Managing hyperprolific sows with a concentrate on the litter. F. Bortolozzo, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Brazil has 2,015,000 sows and 71.5% are concentrated within the south (Porto Alegre). Prolificacy has been rising +0.2 whole piglets born annually from 2008 to 2023 and in essentially the most environment friendly farms by +0.22. This has resulted in larger variation in litter measurement, decreased litter viability, elevated farrowing period, and elevated mortality of nursing piglets and sows. Thirty % of sows farrowed for greater than 4 hours (348 minutes) in comparison with 40% right now. A major proportion of sows farrow for greater than six hours. Piglets born from these farrowings have a decrease physique temperature and sows have a decrease voluntary feed consumption within the following days.
Colostrum manufacturing is decrease in sows that take greater than 5 hours to farrow, in gilts they usually additionally noticed a partial retention of placentas related to a rise in stillbirths. Piglet preweaning mortality has elevated resulting from weight dispersion, the presence of extra piglets with low weights, and the lack of physique temperature in environments with temperatures beneath 25ºC (they take longer to get well their physique temperature), which triples or quadruples mortality within the first seven days of life.
They take into account that 30% of useless piglets in lactation are defined by a colostrum consumption of lower than 200 grams. The variety of purposeful teats in comparison with the variety of born alive is one other limiting issue. Methods to extend survival in nursing piglets concentrate on three areas: nurse sows, administration of cross fostering, and supplementing starter feed.
They choose sows with higher physique situation and better urge for food. As limiting elements, they bear in mind the unfold of infectious brokers (PRRS, influenza), in addition to the following coming into estrus and fertility. Additional supplementation of colostrum, milk replacers, or power concentrates can improve survival. The observe of cross fostering permits us to wean extra piglets per sow, roughly yet one more per farrowing with no change in weaning weight per piglet or per litter. The typical weaned piglet weight (13-14 litter measurement) at 21 days of life is round 4.8-5.8 kg stay. We will establish sows that foster piglets with higher prognosis by analyzing their historical past: parity 2, 3, 4, and 5, decrease mortality in earlier lactations, decrease stillbirth price, and better milk manufacturing (greater than 10 liters/day, greater weaning weights, greater feed consumption, particularly at day 5-7 after farrowing).
Sweltering swine: How gestational warmth stress shapes sow being pregnant and offspring improvement. J. Johnson, College of Missouri
Fertility from September by means of March is best than throughout the summer time months. Right this moment’s sows are extra productive, have an elevated metabolism with greater endogenous warmth manufacturing, and are extra delicate to warmth stress. The steadiness between warmth achieve and warmth loss relies on their physique temperature, environmental circumstances, metabolic processes, and behavioral modifications. The organic response to warmth stress consists of decreased feed consumption, physique situation, and milk manufacturing, poorer welfare, greater mortality, and productiveness losses.
They estimate the financial influence at $55-79.20/sow, with a 17.4% discount in fertility charges in the summertime months. Temperature fluctuations within the pre-insemination phases may result in a discount in litter measurement of 1-1.5 piglets. That is brought on by elevated irritation and its influence on ovarian perform, elevated insulin resistance and glucose utilization, decreased viable embryos (variable relying on research), and elevated embryonic mortality. Logically, the vary of temperatures that trigger warmth stress is important (average 26-32ºC and excessive 33-36ºC), and is greater at excessive temperatures, which ends up in a smaller litter measurement and elevated stillbirths when there’s acute warmth stress within the days main as much as farrowing.
In utero warmth stress (IUHS) is related to unfavorable financial results on fetal programming, associated to a ten% discount in common day by day achieve and a 9% poorer feed conversion ratio. It additionally ends in elevated ranges of hormones associated to emphasize response and animal welfare (aggression, stereotypies, and decreased exercise). IUHS piglets have an elevated proinflammatory cytokine response, with elevated cortisol ranges, and its attainable influence on morbidity and mortality is being studied. Mortality in nursing piglets from sows subjected to warmth stress is greater. The placenta of heat-stressed sows has fewer uterine muscle fibers and quite a few epigenetically associated genes have been recognized.
