Factors affecting birth weight and stillbirth in sows housed in a tropical environment.

This study analysed data from a commercial swine herd in Thailand equipped with a free-farrowing housing system, comprising 17,196 piglets from 1318 litters, to explore the impact of sow and litter characteristics on the piglet birth weight and the incidence of stillbirth. The piglets were classified into four groups based on the total number of piglets born per litter (TB): ≤9 (n = 1434), 10-12 (n = 3232), 13-15 (n = 6537) and ≥16 (n = 5993). Sows were classified into four groups based on parity number: 1, 2-4, 5-7 and ≥8. The piglets were categorized into quartiles based on their birth order ranking: Q1 (n = 4786), Q2 (n = 4143), Q3 (n = 3808) and Q4 (n = 4456). Piglet birth weight was individually measured before colostrum ingestion. On average, TB, the number of live-born piglets and the incidence of stillbirth were 13.1 ± 3.7, 11.5 ± 3.8 and 6.3%, respectively. Among these litters, 26.6% had TB numbers ≥16. The average piglet birth weight was 1.37 ± 0.36 kg, with 18.3% of piglets weighing ≤1.0 kg at birth. Piglet birth weight was influenced by birth order ranking, as Q4 piglets were found to be heavier than piglets born in Q1-Q3 (p < .001). Moreover, the percentage of piglets with a birth weight of ≤1.0 kg increased from 5.9% in litters with TB of ≤9-25.3% in litters with TB of ≥16 (p < .001). Additionally, primiparous sows had lower piglet birth weights compared to sows with parity numbers 2-4, 5-7 and ≥8 (p < .001). Piglets born in the fourth quartile (Q4) had a higher risk of stillbirth compared to those born in the first (Q1), second (Q2) and third (Q3) quartiles (12.5% vs. 2.2%, 4.1% and 6.6%, respectively, p < .001). The incidence of stillbirth in litters with TB ≥16 was also higher than that in litters with TB ≤9 and 10-12 (p < .05). Furthermore, sows with parity numbers ≥8 had a higher incidence of stillbirth (9.7%) compared to primiparous sows (4.0%, p < .001), sows with 2-4 parity (5.2%, p < .001) and sows with 5-7 parity (7.6%, p = .003). In summary, a high incidence of stillbirth was found in piglets born in the last quartile of litters, in litters with >16 piglets and for sows with parity numbers ≥8. Piglets born in the last quartile of litters were heavier than those born in the first to third quartiles.

One Health challenges for pig reproduction.

The current state of the world challenges pig reproduction as an important part of One Health, which involves interrelationships between animal, human and environmental health. The One Health concept underlines a comparative aspect in reproductive physiology and disease occurrence, bridging knowledge from one species to another. Seasonal changes in the environment affect pig reproduction and climate change may further strengthen those effects. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), and specifically phthalates and heavy metals, interfere with endocrine function, and thereby sexual behavior, fertilization capacity and steroidogenesis. Reproductive infections and extended semen storage are important indications for antimicrobial use. Innovative solutions are needed to explore alternatives to antimicrobials. Efforts to ensure reproductive efficiency have prolonged farrowing as litter size has doubled over the past three decades, compromising immune transfer and welfare. Physiological, metabolic and programming related events around parturition are key areas for future One Health research in pig reproduction. In conclusion, climate change challenges reproductive management and breeding. More resilient pigs that can tolerate harsh environment but maintain high reproductive performance are needed. EDCs continue to grow as an environmental challenge for reproductive management and alternatives to antibiotics will be required.

Feeding the modern sow to sustain high productivity.

Selection for hyper-prolific sows has increased the litter size by more than 50% during the last three decades, and proper nutrition of the female pigs has concomitantly changed due to improved prolificacy and productivity of gilts and sows. This review summarizes the physiological characteristics and nutritional challenges associated with feeding modern hyper-prolific sows during the gilt rearing period and during gestation, transition, and lactation periods. The review presents up-to-date knowledge of the energy and lysine requirements of female pigs and focuses on how nutrition may increase fat gain and limit protein and weight gain in the gilt rearing period and in early and mid-gestation. In late gestation, fetal and mammary growth should be considered and during the transition, colostrum yield and farrowing performance need to be optimized. Finally, milk production should be optimized and body mobilization should be minimized in the lactation period to achieve high feed efficiency in hyper-prolific sows.

