Breeding for the high-survival sow

British and French research suggest that scoring newborn piglets for vitality and selecting the sows and boars producing the liveliest litters for breeding stock can lead to improved results


by NORMAN DUNN

The aim is producing the high-survival litter. With this target, Dr. Emma Baxter from the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) in Edinburgh has developed a system that looks at the vitality of piglets in the first 15 seconds of life. But other important survival factors, such as time before the first colostrum drink, are added. And, naturally, the all-important birthweight is not neglected in calculating the piglet survival stakes.

Better Pork - December 2011