Options embody administration practices (efficient cooling programs are important for sows in lactation, weaning, at estrus, and within the first month of gestation), optimizing diet practices, and enhancing the thermo-tolerance of genetics. The warmth stress index in swine was developed in 1959 by Thom and thought of relative humidity and temperature. Right this moment the HotHog app is on the market on each iOS and Android.
On the dietary degree, we should rethink the upkeep wants of sows throughout gestation due to the optimistic power steadiness (64% of the upkeep power wants are required throughout warmth stress). Genetically, elevated productiveness is negatively correlated with thermo-tolerance. Elevated temperatures improve physique temperature, however warmth loss mechanisms fail, doubtlessly inflicting the animal to break down. Warmth tolerance and warmth sensitivity don’t go hand in hand with regards to biologically assessing their genetic variety. They’re at the moment engaged on figuring out biomarkers that predict tolerance to warmth stress, analyzing the variability of the microbiome to foretell it, evaluating transgenerational epigenetic results, and measuring parameters in sows (improve in physique temperature at completely different factors), prioritizing survival over productiveness.
Augmenting piglet survival as litter measurement will increase. M. Knauer, North Carolina State College (Sponsored by the Nationwide Pork Board)
From 2020 to 2024, the U.S. went from weaning 11.05 to 11.78 piglets/litter on common (MetaFarms). The triad of nutrient entry by the piglet, personnel, and amenities is on the core of maximizing piglet survival. Managing colostrum consumption is crucial, making an allowance for the teats out there and the attendant’s high quality of labor. If achieved properly, break up suckling by teams of piglets each two hours yields good outcomes. The farrowing stall design and dimensions affect piglet survival, with controversial ends in the literature. In current unpublished work (Knauer), going from 198 to 213 cm per sow will increase survival by 5 factors (they suggest a minimal of 200 cm/sow). We should bear in mind the rise within the measurement of present sows. Vargovil (2022) experiences an inverse relationship between stillbirths and piglet survival with the world out there to the sow within the farrowing pen. Stillbirths are decreased (9% to five.6%) by offering a number of feedings day by day earlier than farrowing. Stillbirths are instantly associated to farrowing period. Feeding two feedings day by day is best than utilizing calcium chloride to scale back stillbirths.
They don’t discover constant feeding methods to extend piglet delivery weight. Colostrum manufacturing is important and is elevated by higher feeding practices within the prefarrowing interval (extra consumption), realizing that growing litter measurement reduces the common quantity of colostrum per piglet and that the extra purposeful teats the upper the colostrum consumption per piglet. Litter weight at weaning is greater with growing colostrum consumption, with a optimistic correlation with preweaning survival (every further teat offers 2.5% larger survival). They conclude with the significance of figuring out the variety of purposeful teats in every sow.
The altering surroundings of boar studs. D. Reicks, Reicks Veterinary Analysis & Consulting, Minnesota
The presentation focuses on 30 analysis papers and 30 years of area expertise as a marketing consultant. Between 2000 and 2024, using air filtration programs has decreased the frequency of PRRS instances from 15% to 1% in insemination facilities. Few filters are wanted with a excessive electrical price ($10-40/boar). Purebred boars are much less proof against warmth stress and issues with bacterial contamination of semen resulting from excessive humidity improve. You will need to take into account the optimistic stress of the system (16-18 yr). You will need to take into account the longevity of the constructing in addition to its capability to manage environmental circumstances towards warmth stress and biosecurity measures for prime well being.