Physiology and management of the peri-parturient sow in the context of changing production conditions.

Genetic selection has resulted in a considerable increase in litter size, paralleled by an increase in farrowing duration and perinatal mortality. This paper describes some of the physiological changes around farrowing, and how genetic trends and sow management interact with these. Compromised farrowing can be related to nutritional management, or to housing conditions and handling of periparturient sows. Transition diets, for example, can be formulated to support calcium homeostasis and alleviate constipation. The opportunity to express natural behaviours and minimize stress around farrowing can further optimize farrowing conditions and reduce piglet mortality. Loose farrowing systems are part of the answer to the challenges around farrowing; however, current systems do not perform consistently. In conclusion, increased farrowing duration and increased perinatal mortality may to some extent be inevitably related to trends in pig production; however, they can be improved by nutritional measures, housing conditions and farrowing management.

Sow Farrowing Early Warning and Supervision for Embedded Board Implementations.

Sow farrowing is an important part of pig breeding. The accurate and effective early warning of sow behaviors in farrowing helps breeders determine whether it is necessary to intervene with the farrowing process in a timely manner and is thus essential for increasing the survival rate of piglets and the profits of pig farms. For large pig farms, human resources and costs are important considerations in farrowing supervision. The existing method, which uses cloud computing-based deep learning to supervise sow farrowing, has a high equipment cost and requires uploading all data to a cloud data center, requiring a large network bandwidth. Thus, this paper proposes an approach for the early warning and supervision of farrowing behaviors based on the embedded artificial-intelligence computing platform (NVIDIA Jetson Nano). This lightweight deep learning method allows the rapid processing of sow farrowing video data at edge nodes, reducing the bandwidth requirement and ensuring data security in the network transmission. Experiments indicated that after the model was migrated to the Jetson Nano, its precision of sow postures and newborn piglets detection was 93.5%, with a recall rate of 92.2%, and the detection speed was increased by a factor larger than 8. The early warning of 18 approaching farrowing (5 h) sows were tested. The mean error of warning was 1.02 h.

Use of prototype side stream filtration system to control dust levels in a commercial swine farrowing building.

Swine meat provides an essential global food source. Due to economies of scale, modern U.S. swine production primarily occurs indoors to maintain an optimal environment across the stages of swine production. Indoor concentrations of dust and contaminant gases in swine production buildings increase in the winter months due to reduced ventilation to optimal building temperature. In this study, an engineering control technology designed to recirculate the air in a swine farrowing room through a mobile air handling unit containing high-efficiency particulate filters was presented. A mobile solution could be easily deployed as an intervention method if an infectious disease outbreak occurs at a swine operation. The performance of this control technology was evaluated following deployment in a production farrowing barn for a period of 6 weeks during the winter in the Midwestern United States. Contaminant concentrations of inhalable dust, respirable dust, and carbon dioxide were measured in the room treated by the prototype system and compared to contaminant concentrations measured in an untreated "control" room. Over 6 weeks, the mean inhalable and respirable dust concentrations observed during the study period for the "treatment" room were 2.61 and 0.14 mg/m3, respectively, compared to 3.51 and 0.25 mg/m3, respectively, for the control room. The mobile recirculating ventilation system, operating at a flow rate of 45 m3/min (5 room air exchanges per hour), reduced the inhalable dust by 25% and respirable dust by 48% as measured with a real-time aerosol monitor, when compared to the control room. In addition, no concentration differences in carbon dioxide and relative humidity between the treatment and the control rooms were observed. Inhalable and respirable concentrations of dust were significantly reduced (p = 0.001), which demonstrates an essential improvement of the air quality that may prove beneficial to reduce the burden of disease among both workers and animals.

Occurrence of 'Candidatus Mycoplasma haemosuis' in fattening pigs, sows and piglets in Germany using a novel gap-based quantitative real-time PCR assay.

