Preweaning mortality is a complex issue, says Cara Haden, DVM, of Pipestone Veterinary Service. That’s why the pork industry continues to search for answers to improve pig livability on the farm.
During the 2024 American Association of Swine Veterinarian’s annual meeting, Haden discussed three impactful factors during a presentation titled, “Firsthand Experiences and Lessons Learned with Pre-Weaning Mortality” during the Pig Liability Seminar.
“In 2022, the U.S. industry hit a five-year high in 2022 at 14.4%,” Haden says. “This trend of increasing preweaning mortality has been identified as a significant barrier to both the industry’s welfare and sustainability goals. If we want to make forward progress as an industry, preweaning mortality needs to begin trending down.”
Here are three recommendations to improve pig livability.
1. Evaluate piglet movements.
Piglet movement from the dam to a foster sow is a regular production practice in many operations today, Haden says. The problem is the more you move piglets to improve their quality of life, the more likely you are to throw new challenges their way.
“As piglets are moved to new dams, hierarchy, teat order and grunting patterns need to be relearned and piglets are exposed to new environments possibly containing new pathogens,” Haden says.
Gustavo Pizarro, president for Pipestone Latin America, discovered in a recent research study litters that remained intact on their own dam at initial cross fostering had statistically significant lower preweaning mortality compared to litters where piglets were not left on their dam. Fully intact litters had 10.54% prewean mortality compared to 12.55% in litters where all piglets in the litter were placed on a new sow.
2. Confirm colostrum intake.
Colostrum intake is known to be a key indicator of piglet survivability. Not only does it play a vital role in energy and thermoregulation, but it also is critical in immunity and immune function. Farms often use practices such as drying and split suckling, aimed to increase colostrum intake. However, few farms actually measure successful colostrum intake in real time on-farm, Haden explains.
“As piglets consume colostrum, their metabolic rate increases, which raises and maintains their body temperature,” she says. “A piglet with an appropriate body temperature has likely consumed adequate colostrum.”
The same holds true that a piglet with inappropriate temperature could indicate insufficient colostrum intake. When piglet temperature is monitored in real time, she says actions can be taken to ensure colostrum intake prior to gut closure.
“Early work with thermal cameras has suggested it may be a helpful tool at identifying colostrum-deprived piglets when farrowing rooms are cool,” Haden adds. “Unfortunately, in hotter temperatures, piglet skin temperature monitored by thermal camera imaging is unable to differentiate between colostrum-deprived piglet and those that consumed appropriate colostrum.”
3. Track data in real time.
In years past, pig farms ran weekly production record packets highlighting production information from the previous week. This lag between timing of preweaning mortality and production record availability doesn’t allow for timely recognition of concerns or timely intervention, Haden points out.
Using technology to provide real-time, preweaning mortality tracking allows for faster response times to potential problems.
“One of the real-time, preweaning mortality tracking applications that is available on the market today is PigFlow by Swine Tech,” Haden says. “The PigFlow program was implemented by an 18,000-sow system with six sites and 150 employees. Preweaning mortality and stillborn rate were monitored for one year prior to the transition to PigFlow.”
After implementing PigFlow at all six farms over a six-month period, preweaning mortality and stillborn rates were tracked for one year, she explains. The results were a 15% reduction in stillborn rate and a reduction of preweaning mortality from 12.57% to 11.05%.
“Accepting an ever-increasing mortality rate in piglets is not an option,” Haden says. “All veterinarians and farmers need to evaluate the role genetics, health, environmental and facility management factors play on their current preweaning mortality with focus on evaluation of piglet movements, confirmation of colostrum intake and real-time tracking of preweaning mortality.”
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