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Breeding Herd Education Series 2012-2013

Timely, relevant & convenient learning

Litter size and piglet birth weights

Dr. Mark Knauer North Carolina State University

mtknauer@ncsu.edu

Outline

 Problems with small birth weight piglets

 Strategies to improve piglet quality – Genetics

– Management

 Summary

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Problems with small birth

weight piglets

Physical problems with small birth weight piglets

  Impaired prenatal development (Foxcroft et

al., 2006)

 Have difficulty maintaining body

temperature (Alonso-Spilsbury et al., 2007)

 Miss nursing episodes (Deen and Bilkei,

2004)

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Production problems with small birth weight piglets

 Reduced preweaning survival

 Reduced nursery survival

 Reduced growth rate

 Reduced probability of being full value

at market

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Reduced survivability with low birth weight piglets

Fix et al., 2010 6

Relationship between piglet birth weight and likelihood of being full value at market

Fix et al., 2010 7

Genetic strategies to improve

piglet quality

Genetics play a sizeable role in piglet birth weight

5%

25%

70%

Genetics of the pigGenetics of the sowEnvironment

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Increased litter size is associated with reduced piglet birth weight

Holl and Long, 2006 10

Increased litter size is associated with reduced preweaning survival

Hostetler and Knauer, 2012

11.8 12.1 12.3 12.5 12.8 13.0

9.3 9.4 9.6 9.7 10.0 10.1

9

10

11

12

13

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

No.

Year

TNBNW

11

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Has your genetic company

implemented strategies to improve

piglet quality?

Selection for improved piglet quality is possible

 Ohio State University study – Selection for improved sow productivity

index (SPI)

– SPI = 6.5 x number born alive + 21 d litter

weight

– 10 generations of selection  Select line

 Control line (no selection practiced)

Neal and Irvin, 1992 13

Selection for improved SPI – generation 9

7

8

9

10

11

TNB NBA

SelectControl

20

40

60

80

100

LBW LWW

lb. SelectControl

Neal and Irvin, 1992 14

Selection for improved piglet quality is possible

National Swine Registry 15

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Pounds

Management strategies to

improve piglet quality

Management influences on piglet birth weight

 Dutch observational study – Purpose to identify factors related to piglet

birth weight

– Data capture  80 question survey

 farms visits

– 19 farms Opschoor et al., 2010

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Management factors associated with piglet birth weight

Advantage (A) Disadvantage (D) Diff. in birth weight, lb. (A-D)

Gilts quarantined Gilts not quarantined 0.1

Group gestation Gestation stalls 0.1

Natural farrowing Induced farrowing 0.1

Lactation diet @ W2E Gestation diet @ W2E 0.1

Very good farm hygiene Average farm hygiene 0.5

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Opschoor et al., 2010

Impact of lactation factors on subsequent birth weight Trait Regression coefficient on

birth weight, g P-value

Lactation length, d 6 0.49

Total feed intake, kg 0.41 0.55

Total crude fat, g 0.01 0.05**

Total starch & sugar, g 0.001 0.06*

**significant, *trend

Opschoor et al., 2010 19

Impact of wean-to-estrus nutrition on subsequent birth weight

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Trait Regression coefficient on birth weight, g

P-value

Total feed intake, kg 4.6 0.08*

Feed intake per d, kg 45 0.02**

Digestible lysine per d, g 3.6 0.02**

Digestible threonine per d, g 9.6 0.01**

**significant, *trend

Opschoor et al., 2010

Sow requirements for piglet growth change throughout gestation

 Consider phase feeding in gestation

McPherson et al., 2004 21

Impact of gestation nutrition on subsequent birth weight

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Opschoor et al., 2010

Trait Regression coefficient on birth weight, g

P-value

Total feed intake, kg 1.2 0.04**

Total digestible lysine, g 0.069 0.09*

Total starch and sugar, g

0.001 0.07*

**significant, *trend

Gestation feeding strategies to maximize piglet birth weight may differ between gilts

and sows

Gilt gestation feeding from 100 to 114 days

Normal Bump fed 4 pounds per d P-value

Birth weight, lb. 2.89 3.16 0.01**

Sow gestation feeding from 100 to 114 days

Normal Bump fed 4 pounds per d P-value

Birth weight, lb. NS

Soto et al., 2011 23

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Optimize gestation feed intake

 Bump feed gilts in late gestation

 Feed sows according to body condition

1 2 3 4 5 24

Feed sows according to body condition

Sow body condition caliper

Ultrasound backfat

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Summary – Improving piglet quality

 Genetics – Selection for improved piglet quality is possible!