BACKGROUND: The appearance of the novel porcine haemotrophic mycoplasma (HM) species 'Candidatus Mycoplasma haemosuis' was reported in apparently healthy but also in clinically sick animals in China, Korea and in a case report from Germany. Outside of Asia, however, nothing further is known about the frequency of 'Ca. M. haemosuis' in pigs to date. To investigate the distribution of this novel HM species in Germany, fattening pigs, sows and pre-suckling piglets were examined using a herein developed quantitative real-time PCR assay (qPCR). Because the piglets were sampled before the first colostrum uptake, additional information on a possible vertical transmission from dams to their offspring was obtained. RESULTS: Our novel qPCR assay successfully detected 'Ca. M. haemosuis' in all blood samples from the 'Ca. M. haemosuis'-infected pigs. No cross-reactivity was detected when DNA from non-target Mycoplasma spp. and other bacterial species representing 105 bacteria/reaction were used as a template. The lower limit of detection of the qPCR was thus 10 gap gene copies per reaction and 2.5 x 103 genome equivalents (GE) per mL blood. 'Candidatus M. haemosuis' was detected by this qPCR in blood samples from a total out of 6.25% sows (13/208), 4.50% pre-suckling piglets (28/622) and 17.50% fattening pigs (35/200). On farm level, 3 out of 21 piglet producing farms (14.28%) and 9 out of 20 fattening farms (45.00%) were positive for 'Ca. M. haemosuis'. Co-infections with M. suis were evident in all age groups. CONCLUSION: 'Candidatus M. haemosuis' infection is present in German pig farms and the detection of the novel porcine HM species in piglets immediately after birth before colostrum intake indicates vertical transmission. The novel qPCR assay specific for 'Ca. M. haemosuis' described herein will be a prerequisite for future studies on the prevalence, epidemiology as well as the clinical and economic impact of 'Ca. M. haemosuis' infections.

Effect of capsaicin on the feed intake and immunoglobin concentration of sows, and performance of piglets.

Capsaicin is a recognized alkaloid that can be used as a flavoring and palatability agent. These effects can increase feed intake in lactating sows during farrowing, especially under thermal stress conditions, and provide antioxidant and immunostimulant activities. The objective of this work was to find out the effects of a capsaicin-based product on the feed intake of sows, immunomodulation, and repercussions on litter performance and the control of piglet diarrhea conditions. A total of 132 pregnant sows and lactating sows and their respective litters were divided into 66 sows each and submitted to one of two possible treatments: a capsaicin-free diet (control group) or capsaicin per meal/day. Capsaicin was mixed with gestation and lactation diets in the proportion of 98.6 g of feed and 1.4 g of capsaicin/kg feed, with the dose administered "on top" of 100 g per treatment day on the first feeding. The sows were treated between 90 days of gestation and 21 days of lactation. Backfat thickness, feed intake during farrowing, colostrum production, IgG colostrum concentration, sow reproductive performance, piglet performance, and diarrhea were evaluated. Compared to the sows in the control group, those that received capsaicin had higher feed intake (+ 0.69 kg/day during lactation, P = 0.008), higher levels of IgG in colostrum (185.75 versus 153.80 mg/mL, P = 0.04), an 11.2% higher litter weight gain, with individual piglet weight gains greater than 5.24% (P = 0.045), and an effective reduction in the frequency of piglet diarrhea on the 10th and 17th days of age (P = 0.013 and P = 0.001, respectively). Capsaicin is an additive with potential effects on the sow's performance, with positive influences on the health and growth of suckling piglets.

Longevity and lifetime reproductive trait genetic parameter estimates from Thai Landrace and Large White pig populations.

