A practical, collaborative effort to reduce pig mortality continues. Chris Hostetler, Pork Checkoff director of animal science, says the Pig Livability Project is one way the industry aims to improve the lives of pigs and people.
On Oct. 5, the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR), the Pork Checkoff and industry stakeholders announced an investment of $1,643,357 in the Pig Livability Project. The Pork Checkoff and other industry stakeholders are providing an additional $893,357 on top of FFAR’s $750,000 contribution. Led by Iowa State University (ISU) in collaboration with Kansas State University (K-State), the project seeks practical ways to reduce pig deaths in the U.S. pork industry.
Reducing pig mortality is a complex challenge that is influenced by animal health, management, environment and other factors throughout production. The collaboration aims to identify practical ways to address those factors that can improve pig welfare while helping producers protect herd health and productivity.
“FFAR’s continued partnership with the Pork Checkoff, the swine industry and leading swine researchers is generating the science needed to better understand swine mortality and develop practical, cost-effective solutions for U.S. pork producers,” says Dr. Jasmine Bruno, FFAR scientific program director. “With margins under pressure, every pig matters.”
The Improving Pig Livability Project announced $250,000 in funding for seven projects selected through that process:
- Dr. Alyssa Betlach, Swine Vet Center: Association of periodic whole-herd antimicrobial administration and risk and time to sow mortality, removal and clinical treatment events
- Dr. Katelyn Gaffield, K-State: Can a simplified, fiber-rich transition diet reduce stillborns and improve pre-weaning livability?
- Dr. Jordan Gebhardt, K-State: Barn Sanitation to Enhance Pig Livability: What do we know and what are we doing?
- Dr. Chris Puls, United Animal Health: Effects of sow and piglet blood hemoglobin and anemia levels on sow and pig performance
- Haley Schwecke and Dr. Alyssa Betlach, Swine Vet Center: Determinants of transport-related mortality in swine production: A multi-system meta-analysis of health, management and transport-associated risk factors
- Dr. Eric Weaver, South Dakota State University (SDSU): Evaluation of Piglet Skeletal Development in Response to Late-Gestation Maternal Nutrition
- Dr. Eric Weaver, SDSU: Improving Sow and Piglet Resilience Through Multi-Cycle, Biomarker-Guided Optimization of Late-Gestation Nutrition
“A 1% improvement in pig survival rates would add an estimated 1.2 million pigs each year to U.S. pork supply,” Hostetler says. “Marketing these additional pigs could reduce the breeding herd by approximately 46,000 sows, allowing the industry to produce more with fewer environmental resources and less long-term feed and veterinary care.”
Initially, the Pig Livability Project received $2 million from FFAR and the Pork Checkoff, with each contributing $1 million, to fund swine livability research from 2019 to 2024. The research identified practical strategies to reduce pig mortality, including earlier treatment of sow lameness and improvements in nutrition, feeding and enrichment.
FFAR says it also produced the first free, publicly available tools that use farm-specific data to estimate mortality costs and the financial benefits of prevention strategies. For example, in one trial, early assessment and treatment reduced mortality by 4.9% at a 4,800-sow farm — an improvement the project’s new economic assessment tool estimated could be worth $240,000.
The projects announced on Oct. 5 build on these initial findings and focus on solutions producers and veterinarians can use.
“After working as a producer and seeing firsthand the impact of this project, I am now honored to help carry it forward from academia,” explains Dr. David Rosero, assistant professor at ISU‘s Department of Animal Science and the Pig Livability Project’s principal investigator. “This project and collaboration are a unique effort that brings multiple organizations together around a shared critical goal of improving pig and sow livability. I believe that this is also a valuable opportunity for experts and producers to work together on research with meaningful impact.”
FFAR says it is investing in research to reduce swine mortality to improve animal welfare and increase producer profits, which complements the USDA’s research and development priority of increasing profitability of farmers and ranchers.
