Sow mortality, specifically as the result of pelvic organ prolapse (POP), has significantly increased in the past five years in the U.S. swine industry. This epidemic sow welfare and production issue, while widely acknowledged among producers, academia, and allied swine industry partners, has persisted and continues to worsen. However, the industry lacks mitigation strategies, or even the ability to execute mitigation-based research projects, since a fundamental understanding of the root cause(s) contributing to the increased POP is lacking. The Iowa Pork Industry Center (IPIC) has initiated an industry-wide survey involving U.S. swine breeding herds to identify potential risk factors that will then be used to generate hypotheses and test mitigation strategies to prevent POP on sow farms
