Sow health is critical to successful pork production, but despite our best efforts, illness sometimes strikes during pregnancy. We wanted to understand how the inflammation that accompanies sow sickness would affect piglet outcomes, especially muscle development, feed efficiency and meat yield and quality. It was a straightforward hypothesis, inflammation is known to disrupt muscle development, but as is often the case in experiments, it was not straightforward.
To cause inflammation in sows without introducing a live infection that could complicate piglet development, we used lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injections. LPS causes inflammation as if an infection is present, but it doesn’t cause disease or spread to other animals. We administered LPS at day 70 of gestation, giving injections every other day for two weeks to mimic a typical illness.
After farrowing, we tracked piglet performance from birth to market, measuring body weight, feed efficiency in the grow-finish phase, and muscle development through microscopic analysis of muscle cells. Finally, we evaluated meat yield and quality. The study included 14 sows (seven treated and seven untreated) and a total of 59 barrows and gilts.
Inflammation & Carcass Quality
Piglets from sows exposed to inflammation during gestation started life at a slight disadvantage, with lower birth and weaning weights. However, litter performance was unaffected as the number of piglets born alive and weaned was similar between groups. Despite our hypothesis that inflammation would hinder muscle development, we found no difference in the number or size of muscle fibers between piglets.
This suggests maternal inflammation did not disrupt the key muscle-building processes occurring in mid-gestation. By the time pigs entered the grow-finish phase at 66 days of age, early weight differences had disappeared, and growth rates remained similar across groups all the way to market. Surprisingly, pigs from inflamed sows even demonstrated slightly better feed efficiency.
Following these 59 pigs through slaughter and fabrication, we measured individual cut weights and lean meat yield. While pigs from inflamed sows had a slightly smaller loin eye area, the overall cut weights, carcass yields and loin quality — including color, marbling and pH — were unaffected. And when it came to bacon, belly firmness was similar between groups, meaning no anticipated issues for bacon production. At the end of the day, a packer should have no complaints about any of these pigs arriving at their facility.
Good News for Producers
Despite a few early setbacks, these pigs kept pace, performed efficiently and delivered meat quality packers expect. This study shows how adaptable pigs are, even when their start isn’t ideal. Although keeping sows healthy is always the goal, these studies provide good news: A rough start doesn’t necessarily mean a rough finish.
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