INCREASING PIGLET SURVIVAL THROUGH AN IMPROVED FARROWING MANAGEMENT PROTOCOL

The profitability of swine production units is significantly decreased by the high rate of mortality which occurs during parturition or shor tly thereafter. This study compared the survival rates of pigs subject ed to different farrowing management protocols. Sixty litters of cross bred piglets (York x Landrace) were randomly assigned to one of two pr otocols for management at farrowing. The first, unattended or control group, corresponded to the traditional commercial farrowing practice u sed on most hog farms today which provides for no attention during far rowing. The second protocol consisted of attending the farrowing and e xecuting a sequence of procedures to the newborn animals. Mortality ra tes and their causes, weight gains, and haematocrit levels were record ed for the first 3 wk of life. Total preweaning mortality was 18.2 and 10.1% for the control and attended groups, respectively. The main imp act of the treatment was the reduction of the animals that otherwise w ould have been classified as stillbirths. The stillbirth rate decrease d from 6.8 to 1.6% while the mortality rate during the first day decre ased from 5.2% in the unattended litters to 2.2% in the attended litte rs, respectively. At weaning the weight of the attended piglets was hi gher (P < 0.05) than those of the unattended animals. The overall weig ht gain was higher in the attended litters when compared with those of the control litters (3.99 +/- 0.08 and 3.68 +/- 0.06 kg, respectively ). Processing each pig takes about 2 min, but waiting for the next pig requires approximately 15 min per piglet. The reduction in mortality of 44% (equivalent to about one piglet per litter) plus the benefit of enhanced performance in the attended group could justify the implemen tation of a farrowing protocol which involves adding the extra labour at farrowing time, especially if several sows are attended by the same attendant.