Search

Sow body composition largely reflects the amount of lean and fat tissue stores in the body, and is measured, managed and reported because traditionally when sows mobilise body tissues in lactation to support piglet growth, adverse consequences in subsequent reproduction may be observed. These consequences are largely driven by metabolic changes exerting negative influences on the reproductive axes through luteinising hormone and follicle stimulating hormone and direct impact on the ovary. This results in sows that take longer to ovulate, have lower ovulation rates and shed poorer-quality oocytes, translating to delayed wean to service intervals, higher pregnancy failure and lower litter sizes. Sow management needs to meet both the needs of the piglet (adequate colostrum and milk intake for survival and growth) and the needs of the sow (successful re-breeding). The way pork producers tackle this is through diets designed to match sow requirements at different production stages. We have recently observed, despite efforts (nutritional challenges), that we are unable to induce fat or lean tissue mobilisation in lactating sows, which is a novel finding, although pig populations such as in the EU, UK and USA would appear to be experiencing similar outcomes. Despite our lower reproductive performance than in much of the rest of the world as a consequence of having a closed genetic herd, the specific genetic selection programs that exist within Australia, and the resultant leaner, more efficient sows, may be a potential explanation. This, coupled with the high lactation feed intakes now commonly reported, means that sows are less likely to become catabolic and so suffer from poor re-breeding outcomes. A conclusion from these findings may mean that we now have an opportunity to feed the lactating sow to better meet the growth and survival needs of piglets, with the knowledge that we will not compromise subsequent reproduction. Sow body composition reflects the amount of lean and fat tissue in the body and is measured and managed because, traditionally, when sows mobilise body tissues to support piglet growth during lactation, subsequent reproduction is adversely affected. The lean, efficient, modern sow is less likely to become catabolic and, so, does not suffer from poor re-breeding outcomes. This offers us the opportunity to feed the sow to better meet the needs of the piglet, without compromising subsequent reproductive performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports the loss of colostrum due to hypoxia and oxygen deprivation during the birth process of sows can be improved with the inclusion of magnesium sulphate (MgSO4) in the diet of sows before farrowing as colostrum ingestion is important to piglet survival.

The article presents a case study of sows at mixing, and mentions that aggression between sows during mixing is unavoidable, but can be reduced by the introduction of play by using novel materials.

The study reports split sucking as a technique to provide sufficient colostrum to all neonatal piglets to improve their chances of survival, as for the development of the immune system absorption of of colostral IgG is essential.

The article presents a case study of neonatal piglets from a commercial piggery subject to split suckling (SS) treatment, and also mentions that the results has no effect on pre- and post-weaning piglet growth.

Measuring the quality of life of an animal in a production system is difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. We tested the ability of both NIR and MIR spectroscopy, each combined with machine learning, to predict the prior exposure of pigs to long- and short-term life challenges when they are raised in an intensive system. Samples were obtained post-mortem from two locations in the prefrontal cortex. The analysis showed a clear separation between the gray and white matter from the prefrontal cortex with MIR spectroscopy. Exposure to long-term challenge was poorly predicted by the MIR or NIR spectra (< 45% correct classifications). By contrast, the correct classification of samples according to the exposure to a short-tern challenge before death was higher than 65%. These rates of classification, considering the complexity of the stimulus and the small sample size, support that vibrational spectroscopy could be used to assess the exposure to challenging events of an animal on post-mortem brain tissue., Competing Interests: Declarations Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The Maternity Ring was developed as a free farrowing alternative to crates that preserved space whilst providing the sow with unrestricted movement. This experiment aimed to apply the Five Domains model to assess sow welfare in the Maternity Ring in comparison with the farrowing crate. Eighty-eight sows were housed in a farrowing crate (FC) and 83 in a Maternity Ring (MR), and measures collected focussed on nutrition, environment, health, behaviour, and mental state outcomes. MR sows consumed less feed than FC sows (total feed intake: 93.8 ± 3.06 kg vs. 111.2 ± 3.13 kg; p  < 0.001) but had reduced P2 backfat loss during lactation (0.0 ± 0.11 vs. 1.2 ± 0.11, p  < 0.001). Fewer frustrated and pain-related behaviours during farrowing were observed in MR sows (bar biting: FC 3.3 ± 2.12 vs. MR 0.5 ± 0.29 events, p  = 0.038, and back leg forward: FC 227 ± 50.7 vs. MR 127 ± 26.4 events, p  = 0.019), and a decreased proportion of MR sows had facial injuries after farrowing (10% CI [5, 20] vs. 67% CI [47, 95], p  < 0.001). More FC sows had udder damage at weaning (70% CI [48, 97] vs. 10% CI [6, 24], p  < 0.001), and their piglets were medicated more frequently when compared to those in MR (51% CI [40, 61] vs. 30% [21, 41], p  = 0.008). MR sows tended to have a higher reaction score to piglet processing (MR 2.0 ± 0.38 vs. FC 1.2 ± 0.27, p  = 0.094) and had more contact with piglets once the procedure was complete than FC sows (13.5 ± 2.55 vs. 6.9 ± 1.26 events, respectively, p  = 0.016). Whilst there was no difference in anticipation of a feeding event ( p  > 0.05), MR sows displayed a reduced startle response to an aversive noise stimulus at day 18 (FC 2.8 ± 0.35, MR 0.7 ± 0.16, p  < 0.001). Using the Five Domains framework, sows housed in the MR during farrowing and lactation have improved welfare than those in FC and can be thought of as being in a positive affective state., Competing Interests: KP, DL, LS, DD, and RvB were employed by the SunPork group. The Maternity Ring is a patented design (Innovation Patent # 2017101428) held by CHM Alliance, a subsidiary company of the SunPork Group., (Copyright © 2024 Plush, Lines, Staveley, D’Souza and van Barneveld.)