The price of house per boar in an insemination middle within the USA has gone from $1,500 in 1996 to $3,600 in 2008, $6,000 in 2018, and $11,000 in 2024, going from $0.25 to $0.50 and $1.50/dose. In Europe, the house requirements per boar are 6 m2. We should bear in mind different elements of their housing, reminiscent of security of their dealing with for individuals, ease of labor, sort of bedding (straw, slat) along with their biosecurity, and the movement of boars inside the middle. The vast majority of boar deaths are resulting from euthanasia (50-75%), implying a excessive substitute price resulting from locomotor issues, a few of them resulting from osteochondrosis (OCD) at 8-10 months of life. Since 2020, they’ve noticed a rise within the proportion of boars culled resulting from mobility issues that result in elevated stress in tissues, low feed/water consumption, and decrease blood provide in osteoskeletal tissues. As for biosecurity measures, they’ve elevated the interval between visits to different facilities to 7 days and using scorching rooms, the place the fabric getting into the middle is left for a time along with disinfection measures (ultraviolet). For early detection of PRRS virus, by PCR is extra environment friendly to observe within the blood (saphenous vein or auricular vein) than in semen, the place alterations in semen high quality seem later after the onset of an infection. The usage of oral fluids is a substitute for take into account. Upon the slightest suspicion within the laboratory or in scientific outcomes, we should always droop the distribution of semen to the sow farms. Likewise, we should care for the standard of semen and handle the danger that it poses for its influence on productiveness. Contamination by Serratia micro organism kills spermatozoa and causes agglutination. This bacterium will be discovered within the foreskin and feces of boars. The right assortment of samples, conservation, and evaluation are important in its willpower.
Sow housing: Challenges and alternatives in a altering surroundings. T. Parsons, College of Pennsylvania
Their research concentrate on meals safety and its relationship with manufacturing, which should be socially acceptable: official, credible, and true. Gestation amenities have a reactive element, contemplating that the newborn boomer technology is basically unfamiliar with them, and the extra they study, the extra they reject them. Social expectations should be thought-about from the animals’ perspective, fairly than from a profitability standpoint, making understanding the animal expertise of curiosity.
They observe sure variations in gestating sows’ desire of their conduct concerning their presence on the feeding level and the time spent out and in of the shoulder size stall. This relies on quite a few elements reminiscent of time out there, house, earlier expertise, parity, timing of gestation, place within the hierarchy, and particular person conduct.
Relating to farrowing rooms, we will be proactive and outline the elements to contemplate for one of the best solutions- ones which can be each economically viable and socially acceptable. Everlasting confinement (3.3 x 4.6 m2) versus free housing (6 x 9.2 m2) and non permanent confinement (3.3 x 4.6 m2) are the choices into account. In Europe the previous are banned in Switzerland, Norway, and Sweden, tending to take action in Germany (2036) and Austria (2033), with stress in the remainder of Europe, and in addition New Zealand (2025). It’s much less clear in the remainder of the world, together with the USA – the place the problem shall be addressed inside the subsequent decade and the place the Nationwide Pork Board (NPB) has developed a five-year analysis plan to review future farrowing rooms.
Farrowing programs should take into account two components: the sow and the piglets, contemplating environmental, dietary, and pre-weaning mortality elements, which have additionally been aggravated with trendy extra prolific genetics, the place quite a few administration practices to enhance their survival are confronted with free farrowing. Sow welfare focuses on limiting mobility, manifesting their pure conduct, and interacting with their litter. Animal administration and well being facets are additionally contradictory in free farrowing. The hybrid system (confined
20 years of group housing at CVFF: Achievements and key classes realized. C. Roudergue, Nation View Household Farms. Pennsylvania
The sixth technology works right now within the vertically built-in household enterprise based in 1923. It has 115,000 sows and a pair of.8 million pigs slaughtered per 12 months (eleventh within the U.S.). They work with loose-housed gestation with each digital and automated feeding stations the place they home the sows at completely different occasions throughout gestation (at weaning, at insemination, earlier than or after implantation).
After a number of journeys to Europe, they’ve labored with free housing gestation since 2002, with all farms Proposition 12 licensed since 2023. In 2007 they inaugurated the primary farm with an digital feeding system. They opted for static gestation flows, minimizing animal mixing and house underutilization. Additionally they ran dynamic teams with weekly mixing whereas testing a modification of static movement gestation having some free stalls that then moved sows >70 days gestation (“parking space”). Every batch is segregated by parity (nulliparous, first parity, and second parity onward) and strict physique situation. This requires pre-station coaching of future breeding sows and inserting first parity sows collectively to get well their physique situation after weaning.
