Sow prolificacy and preweaning piglet mortality have increased parallelly on commercial farms. This loss of piglets is a concern of efficiency and animal welfare, and it requires the improvement of piglet survival by reducing the number of stillborn piglets and piglet mortality during lactation, paying particular attention to hyperprolific sows (≥15 total piglets born per litter). Data from 580 commercial farms with an average inventory of 809,768 sows have been analyzed to propose two predictive models based on several reproductive parameters and two survival rate targets with the aim of reducing this problem, which are ≥88.5% of piglets born alive and ≥83.2% of total piglets born.

Read the full article in the Journal of Animal Science.