The individual housing of sows and boars within stalls is still frequent in commercial pork production, especially when the risk for impaired reproduction or welfare is high. Whilst many countries have either removed stall housing in gestation or are working towards this through the successful adoption of group housing, stalls are still used around weaning and mating and in farrowing crates for sows. In this review, we describe the stages in which stall use still occurs and why this is so, with the aim of determining whether stall-free pork production can realistically be achieved through successful industry adoption. Group housing during the period around weaning, oestrus and mating will present several issues such as sow aggression, riding and mounting. This will result in injuries and reduced reproductive performance for the animals, and an unsafe work environment for stock people if not adequately addressed. The second, most obvious stage of the reproductive cycle where stalls are used and removal would result in substantial detriment is in the farrowing crate, where associated high preweaning mortalities still plague both experimental and commercial outcomes. The use of temporary confinement has received renewed interest recently to reduce this mortality, but still involves the strategic use of a stall when piglets are at greatest risk of crushing. To transition towards complete removal of stalls around farrowing, we suggest that space allowance, in combination with animal and staff experience, are areas of opportunity. If the concerns identified during these two final reproductive stages can be addressed to limit poor animal welfare and productivity impacts, the use of stalls could be completely removed from pork production., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Late gestating sows are susceptible to high ambient temperatures, possibly causing farrowing complications and reducing piglet survival. This experiment aimed to quantify in the days leading up to farrowing the impact of sow heat stress (HS) on farrowing physiology and survival of the piglets. Pregnant primiparous sows (gilts) were allocated to either thermoneutral control (CON, n = 8; constant 20 °C) or cyclical HS conditions (n = 8; 0900 h to 1700 h, 30 °C; 1700 h to 0900 h, 28 °C) from d 110 of gestation until farrowing completion. Gilt respiration rate, skin temperature and rectal temperature were recorded daily, and farrowing duration was quantified by video analyses. Blood samples were collected from the piglet umbilical vein at birth. At 48 h of age, piglet growth was quantified by morphometric analyses. The thermal exposure model induced HS and respiratory alkalosis in the gilts, as indicated by increased respiration rate, rectal temperature, skin temperature (all P < 0.001), plasma cortisol (P = 0.01) and blood pH (P < 0.001). Heat-stressed gilts took longer to start expelling placentae (P = 0.003), although the active farrowing duration was not significantly different between treatments. Stillbirth rates were higher in the HS group (P < 0.001), with surviving piglets at birth having lower umbilical vein partial pressure of oxygen (P = 0.04), oxygen saturation rate (P = 0.03) and tending to have increased lactate concentrations (P = 0.07). At birth, piglet skin meconium staining scores were greater in the HS group (P = 0.022). At 48 h of age, piglets from the HS group had reduced small intestinal length (P = 0.02), reduced jejunal crypt depth (P = 0.02) and lighter absolute brain weight (P = 0.001). In contrast, piglet BW, growth rate, relative organ weight and small intestinal mucosal barrier function did not change between treatments. Collectively, these findings demonstrated gilt HS during late gestation caused farrowing complications and reduced the umbilical oxygen supply to the piglets at parturition, leading to increased risks of piglet stillbirth with implications on impaired neonatal survivability and development., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)