In transitioning from crates to free hosing, the programs with feeding troughs with small teams of animals (4-9) consuming as soon as a day labored properly, managing the physique situation per group and never altering the feeding conduct of the sows, being easy to function and preserve by the employees.
Of their expertise, managing dominant sows in massive teams is less complicated than in small teams. Digital feeding programs (ESF) present vital options reminiscent of sows consuming one by one. They spend extra time in locomotion. Exact hierarchies are established at feeding time which is extra inclined to various consumption curves and the movement of animals in every station, which is an issue if we place sows in pre-implantation phases and in occasions of excessive temperatures the place the hours when the sows will eat are altered, impacting the connection between conception price and farrowing price. Of their expertise, once they home sows earlier than implantation, they lose 2-3% and 3-4% when they’re in static teams or dynamic teams, on the identical time sow mortality goes up 2-3% in comparison with particular person housing. Relating to locomotor issues, they take note of the collection of future breeding sows, scale back moist surfaces (consideration to the situation of drinkers), and keep away from steel bars, screws, or protrusions that trigger trauma. Additionally they pay particular consideration and care within the early detection of leg accidents or any particular person downside, performing fast and correct therapies (1-2 individuals per 5,000 sows), which positively contributes to decreasing sow deaths/culls. Particular person consideration and care of the animals is crucial of their observe.
Breeding herd labor retention in a altering surroundings. J. Christensen, Eichelberger Farms Inc. Iowa
Their firm values are ardour, integrity, progress, and empowerment. They began their enterprise in 1972 and have 66,500 sows at 16 websites, principally owned in Iowa and Missouri. They produce 1.55 million pigs to market with 260 workers. It focuses on three primary areas: business earnings, farm well being, and the working crew.
Sixty % of the staff are on the sow farms, therefore the significance of the position of the sow farm supervisor. For instance, on a 5,000-head sow farm, the farm is valued at $15 million, the weaned piglets are valued at $5.5 million, and the sows are valued at $1.5 million. The qualities of such an individual ought to concentrate on animal care, biosecurity, job safety, and sustaining the human crew. Effectivity in recruiting individuals to the work crew is crucial. When a brand new employee arrives on the farm, on the primary day they make a guidelines of their duties, adopted by two weeks of transition (coaching, restricted duties and occasions to carry out the work together with use of supplies/means obligatory for his or her work, completion of experiences and chain of transmission of knowledge each horizontally and vertically), ending with the verification of the work carried out. The coaching course of consists of the theoretical half, the sensible software, and the verification, with the achievement of the completely different milestones supervised by the particular person in cost and centrally managed within the firm.
For instance, in growing a supervisor’s coaching, the factors are his or her identification as a pacesetter (pondering fashion, intra- and interpersonal emotional intelligence, and situational management), self-awareness, reference to the individuals on the crew, and optimization of manufacturing information. The duties the supervisor is to hold out are figuring out, scheduling, and delegating. Methods to retain employees embody offering a aggressive wage and extra advantages (medical health insurance, dental insurance coverage, journey, further trip, bonuses, meals, and occasions) each on the collective and particular person ranges. Communication is a crucial issue inside the firm tradition primarily based on outcomes, experiences, wants, and contributions. Farm visits and interplay with employees are thought-about important to offer visibility to individuals’s work inside the firm.
Applied sciences for enhancing swine manufacturing. S. Leonard, North Carolina State College (Sponsored by the Nationwide Pork Board)
Precision livestock farming (PLF) makes use of applied sciences to enhance administration, productiveness, well being, welfare, and revenue. They’ll make administration extra exact on the division, room, or particular person degree, enhance productiveness per animal and particular person, enhance human-animal interplay, enhance sustainability, scale back prices, and make work extra engaging (plug & play). Nevertheless it additionally has limitations reminiscent of abandonment, it’s not absolutely autonomous, it has upkeep to maintain it in good working order, it doesn’t absolutely change the human side, and it may possibly deviate from what we inform it to do.
