Iron treatment of pregnant sows in a Danish herd without iron deficiency anemia did not improve sow and piglet hematology or stillbirth rate

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Nest-building behaviour and activity budgets of sows provided with different materials

Author's accepted version (post-print).Available from 09/12/2018.Domestic sows are still highly motivated to build a nest before farrowing. Many pig houses have slurry systems that do not allow use of long straw or other bulky materials that could block the drains, which provides an incentive to investigate the functionality of finer-grained materials for nest building. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of providing peat or straw on the overall amount of nest-building behaviour, number of different behavioural elements performed during nest building, and behavioural time budget of sows in the nesting period before farrowing. Fifty-four hybrid sows (Norwegian Landrace x Yorkshire) ranging in parity from 1 to 9 (mean ± S.E., 2.9 ± 2.0), of which 16 were gilts, were loose-housed in individual farrowing pens. From two days before expected farrowing until farrowing the sows received nest-building material, with refills if necessary: peat (4 kg, 2 kg refills, n = 18), straw (2 kg, 1 kg refills, n = 17), or served as controls (n = 16). Behaviour in the last 12 h before onset of farrowing was instantaneously scan sampled at 5-min intervals from video recordings of each sow. Sows provided with straw or peat engaged in nest-building behaviour in a higher proportion of scans compared to the sows in the control group (P < 0.001), and the sows in the straw group displayed the highest number of nest-building elements (P < 0.001). Sows in the straw group also lied more (P < 0.001) and performed less stereotypic behaviour (P < 0.001) than sows in the other two groups. Overall, total nest-building behaviour increased to a peak at 6–4 h before farrowing and declined in the final three hours (P < 0.001). The number of different nest-building elements followed the same pattern (P = 0.032). Sows of parity ≥4 (n = 16) exhibited more nest-building behaviour compared to gilts and sows of parity 2–3 (P < 0.001). Our results demonstrate that both straw and peat stimulated more nest building compared to the control condition. However, straw elicited more complex nest-building behaviour, increased lying time and reduced time spent on stereotypies in the 12 h before farrowing, suggesting that straw has a better function as nest-building material than peat.acceptedVersio

Management routines influencing piglet survival in loose-housed sow herds

Author's accepted version (post-print).Piglet mortality is still a significant welfare and ethical matter in pig production, as well as an economical challenge for the farmer. Most of the mortality occurs early after farrowing, and previous studies have shown that the farm's management routines, especially around farrowing, are important factors to reduce it. When sows are loose-housed at farrowing and in the following lactation period, it puts higher demands on management input from the farmer to keep piglet mortality low. The objective of this study was to assess the importance of different management routines around the time of farrowing, and other farm qualities for piglet survival in loose-housed herds. To study risk factors for herd piglet mortality, a cross-sectional field survey was carried out in Norway in the year 2013, and included 52 commercial herds with hybrid LY sows (Norwegian Landrace x Swedish Yorkshire). The farms were visited once, and the farmers answered a questionnaire about their management practices. The outcome was the average herd pre-weaning mortality in the years of 2012–2013. To include as many management factors as possible into the multivariable linear regression model, we generated a new variable based on 4 management routines: 3 routines at farrowing (presence at 80–100% of the farrowings, drying newborn piglets, and practice split suckling), and one concerning farmer´s contact with the sows. This variable was called “Management type” (M), and were divided into 4 categories with increasing effort; M1 herds without any of the 4 mentioned routines, M2 had contact with sows >2 times per day, M3 performed the 3 routines at farrowing, and M4 combined the high sow contact and the 3 routines. The predicted values of mean herd piglet mortality for M1, M2, M3 and M4 were 20.1%, 17.0%, 16.2% and 13.3% respectively. The farmer's increased management effort was associated with lower piglet mortality (P<0.05). The farmer's effort at critical times together with systematic and important routines, and having frequent contact with the sows, makes a huge difference for piglet survival. The farmers are credited for this work by having lower piglet mortality as a result.acceptedVersio

Antibodies of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus in pigs’ sera cross-react with other influenza A virus subtypes. A retrospective epidemiological interpretation of Norway's serosurveillance data from 2009–2017

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Stillbirths in relation to sow hematological parameters at farrowing: A cohort study

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Acute phase response and hematology in pigs after cryptorchidism or inguinal hernia surgery

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