Oxidative stress in sows, particularly during late gestation and lactation, arises from the metabolic demands of producing large litters and milk, leading to increased reactive oxygen species and potential damage to tissues, impacting reproductive performance and litter viability.
In a high stress event such as farrowing or weaning, the sow’s total antioxidant capacity declines, resulting in detrimental effects on piglet survivability and sow health. What can producers do to help minimize stress on the sow?
A new study sought to find an intervention or treatment to support highly prolific sows in the late gestation to farrowing periods. Ayva Bohr, a veterinary student at Iowa State University College of Medicine, took home the first-place award at the 2025 American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) annual meeting for her poster titled, “Effect of antioxidant supplementation in sows pre-farrow and during lactation on sow and piglet performance.”
The purpose of her study was to mitigate the effects of systemic oxidative stress and nutritional deficiencies in sows which has a subsequent effect on the health and productivity of her litter. She conducted her research under a natural unstable porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) challenge but she points out it could be applicable in other respiratory diseases or those similar to PRRS.
“We used a product called ImmuFend made by TechMix using a top-dress protocol for two different time periods of supplementation, and with a control group,” she explains. “Usually, this product is run through the water, but most sow farms don’t have farrowing rooms set up for this treatment, which is why we used it as a top dress.”
After collecting data points such as sow caliper score, farrowing records, piglet weights, weaning records, treatment and mortalities for sows and litters, they also collected subsequent litter data following sows to their next parity.
“The two most significant data points we discovered was number of pigs weaned per sow as well as piglet average daily gain (ADG). The group that received ImmuFend supplementation weaned a whole extra piglet in comparison to the group that received no ImmuFend, translating to a 17% increase in pigs weaned per sow,” Bohr says. “We also saw a statistically significant difference in piglet ADG in the two groups that received ImmuFend compared to the control group.”
After conducting an economic analysis, Bohr says the return on investment for each treatment group was 18:1 with an approximate 25-day supplementation and 26:1 with an approximate 10-day supplementation in comparison to the control group.
“This shows that supplementing sows with this antioxidant strategy at the time of a health challenge could improve piglet performance, move more pigs out the door, and have the potential to reduce the economic burden of these challenges for producers,” Bohr says.
Bohr was one of 15 students who competed in the Veterinary Student Poster Competition at the AASV annual meeting. Read more here.