Such applied sciences have a number of elements targeted on information assortment, evaluation, motion/determination/recommendations, and registration. This should have its suggestions. Earlier than buying these applied sciences we should analyze in the event that they resolve issues in our firm, present worth, are aligned with our wants and future goals, and supply advantages supported by information from universities, non-public corporations, or different producers. It’s obligatory, after all, to conduct a return on funding research, analyzing the prices (preliminary fee, upkeep, substitute, and the time to study to make use of them) and the advantages (enchancment of manufacturing parameters, elevated monetary revenue, decreased time, decreased frustration, and elevated job satisfaction).
Inside the administration of the surroundings, now we have quite a few precision programs reminiscent of automated sensors that monitor relative humidity and fuel focus, configure air flow programs, routinely gather information and alerts, and function with distant management primarily based on the cloud information service. The typical lifetime of the sensors relies on the washing and calibration practices, which we should take into account inside their upkeep prices. The digital management programs of water consumption per pen or room assist us to detect pathologies and thermal stress, permitting information to be in contrast between teams, farms, stations, and manufacturing phases, and relate it to manufacturing parameters.
Included in such precision farm programs are information evaluation software program (Pig Champ, Metafarms), digital sow feeding programs (Jyga applied sciences, Osborne) that should be recalibrated every so often for optimum accuracy. The identical applies to digital weighing programs, and weight estimation chambers, which additionally must be adjusted to completely different genetics. Exercise monitoring programs utilizing visible cameras permit us to evaluate the conduct and welfare of the animals, giving us data on their water and feed consumption patterns and well being.
The usage of thermal cameras paired to a cellphone permits us to research the microclimate of various areas and of the animals themselves, though they aren’t very correct for detecting fevers. They point out estrus detectors primarily based on the sows’ visits to the boar and the sows’ exercise and postural modifications detected by 3D cameras and accelerometers. For its sensible use, we should take into account the amount of information and the frequency and velocity of knowledge in our amenities, specifying the current and future connection and accessibility wants, the time and value of information storage, information safety and privateness, in addition to technological help.
Warmth stress in sows: Impacts and techniques for enhancing manufacturing and welfare. J. Johnson, College of Missouri
International pig manufacturing has quadrupled within the final 50 years. Metabolic warmth manufacturing in trendy sows has elevated by 133%, so warmth tolerance is decrease, and sensitivity to warmth stress in each gestation and lactation is larger. This means that reproductive parameters and mortality could also be impaired. The influence of warmth stress within the USA in September 2024 has been estimated at $511 million. Warmth stress in utero has unfavorable results on immune response, embryo/fetal improvement, and power metabolism, and reduces feed consumption to steadiness warmth manufacturing/loss, altering upkeep prices and nutrient partitioning (nutrient absorption). Warmth stress throughout gestation doesn’t impair feed consumption. Current research present that upkeep price in sows will increase throughout the warmth stress part in several species, together with swine. In ending pigs, they estimate variations of -590 and -430 kcal/day of metabolic upkeep prices between 30-50 and 60-90 kg stay, respectively, which means a rise within the power degree of feed in these conditions.
Warmth stress negatively impacts the corpora lutea in breeding sows. No relationship was discovered on its impact on mammary improvement. They’re at the moment finding out the way it could have an effect on colostrum and milk high quality. They do observe elevated fattening in sows subjected to warmth stress. The unfavorable impact on lactogenesis was already studied in 1966 in dairy cows on the College of Missouri and is comparable in lactating sows. Sixty % of milk manufacturing is misplaced with decrease feed consumption, with a important break level occurring when precise consumption drops greater than 20% from anticipated. To estimate warmth manufacturing and measure the power steadiness we are able to use an oblique calorimeter, a technique used of their research. They noticed a 20.4% improve in warmth manufacturing metabolism beneath warmth stress with the identical proportion discount in litter weight at weaning.