The objective of this study was to estimate genetic parameters for age at first farrowing (AFF), length of productive life (LPL), lifetime number of piglets born alive (LNBA), lifetime number of piglets weaned (LNW), lifetime wean to first service interval (LW2S), and lifetime pig efficiency (LTP365) from commercial Thai Landrace and Large White populations. Data from 12,843 Landrace (LR) and 14,757 Large White (LW) sows in a Thai commercial pork production system were utilized in this study. The genetic parameters for each trait were estimated using the average information restricted maximum likelihood algorithm where a multivariate animal model was implemented. Heritability estimates for AFF and LPL were low for LR (0.11 and 0.02, respectively) and LW (0.19 and 0.07, respectively). Heritability estimates for lifetime traits ranged from 0.01 to 0.05 for LR and 0.04 to 0.09 for LW. The genetic correlation between LPL with LNBA, LNW, LW2S and LTP365 were positive for LR (0.39 to 0.90) and LW (0.59 to 0.94). Favourable genetic correlations were observed between AFF and LPL for LR (- 0.14) and LW (- 0.14). The phenotypic correlations between LPL and lifetime traits ranged from 0.64 to 0.92 for LR and 0.61 to 0.91 for LW. Favourable phenotypic correlation between AFF and lifetime production traits was observed in the present study. The estimated heritability for the length of productive life and lifetime traits was relatively lowly heritable; length of productive life is genetically associated with lifetime traits. These findings indicate that sow lifetime productivity could be improved using selection on LPL and AFF without antagonism. Thus, improving sow lifetime productivity in the commercial pork production system, AFF and LPL should be included in a maternal line genetic evaluation programme.

Investigating the relationship between vaginal microbiota and host genetics and their impact on immune response and farrowing traits in commercial gilts.

Our objectives were to evaluate the interaction between host genetics and vaginal microbiota and their relationships with antibody (Ab) response to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) vaccination and farrowing performance in commercial gilts. The farrowing performance traits were number born alive, number weaning (NW), total number born, number born dead, stillborn, mummies and preweaning mortality (PWM). The vaginal microbiota was collected on days 4 (D4) and 52 (D52) after vaccination for PRRSV. Blood samples were collected on D52 for Ab measurement. Actinobacteria, Bacterioidetes, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Tenericutes were the most abundant Phyla identified in the vaginal microbiota. Heritability ranged from ~0 to 0.60 (Fusobacterium) on D4 and from ~0 to 0.63 (Terrisporobacter) on D52, with 43 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) presenting moderate to high heritability. One major QTL on chromosome 12 was identified for 5 OTUs (Clostridiales, Acinetobacter, Ruminococcaceae, Campylobacter and Anaerococcus), among other 19 QTL. The microbiability for Ab response to PRRSV vaccination was low for both days (<0.07). For farrowing performance, microbiability varied from <0.001 to 0.15 (NW on D4). For NW and PWM, the microbiability was greater than the heritability estimates. Actinobacillus, Streptococcus, Campylobacter, Anaerococcus, Mollicutes, Peptostreptococcus, Treponema and Fusobacterium showed different abundance between low and high Ab responders. Finally, canonical discriminant analyses revealed that vaginal microbiota was able to classify gilts in high and low Ab responders to PRRSV vaccination with a misclassification rate of <0.02. Although the microbiota explained limited variation in Ab response and farrowing performance traits, there is still potential to explore the use of vaginal microbiota to explain variation in traits such as NW and PWM. In addition, these results revealed that there is a partial control of host genetic over vaginal microbiota, suggesting a possibility for genetic selection on the vaginal microbiota.

Effect of Moringa oleifera supplementation on productive performance, colostrum composition and serum biochemical indexes of sow.