 Ask your genetic supplier how they are addressing

piglet quality

 Use a balanced selection approach incorporating

litter size and litter birth weight and/or litter weaning

weight

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Summary – Improving piglet quality  Feeding management

– Lactation  Ensure high feed intake

– Wean-to-estrus  Ad libitum intake

 Use lactation diet

– Gestation  Bump feed gilts in late gestation

 Feed sows based on an objective measure of body

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Summary – Improving piglet quality

 Other management considerations – Quarantine gilts before herd entry

– Do not induce farrowing before day 114 of

gestation

– Maximize farm hygiene (perhaps related to

good farm managers)

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Thank you for your time

Mark Knauer mtknauer@ncsu.edu

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References   Foxcroft, G. R., W. T. Dixon, S. Novak, C. T. Putman, S. C. Town, and M. D. A. Vinsky. 2006. The

biological basis for prenatal programming of postnatal performance in pigs. 84:E105-E112.   Alonso-Spilsbury, M., R. Ramírez-Necoechea, M. González-Lozano, D. Mota-Rojas, and M. E. Trujillo-

Ortega, 2007. Piglet survival in early lactation: A review. J. Anim. Vet. Adv. 6:78-86.   Deen, M. G. H., and G. Bilkei. 2004. Cross fostering of low-birthweight piglets. Livest. Prod. Sci.

90:279-284.   Fix, J.S., J.P. Cassady, J.W. Holl, W.O. Herring, M.S. Culbertson, and M.T. See. 2010. Effect of piglet birth

weight on survival and quality of commercial swine. Livest. Sci. 132:98-106.   Fix, J.S., J.P. Cassady, W.O. Herring, J.W. Holl, M.S. Culbertson, and M.T. See. 2010. Effect of piglet birth

weight on body weight, growth, backfat, and longissimus muscle area of commercial market swine. Livest. Prod. Sci. 127:51-59.

  Holl, J., and T. Long. 2006. Improving weaned pig quality in today’s large litters. Record of 31st Proc. National Swine Imprv. Fed. Conf. Ann. Mtg. Nashville, TN. Dec. 7-8. Available at: http://www.nsif.com/Conferences/2006/pdf/ImprovedWeanedPigQuality.pdf

  Hostetler, C. E. and M. T. Knauer. 2012 (Abstr.). Industry productivity analysis - Sow farm traits. J. Anim. Sci. 90(Suppl. 3):639.

  Neal, S. M., and K. M. Irvin. 1992. Correlated changes in reproductive components accompanying 10 generations of selection for improved sow productivity index. J. Anim. Sci. 70:2322-2327.

  National Swine Registry, West Lafayette, IN. Available at: http://www.nationalswine.com/Genetic_Tech_pages/STAGES.html

  Opschoor, C. T., S. Bloemhof, M. Knauer, and E. Knol. 2010. Management influences on birth weight, phase 2. Available at: http://www.topigs.com/images/stories/pdf/Final_Report_birthweightstudy_phase2.pdf

  Soto, J. L., L. Greiner, J. Connor, and G. Allee. 2011(Abstr.). Effect of increasing feeding levels in sows during late gestation on piglet birth weights. J. Anim. Sci. 89(Suppl. 2):239.

  McPherson, R. L., F. Ji, G. Wu, J. R. Blanton, Jr., and S. W. Kim. 2004. Growth and compositional changes of fetal tissues of pigs. J. Anim. Sci. 82:2534-2540.

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