by 26 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Culling reasons were grouped into four categories: ‘reproductive failure,’ ‘lameness,’ ‘high parity’ and ‘others.’ Reproductive failure included no estrus, failure to farrow, found not pregnancy and abortion. The high parity culling category was restricted to sows of parity ≥4 at culling, because the median culling parity was 4, and so a planned culling for “high parity” could not be the reason for culling in a low parity [ 14 ]. Therefore, any low-parity sows recorded as being culled for high parity were regarded as missing records.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Culling in served females and farrowed sows at consecutive parities in Spanish pig herds

Tani

Piñeiro²,

Koketsu

2018

Porc Health Manag

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BackgroundThe objectives of our study were 1) to characterize culling and retention patterns in parities 0 to 6 in served females and farrowed sows in two herd groups, and 2) to quantify the factors associated with by-parity culling risks for both groups in commercial herds. Lifetime data from first-service to removal included 465,947 service records of 94,691 females served between 2008 and 2013 in 98 Spanish herds. Herds were categorized into two groups based on the upper 25th percentile of the herd means of annualized lifetime pigs weaned per sow: high-performing (> 24.7 pigs) and ordinary herds (≤ 24.7 pigs). Two-level log-binomial regression models were used to examine risk factors and relative risk ratios associated with by-parity culling risks.ResultsMean by-parity culling risks (± SE) for served females and farrowed sows were 5.9 ± 0.03 and 12.4 ± 0.05%, respectively. Increased culling risks were associated with sows that farrowed 8 or fewer pigs born alive (PBA). Also, farrowed sows in high-performing herds in parities 2 to 6 had 1.5–5.6% higher culling risk than equivalent parity sows in ordinary herds (P < 0.05). Furthermore, sows in parities 1 to 6 that farrowed 3 or more stillborn piglets had 2.2–4.8% higher culling risk than for sows that did not farrow any stillborn piglets (P < 0.05). For served sows, culling risk in parity 1 to 6 sows with a weaning-to-first-service interval (WSI) of 7 days or more were 2.2–3.9% higher than equivalent parity sows with WSI 0–6 days (P < 0.05). With regard to relative risk ratios, served sows with WSI 7 days or more were 1.56–1.81 times more likely to be culled than those with WSI 0–6 days.ConclusionProducers should reduce non-productive days by culling sows after weaning, instead of after service or during pregnancy. Also, producers should pay special attention to sows farrowing stillborn piglets or having prolonged WSI, and reconsider culling policy for mid-parity sows when they farrow 8 or fewer PBA.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s40813-018-0080-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Culling in served females and farrowed sows at consecutive parities in Spanish pig herds

Tani

Piñeiro²,

Koketsu

2018

Porc Health Manag

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“…Since then, litter size and farrowing duration increased steadily [1]. Nowadays, sows are hyperprolific (average litter size > 16) with an average farrowing duration of longer than 300 min [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. This means that more than half of all parturitions are longer than physiologically.…”

Section: Parturition and Birth Complicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This means that more than half of all parturitions are longer than physiologically. This rapid increase is concerning and leads to a high incidence of dystocia with subsequent negative consequences on piglet survival and sows' fertility and longevity [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. An older survey showed that dystocia was mostly of maternal origin [8], whereas a newer survey identified that dystocia is nowadays almost exclusively due to maternal causes; with uterine inertia being the most common cause [9].…”

Section: Parturition and Birth Complicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both prolonged farrowing and PDS share mutual risk factors [11,21]. Further, both are connected with a decrease in subsequent fertility [4,5,26]. Thus, prevention of birth complications and proper birth management will also prevent postpartum disease and therefore optimize subsequent reproductive performance.…”

Section: Postpartum Dysgalactia Syndrome and Sows' Fertilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Tools and Protocols for Managing Hyperprolific Sows at Parturition: Optimizing Piglet Survival and Sows’ Reproductive Health

Björkman¹,

Grahofer²

2021

Animal Reproduction in Veterinary Medicine

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Genetic selection for higher prolificacy is one of the major causes for a decrease in piglet survival and reproductive health of the sow. Large litters increase farrowing duration and decrease piglet birth weight and therefore have an impact on piglet vitality, colostrum uptake, and piglet survival. Large litters also increase the incidence of postpartum dysgalactia syndrome (PDS) and the probability of the sow to be removed from the herd because of reproductive failure. Therefore, hyperprolificacy challenges the performance of the sow in terms of parturition, colostrum production, neonatal survival, and fertility. In this review, we discuss the tools and protocols for management of parturition, colostrum, and sows' reproductive health. We provide checklists for the prevention of birth complications and PDS as well as for improvement of mammary gland development and colostrum production.

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“…In pig breeding, reproduction performance, particularly female reproductive performance, is a very important economic trait [1]. Reproductive traits are complex, and desirable reproductive phenotypes, such as litter size, are true polygenetic traits affected by interactions between multiple genes and the environment [2-5]. Each individual gene contributes to the overall variation in these traits [3, 6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in Ovary Transcriptome and Alternative splicing at estrus from Xiang pigs with Large and Small Litter Size

Zhang

Tang

Ran

et al. 2019

Preprint

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29 30 2 1 2 Abstract 3 Background/Aims: Litter size is one of the most important reproductive traits in pig breeding, which is affected by 4 multiple genes and the environment. Ovaries are the most important reproductive organs and have a profound impact 5 on the reproduction efficiency. Therefore, genetic differences in the ovaries may contribute to the observed 6 differences in litter size. Although QTLs and candidate genes have been reported to affect the litter size in many pig 7 breeds, however, the findings cannot elucidate the marked differences of the reproductive traits between breeds. The 8 aim of present work is to elucidate the mechanisms of the differences for the reproductive traits and identify 9 candidate genes associated with litter size in Xiang pig breed. Methods: The changes in ovary transcriptome and 10 alternative splicing were investigated at estrus between Xiang pigs with large and small litter size by RNA-seq 11 technology. The RNA-seq results were confirmed by RT-qPCR method. Results: We detected 16,219 -16,285 expressed 12 genes and 12 types of alternative splicing (AS) events in Xiang pig samples. A total of 762 differentially expressed genes 13 were identified by XL (Xiang pig group with larger litter size) vs XS (Xiang pig group with small litter size) sample 14 comparisons. A total of 34 genes were upregulated and 728 genes were downregulated in XL ovary samples compared 15 with the XS samples. Alternative splicing (AS) rates in XL samples were slightly lower than that observed in XS samples. 16 Most of differentially expressed genes were differentially regulated on AS level. Eleven candidate genes were 17 potentially identified to be related to Xiang pig fecundity and litter size, which may be closely related to the gonad 18 development, oocyte maturation or embryo quality. Conclusion: The significant changes in the expression of the 19 protein-coding genes and the level of alternative splicing in estrus ovarian transcriptome between XL and XS groups 20 probably are the molecular mechanisms of phenotypic variation in litter size. 21 22

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Impact of litter size on sow stayability in Swedish commercial piglet producing herds

Cited by 26 publications

References 14 publications

Culling in served females and farrowed sows at consecutive parities in Spanish pig herds

Culling in served females and farrowed sows at consecutive parities in Spanish pig herds

Tools and Protocols for Managing Hyperprolific Sows at Parturition: Optimizing Piglet Survival and Sows’ Reproductive Health

Changes in Ovary Transcriptome and Alternative splicing at estrus from Xiang pigs with Large and Small Litter Size

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