Dam Attributes And Postnatal Piglet Survival

Abstract

Pre-weaning mortality is a production and welfare problem for modern production systems. Approximately 10 to 35% (Tyler et al. 1990) of newborn piglets die within the first three weeks of life, with more than 50% of deaths in the first three to five days post-farrowing. The main causes of preweaning deaths are starvation and crushing (Alonso-Spilsbury et al. 2007) and both sow and piglet attributes are implicated. This paper explores novel traits recorded on the sow pre- and post-farrowing to establish which dam level factors are associated with mortality of a sow's biological piglets.