By recognizing when a sow needs help farrowing and providing timely obstetrical assistance, you can help your farm reduce the number of stillborns by ¼ to ½ piglet per litter or more, says Tim Safranksi, University of Missouri Extension state swine specialist.
There’s no question that a farrowing monitor is an asset to any pig operation. From udder massage to stimulate endogenous oxytocin release to sleeving to remove obstructions in the birth canal to administration of exogenous oxytocin or calcium to support uterine contractions, the farrowing monitor can catch problems before they happen.
In addition, observing farrowing can help reduce stillborns due to more accurate identification of cause of death, Safranski adds. For example, piglets found dead in the morning that were not there at the end of the previous day are often classified as stillborns, while many were born alive but needed that extra support to get oxygen, warmth or colostrum.
What’s it Worth?
Research points to the benefit of attended farrowing, but sometimes labor challenges stand in the way. If you could cut your stillborn rate in half, what is that worth?
Safranksi says the first step is to determine what the cost of providing supervision will be. Obviously, in larger groups of farrowing sows, the farrowing monitor can more quickly cover the cost of their time.
In order to pencil out attending farrowing, he says some economic assumptions need to be made.
What if the number of litters is not predicted to allow the increased number of live piglets to offset costs? Cause more litters to be born in a shorter period of time, he says.
“Induction of farrowing has been used effectively to facilitate supervision of farrowing. That can be done with Prostaglandin-F-2-alpha administration not more than two days prior to natural farrowing. With today’s sows, that means treating sows at 114 to116 days rather than the 112 days often talked about since gestation length is now 115.5 to 118 days in most modern maternal lines,” Safranski says.
He believes this protocol can tighten up a farrowing group by inducing the “tail enders” which might otherwise farrow over another five days or more, as most sows will farrow 24 to 48 hours after treatment.
Another induction protocol is to treat with Prostaglandin-F-2-alpha and then treat with oxytocin 24 hours later. He says this protocol is expected to induce sows to farrow 24 to 32 hours after the initial injection, meaning the vast majority will farrow during the “work day” (or a slightly extended version of a work day). This protocol can increase the proportion of live piglets if supervision is provided, but without supervision, may increase stillborn rate.
“Attending farrowing of sows going into labor naturally will result in the greatest piglet survival. Inducing to facilitate supervision is next highest. Unattended natural farrowing is next, and the lowest is induced but not attended farrowing (no need to do the latter),” he says.
More from Farm Journal’s PORK:
3 Ways to Maximize Pigs Born Alive
Is it Time to Rethink Gilt Development?
Stop Chasing, Get Out in Front: SHIC Reports on 2020 Progress