Moringa oleifera has been considered as a potential functional feed or food, since it contains multiple components beneficial to animal and human. However, little is known about the effects of Moringa oleifera supplementation on productive performances in sows. In the current study, the results showed that dietary Moringa oleifera significantly decreased the farrowing length and the number of stillborn (p < .05), while had an increasing trend in the number of live-born (0.05 < p < .10). Furthermore, 8% Moringa oleifera supplementation significantly elevated protein levels in the colostrum (p < .05); 4% Moringa oleifera lowed serum urea nitrogen of sows after 90 days of gestation (p < .05) and significantly decreased serum glucose on 10 days of lactation (p < .05). Both groups showed significant elevation in serum T-AOC activity (p < .05). The serum malondialdehyde (MDA) of sows declined significantly in 4% Moringa oleifera addition group (p < .05). 8% Moringa oleifera meal significantly elevated serum CAT activity after 60 days of gestation (p < .05), while decreased the serum MDA level and increased the serum GSH-Px activity of sows at 10 days of lactation (p < .05). Of piglets, both two dosages of Moringa oleifera supplementation essentially reduced the serum urea nitrogen (p < .05), and 4% Moringa oleifera meal increased serum total protein (p < .05). In addition, piglets that received 8% Moringa oleifera had the highest serum CAT and SOD activities among all groups (p < .05). The present study indicated that Moringa oleifera supplementation could enhance the reproduction performances, elevate protein levels in the colostrum and improve the serum antioxidant indices in both sows and piglets.

The challenge of large litters on the immune system of the sow and the piglets.

The use of hyperprolific sow lines has increased litter size considerably in the last three decades. Nowadays, in some countries litters can reach up to 18-20 piglets being a major challenge for the sow's physiology during pregnancy, parturition and lactation. The increased number of piglets born per litter prolongs sensibly the duration of farrowing, decreases the piglets' average weight at birth and their vitality, increases the competition for colostrum intake and can affect negatively piglets' survival. This review aims to describe how large litters can affect the immune system of the sow and the piglets and proposes measures to improve this condition.

Impact of parity and housing conditions on concentration of immunoglobulin G in sow colostrum.

Colostrum is crucial for the survival and growth of suckling piglets. However, both the quantity and quality of colostrum are highly variable among sows. The aim of the present study was to determine the impact of sow parity number and housing conditions on concentration of immunoglobulin G in sow colostrum. A total of 358 colostrum samples were collected from two commercial swine herds in Thailand. The colostrum samples were collected from all teats at 1 and 6 h after the onset of farrowing and kept at - 20 °C until analysis. The concentration of IgG was determined using ELISA. The concentration of IgG in colostrum at 1 h after the onset of farrowing was greater than the concentration of IgG at 6 h after the onset of farrowing (P < 0.001). Moreover, herd A had a greater colostral IgG concentration than herd B (P < 0.001). The concentration of IgG in primiparous sows (64.0 mg/ml) was lower than that in sow parity numbers 3 (75.1 mg/ml, P = 0.05) and 6 (79.2 mg/ml, P = 0.04). In conclusion, the variation in colostral immunoglobulin concentration in the sow colostrum was influenced by their parity number and housing conditions. The concentration of IgG declined significantly within 6 h after the onset of farrowing (P < 0.001).

Indoor distribution characteristics of airborne bacteria in pig buildings as influenced by season and housing type.

OBJECTIVE: A concentration of airborne bacteria generated from swine houses is recognized to be relatively higher than other work places and it is essential to optimally manage it to prevent farmers' respiratory diseases. This study was conducted to assess the distribution characteristics of airborne bacteria in swine houses located at South Korea. METHODS: A total 27 pig buildings of the enclosed type operated with mechanical ventilation system by a side wall fan and deep-pit manure system with slats were surveyed. Air samples were collected at 1.0 m above the middle floor in pig housing room. A six-stage viable particulate cascade impactor was used to identify the distribution of the sizes of particles in diameter. RESULTS: Seasonal mean levels of airborne bacteria in the housing rooms of gestation/farrowing pigs, nursery pigs and growing/fattening pigs were 3,428(±1,244) colony forming unit (cfu)/m3, 8,325(±3,209) cfu/m, and 13,254(±6,108) cfu/m3 for spring; 9,824(±2,157) cfu/m3, 18,254(±5,166) cfu/m3, and 24,088(±9,274) cfu/m3 for summer; 1,707(±957) cfu/m3, 4,258 (±1,438) cfu/m3, and 8,254(±2,416) cfu/m3 for autumn; and 2,322(±1,352) cfu/m3, 6,124(±1,527) cfu/m3 and 12,470(±4,869) cfu/m3 for winter, respectively. CONCLUSION: Concentrations of airborne bacteria according to pig housing type were highest in growing/fattening housing room followed by nursery housing room and gestation/farrowing housing room. In terms of seasonal aspect, the pig building showed the highest levels of airborne bacteria in summer followed by spring, winter and autumn. The respirable airborne bacteria which are ranged between 0.6 and 4.7 µm accounted for approximately 60% compared to total airborne bacteria regardless of pig housing type.