Farrowing room cooling methods as a primary line of protection ought to be used proactively to keep away from these extreme unfavorable results in lactating sows. In a research of 97 farms in a number of states, they observe various important temperature responses from which they detect warmth stress on farms. As early as 1998, the temperature-humidity stress index for ending pigs was developed (for people in 1959 and for cattle in 1970). The suggestions are 12.6-15.6ºC on the finish of gestation and 13.2-16.4ºC in non-pregnant sows and throughout the first two months of gestation as preferences for sows of their thermoregulation ranges. They estimate that average warmth stress begins at 24-25ºC, extreme at 30-32ºC, and medium between 25-30ºC. They use the HotHog program out there on iOS and Android to evaluate the thermal index in observe on farms.
Managing seasonal variation and herd capability constraints. M. Knauer, North Carolina State College
Genetic enchancment, physique situation upkeep, and sow administration are three pillars for understanding sow conduct within the face of seasonality. Within the U.S., they estimate an annual lack of $450 million resulting from excessive temperatures on pig farms. Piglets produced per sow are decreased within the winter months, with seasonal variation.
In a research of 44,000 sows with an abortion price of 0.65% to three.5% in late summer time and early fall, analyzing quite a few elements, they noticed that the speed is decrease on farms with cooling programs and adequate followers. It’s attention-grabbing to research the place on the farm the abortions happen (air inlet or outlet factors, roughly proximity to followers, areas with greater relative humidity, insulation ranges, and barn insolation). The abortion price is decrease when sows eat extra in lactation (1 lb/day = -0.22% abortions), whereas in gestation, quite the opposite, overconsumption will increase the abortion price. In a current research, they noticed a rise in feed consumption of 5.8 to six.6 kg/day/sow related to cooling programs in lactation. Physique situation and parity are two further elements associated to summer time infertility. Extreme lack of physique situation will improve the wean-to-estrus interval and end in poorer fertility (WSI as a predictor of fertility).
The position of farm personnel in controlling these variables and particular person sow care have a optimistic influence on decreasing issues related to productiveness losses resulting from abortions and returns to estrus.
Alternatives to scale back sow mortality: a South American perspective. F. Bortolozzo, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Brazil has 2,015,000 sows, 71.5% are concentrated in three southern states. By way of well being, they’re PRRS unfavorable and CSF optimistic, with farms with pure air flow in larger numbers and extra employees per variety of breeding sows (1:150-200 sows). The elements related to sow mortality are associated to the delivery weight of future breeding sows. The variety of sows that attain the third parity and have much less substitute price is vital. The mortality price will increase with growing farm measurement from 8.4% to 12% in farms with 5000 sows. By way of sow productiveness, mortality doesn’t fluctuate considerably (26.6 to 32 piglets/sow/12 months). The surroundings is a crucial issue. At >30°C mortality in peripartum is multiplied, being greater in summer time than in winter. As for the kind of flooring, mortality varies little. Throughout farrowing and perifarrowing mortality is 50%.
Of their research of 88 farms in Brazil, mortality averaged 8-10%. Prolapse accounts for 19% of losses, gastric ulcers 9.9%, liver torsion 8.3%, and suppurative arthritis 8.2%. As a part of the methods to scale back sow mortality primarily based on a research in a system of 30,000 sows the place that they had 15% mortality, they decreased it by 2.5% by implementing larger sow care/consideration related to correct data on the sows, a day by day inspection of all animals (legs, feed consumption, fever, vomiting, exercise) and early identification of sows vulnerable to issues within the space of mating and gestation, performing the required therapies.
An vital level is to examine the water consumption, for which it’s essential to know the actual day by day water consumption on the farm degree and to examine that every sow drinks what it wants. We should bear in mind the water temperature since excessive temperatures drastically scale back feed consumption, and this has penalties in gestation and particularly in lactation.
Group measurement and physique situation in gestation are factors of particular consideration. Small teams of 11-20 sows are simpler to manage. The sow substitute plan is crucial to take care of a steady movement of manufacturing and an enough retention price, so the standard of the sows when it comes to age, weight, well being, and conformity is crucial. Sow diet to take care of good physique situation whereas avoiding chubby sows goals to scale back mortality. Sustaining an accurate physique situation from delivery to the second gestation (350 days of life) is taken into account a chance to scale back the mortality price.
Antonio Palomo Yagüe
