Updated scientific evidence on the welfare of gestating sows kept in different housing systems
Recent papers found similar productivity, physiology, health, and behavior among individually or grouped sows during gestation.
Page 7 of articles about farrowing room
Small piglets born to young sows: a very dangerous combination (II): Control measures
Small piglets with a low viability are a growing problem, and they represent one of the main causes of pre-weaning mortality.
Effect of high fiber intake in sows in the transition period on piglet survival
Constipation is one of the factors that are involved in pre weaning piglet mortality.
Selection for increased number of piglets at day five after farrowing has increased litter size and reduced piglet mortality
Selection for litter size at day five after farrowing (LS5) was introduced in 2004 in order to increase number of piglets weaned and reduce piglet mortality in Danish Landrace and Yorkshire.
Clinical case: Sudden increase in stillborn piglets and suckling pigs mortality
The litter size of the recent and the last farrowing batches was significantly reduced, and the suckling pigs showed an obvious varying weight, condition and viability.
Nurse sows
As of the 3rd-4th day of lactation it is not recommendable anymore to replace small piglets and piglets with poor a growth rate for good piglets, because it is probable that the teat that has to be used has already dried off due to the scarce stimulation received for several consecutive days.
How many nurse sows do I need today?
A simple method to facilitate the daily calculation of the nurse sows needed for the correct running of the farrowing quarters in a hyperprolific sows system.
Transfers of piglets until the 3rd-4th day after their birth
When there are not enough teats, the strongest piglet always occupies the place of the weak one, that is left without milk to suckle.
I'm missing weaned piglets/sow: Why?
Normally, when we ask a farmer which is their average number of weaned piglets per sow they normally know this parameter, because its calculation is easy, nevertheless...
Order when entering the sows from the pregnancy to the farrowing quarters in big farms
In the previous piece of advice we saw that in small farms it could be interesting to maintain a certain order when entering the sows in the farrowing quarters depending on their parturition. Nevertheless, in big farms or in farms that group together many farrowings at the same time we will have to think about the order in another way, because if the farrowing quarters are not very big we will have the same batch of sows housed in several rooms.
United States breeding inventory down from last year
United States hog producers intend to have 2.85 million sows farrow during the September-November 2012 quarter, down 3 percent from the actual farrowings during the same period in 2011, and down 1 percent from 2010.
How do we even out the litters after the farrowings? (IV) Special precautions
If once we have evened out the litters a sow farrows during the late evening, what do we do?
Analysis of the health status in the weaners and fattening stages; a different approach (I)
We analyze a real case, and we will check out how a partial analysis of the data can give place to erroneous conclusions.
Farrowing barn employees talk about animal welfare
Farrowing production in today's pork industry is designed to meet the needs of the animal through facility design and proper training in animal husbandry.
A systematic management strategy for breeding herds based on PRRS herd status
It was developed in USA as a way to improve communication of what needed to be done to improve the chances of success in stabilizing and managing breeding herds.