The effect of farrowing duration and parity on preovulatory follicular size and oxytocin release of sows at subsequent oestrus.

This study examined the extent to which prolonged farrowing and parity are associated with plasma oxytocin concentrations and follicular development of oestrous sows during subsequent insemination. A total of 30 sows were allocated to two groups based on farrowing duration: (i) SHORT (n = 14): 159 ± 29 min, (ii) LONG (n = 16): 533 ± 190 min. The sows were also divided into two parity classes: (i) YOUNG (n = 14): parity 2.5 ± 0.8, (ii) OLD (n = 16): parity 6.4 ± 2.3. After weaning, the ovaries were examined daily with transrectal ultrasound. On the second day of oestrus, blood samples were collected for oxytocin (OT) assay at -15, -10, -5, 0, +1, +2, +3, +4, +6, +8, +10, +15, +20, +25, +30, +40, +50 and +60 min with a boar contact between 0 and +10 min. Boar presence stimulated an increase in OT concentrations (p < .05). During boar presence, OT in the LONG group was higher than in the SHORT group (p < .01). The sows in the OLD group had a longer farrowing duration than in the YOUNG group (p < .05). OT levels and diameters of follicles were more relevant for parity than was the duration of farrowing. We therefore conclude that the OT levels and follicular development of oestrous sows are associated due to parity but difficult to be predicted from the duration of previous farrowing.

Using Acceleration Data to Automatically Detect the Onset of Farrowing in Sows.

The aim of the present study was to automatically predict the onset of farrowing in crate-confined sows. (1) Background: Automatic tools are appropriate to support animal surveillance under practical farming conditions. (2) Methods: In three batches, sows in one farrowing compartment of the Futterkamp research farm were equipped with an ear sensor to sample acceleration. As a reference video, recordings of the sows were used. A classical CUSUM chart using different acceleration indices of various distribution characteristics with several scenarios were compared. (3) Results: The increase of activity mainly due to nest building behavior before the onset of farrowing could be detected with the sow individual CUSUM chart. The best performance required a statistical distribution characteristic that represented fluctuations in the signal (for example, 1st variation) combined with a transformation of this parameter by cumulating differences in the signal within certain time periods from one day to another. With this transformed signal, farrowing sows could reliably be detected. For 100% or 85% of the sows, an alarm was given within 48 or 12 h before the onset of farrowing. (4) Conclusions: Acceleration measurements in the ear of a sow are suitable for detecting the onset of farrowing in individually housed sows in commercial farrowing crates.

Fosfomycin residues in colostrum: Impact on morpho-physiology and microbiology of suckling piglets.

Fosfomycin is a broad-spectrum bactericidal antibiotic widely used in pig farms for the treatment of a wide variety of bacterial infections. In this study, the elimination of disodium fosfomycin in colostrum/milk of the sow and the impact of this antibiotic on the microbiota and intestinal morpho-physiology of suckling piglets were analyzed. The average amount of fosfomycin eliminated in colostrum (after administration of 15 mg/kg IM) during the first 10 hr postpartum was 0.85 µg/ml, and the mean residual amount ingested by the piglets was 0.26 mg/kg. The elimination profile of fosfomycin concentrations in colostrum occurs at a time of profound changes in the morpho-physiology of the gastrointestinal tract of the piglet. However, the studied concentrations did not produce imbalances on the microbiota or on the morpho-physiology of the gastrointestinal tract of the piglet. Concentrations of fosfomycin were maintained in the mammary gland above the MIC for more than 8 hr for pathogenic bacteria of productive importance. This would indicate that fosfomycin may be considered safe for the specific treatment of bacterial infectious processes in sows during the peri- and postpartum period. This first study with disodium fosfomycin stimulates awareness in the proper use of antimicrobials at farrowing.

