{"id":240885,"date":"2025-03-24T09:54:02","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T08:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ew-nutrition.com\/the-big-challenge-keeping-sows-healthy-and-productive\/"},"modified":"2025-04-07T15:31:17","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T13:31:17","slug":"the-big-challenge-keeping-sows-healthy-and-productive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ew-nutrition.com\/en-uk\/the-big-challenge-keeping-sows-healthy-and-productive\/","title":{"rendered":"The big challenge: Keeping sows healthy and productive – Part 1 General aspects to be observed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Inge Heinzl – Editor of EW Nutrition and
\nDr. Merideth Parke – Global Application Manager for Swine, EW Nutrition<\/p>\n

Sow mortality critically impacts herd performance and efficiency in modern pig production. Keeping the sows healthy is, therefore, the best strategy to keep them alive and productive and the farm’s profitability high.<\/p>\n

Rising mortality rates are alarming<\/h2>\n

In recent years, sow mortality has increased across pig-raising regions in many countries. Eckberg’s (2022)<\/a> findings from the MetaFarms Ag Platform (including farms across the United States, Canada, Australia, and the Philippines) determined an increase of 66.2% between 2012 and 2021.<\/p>\n

\"Sow
Figure 1: Sow mortality rates from 2012 to 2021 (Eckberg, 2022)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What can be done to decrease mortality rates?<\/h2>\n

Several measures can be taken to reach a particular stock of healthy and high-performing sows. In the following, the main remedial actions will be explained.<\/p>\n

1. Determination of the cause of death<\/h3>\n

If a sow is dead, it must first be clarified why it has died. If the sow is culled, the reason for this decision is usually apparent. If the sow suddenly dies, investigations, including a thorough postmortem, are extremely valuable to determine the cause of death. Kikuti et al. (2022)<\/a> provided a collection of the most-occurring causes of death in the years 2009 to 2018. As often, no necropsy is conducted, and the causes of death remain unclear, as shown by the high numbers of \u201cother\u201d. Locomotory (e.g., lameness) and reproductive (e.g., prolapse, endotoxemic shock from retained fetuses) incidents account for approximately half of the recorded sow mortalities (Kikuti et al., 2022)<\/a>, especially during the first three parities. (Marco, 2024)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Removal
Figure 2: Removal reasons and their frequency from 2009 to 2018 (Kikuti et al., 2022)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Evaluating detailed breeding history together with the cause of death will provide perspective and assist veterinary, nutritionist, and husbandry teams with interventions to prevent similar events and early sow mortality.<\/p>\n

Selection of the gilts<\/h3>\n

After selecting the best genetics and rearing the gilts under the best conditions, further selection must focus on physical traits such as structure, weight, height, leg, and hoof integrity.<\/p>\n

Additionally, as we have more and more group housing for sows, the selection for stress resilience<\/strong> can positively impact piglet performance (Luttmann and Ernst, 2024)<\/a>. The following table compares stress-resilient and stress-vulnerable sows concerning piglet performance and shows the piglets of the vulnerable sows with worse performance.<\/p>\n

Table 1: Influence of stress resilience on performance (Luttmann and Ernst, 2024)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Trait<\/th>\nSR<\/th>\nSV<\/th>\np-Value<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Birth weight (kg)<\/td>\n1.350 \u00b1 0.039<\/td>\n1.246 \u00b1 0.041<\/td>\n0.083<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wean weight(kg)<\/td>\n6.299 \u00b1 0.185<\/td>\n5.639 \u00b1 0.202<\/td>\n0.033*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Suckling ADG (kg\/d)<\/td>\n0.191 \u00b1 0.005<\/td>\n0.165 \u00b1 0.005<\/td>\n0.004**<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Least square means and standard error of stress resilient (SR) and stress vulnerable (SV) for each trait; significance threshold of p<0.05 with * indicating 0.01<p<0.05, ** indicating 0.001<p<0.01<\/span><\/p>\n

How to manage the gilts best<\/h3>\n

The management of the gilts must consider the following:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Age at first estrus should be <195 days:
    \nGilts having their first estrus earlier show higher daily gain and usually higher lifetime productivity. In a study conducted by Roongsitthichai et al. (2013)<\/a>, sows culled at parity 0 or 1 exhibited first estrus at 204.4\u00b10.7 days of age, while those culled at parity \u22655 exhibited first estrus at 198.9\u00b12.1 days of age (P=0.015).<\/li>\n
  2. Age at first breeding should lay between 200 and 225 days:
    \nIf the sows are bred at a higher age, they have the risk of being overweight, leading to smaller second-parity litters, longer wean-to-service intervals, and shorter production life.<\/li>\n
  3. The body weight at first mating should be between 135 and 160 kg:
    \nTo reach this target within 200-225 days, the gilts must have 600-800 g of average daily gain. Breeding underweight gilts reduces first-litter size and lactation performance. Overweight gilts (>160 kg) face higher maintenance costs and locomotion issues.<\/li>\n
  4. The number of estruses at first mating should be 2 or 3:
    \nAccurately track estrus and breed on the second estrus. Research shows that delaying breeding to the second estrus positively affects litter size. Only delay breeding to the third estrus to meet minimum weight targets.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Housing<\/h3>\n

    Gestating sows are more and more held in groups. Understanding the process of group housing is essential for success. The following graphic shows factors impacting successful grouping.<\/p>\n

    \"
    Figure 3: Factors influencing group housing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    If the groups are not well-established yet, the stress levels among sows are higher, leading to<\/p>\n