Variance components estimation for farrowing traits of three purebred pigs in Korea.

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to estimate breed-specific variance components for total number born (TNB), number born alive (NBA) and mortality rate from birth through weaning including stillbirths (MORT) of three main swine breeds in Korea. In addition, the importance of including maternal genetic and service sire effects in estimation models was evaluated. METHODS: Records of farrowing traits from 6,412 Duroc, 18,020 Landrace, and 54,254 Yorkshire sows collected from January 2001 to September 2016 from different farms in Korea were used in the analysis. Animal models and the restricted maximum likelihood method were used to estimate variances in animal genetic, permanent environmental, maternal genetic, service sire and residuals. RESULTS: The heritability estimates ranged from 0.072 to 0.102, 0.090 to 0.099, and 0.109 to 0.121 for TNB; 0.087 to 0.110, 0.088 to 0.100, and 0.099 to 0.107 for NBA; and 0.027 to 0.031, 0.050 to 0.053, and 0.073 to 0.081 for MORT in the Duroc, Landrace and Yorkshire breeds, respectively. The proportion of the total variation due to permanent environmental effects, maternal genetic effects, and service sire effects ranged from 0.042 to 0.088, 0.001 to 0.031, and 0.001 to 0.021, respectively. Spearman rank correlations among models ranged from 0.98 to 0.99, demonstrating that the maternal genetic and service sire effects have small effects on the precision of the breeding value. CONCLUSION: Models that include additive genetic and permanent environmental effects are suitable for farrowing traits in Duroc, Landrace, and Yorkshire populations in Korea. This breed-specific variance components estimates for litter traits can be utilized for pig improvement programs in Korea.

Behaviors and body weight of suckling piglets in different social environments.

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to characterize the behaviors and the body weight of suckling piglets in different social environments. METHODS: Two groups of sows and suckling piglets housed either in individual farrowing crates in separate pens (1.8×2.4 m, the control group) or in groups of three sows with their piglets in farrowing crates in a large common enclosure (5.4×2.2 m, the treatment group) were observed with the aid of video technology for 9 consecutive hours on days 1, 2, and 3, after mixing. RESULTS: Suckling, agonistic, and elimination behaviors of suckling piglets were significantly higher in the control group than in the treatment group. Inactive behavior was higher in the treatment group than in the control group. Most of the effects of the social environment on the suckling piglets seem to be the result of large reductions in behaviors and body weight for piglets switching from high activity to low activity. Moreover, suckling behavior and birth body weight were highly correlated with body weight at the end of the test. CONCLUSION: The social environment that resulted from mixing, thus, had significant effects on the behavior and body weight of suckling piglets, and behavioral characteristics, therefore, should be considered when making improvements to the husbandry and care methods used in swine production.

Porcine lie detectors: Automatic quantification of posture state and transitions in sows using inertial sensors.

This paper presents a novel approach to automated classification and quantification of sow postures and posture transitions that may enable large scale and accurate continuous behaviour assessment on farm. Automatic classification and quantification of postures and posture transitions in domestic animals has substantial potential to enhance their welfare and productivity. Analysis of such behaviours in farrowing sows can highlight the need for human intervention or lead to the prediction of movement patterns that are potentially dangerous for their piglets, such as crushing when the sow lies down. Data were recorded by a tri-axial accelerometer secured to the hind-end of each sow, in a deployment that involved six sows over the period around parturition. The posture state (standing, sitting, lateral and sternal lying) was automatically classified for the full dataset with a mean F1 score (a measure of predictive performance between 0 and 1) of 0.78. Sitting was shown to present a greater challenge to classification with a F1 score of 0.54, compared to the lateral lying postures, which were classified with an average F1 score of 0.91. Posture transitions were detected with a F1 score of 0.79. We automatically extracted and visualized a range of features that characterise the manner in which the sows changed posture in order to provide comparative descriptors of sow activity and lying style that can be used to assess the influence of genetics or housing design. The methodology presented in this paper can be applied in large scale deployments with potential for enhancing animal welfare and productivity on farm.