Collaboration Drives New Canadian Insights into Sow Mortality

Friday, May 22, 2026

By Lilian Schaer, for Livestock Research Innovation Corporation

Sow mortality has become an increasingly visible issue in global swine production, with well-established reporting and benchmarks in the U.S. and other countries. In Canada, however, comparable large-scale data has been limited.

“We were hearing these questions directly from producers,” says Courtney Werth, applied research services lead at South West Ontario Veterinary Services. “They wanted to know: how do our sow mortality rates compare, what are the benchmarks, and what does the data actually say for Canadian herds?”

That need to know sparked a unique industry-led research project now underway in Canada — one built on collaboration between producers, veterinarians, researchers and industry organizations, and designed to turn real-world production data into practical insight for farms.

Led by researchers at the University of Guelph and powered by anonymized farm data coordinated through South West Vets, the partnership first came together thanks to Livestock Research Innovation Corporation (LRIC).

Filling a Canadian data gap

International data suggested rates were rising, prompting important conversations about management practices, animal welfare and farm-level decision-making, and through its industry network, LRIC staff helped draw attention to the issue in Ontario.

“That really sparked the question of what the Canadian story looks like,” Werth says. “We knew the data was there, but it just hadn’t been brought together at scale.”

South West Vets, a large swine veterinary practice in Ontario, was already examining sow mortality trends internally with clients using production data from their herds. But moving from clinic-level analysis to a national picture required more analytical capacity and collaboration.

That’s where collaboration with the U of G became critical, and LRIC helped facilitate a connection between the two partners.

“This is a bigger issue than any single organization in our industry can tackle on its own, and with our large network, being able to bring together people and organizations with complementary skills and resources is one of LRIC’s strengths,” says LRIC CEO Kelly Somerville.

Building the dataset — farm by farm

One of the most complex aspects of the project has been assembling the dataset itself. South West Vets acts as a data bureau for many of its clients, helping generate production reports and benchmarks. But ownership of the data remains firmly with producers.

“Farm data is incredibly sensitive — it’s their business,” Werth said. “We had to go farm by farm to ask for permission to use their sow records confidentially.”

Participating producers agreed to submit their data on the condition that it would be fully de-identified. No individual farm can be singled out, and no herd can be publicly compared with another.

“Our role was really as an intermediary,” Werth explains. “We made sure the data was de-identified so one farm could not be easily identified as having higher or lower mortality than another.”

The result is one of the most comprehensive sow datasets ever assembled in Canada: records representing approximately 350,000 sows and more than 10 million observations, spanning from 2017 to 2024. The data tracks individual sows from entry into the herd through breeding, farrowing, weaning, treatments, and eventual removal.

“Each sow’s life is essentially followed from start to finish,” said Werth. “That gives us an incredible opportunity to look at patterns across herds we’ve never been able to analyze before.”

While most herds are based in Ontario, the dataset also includes farms from other parts of Canada, making it a truly national resource.

Early insights & cautious conclusions

The research team has completed its first round of descriptive analysis, focusing on overall trends across years and herds. While it is still early in the project, some encouraging patterns are emerging.

“It’s safe to say Canada’s overall sow mortality rates are lower on average than what’s been reported in the U.S.,” Werth reports.

Earlier records often also included a large proportion of ‘unknown’ reasons for sow removal. Over time, that category has declined, replaced by more detailed reasons.

“That’s a positive shift,” Werth notes. “Better records mean better understanding — and ultimately better solutions.”

More advanced modelling is planned next, including comparisons between herds with higher and lower mortality rates to identify potential risk factors that simple descriptive analysis can’t uncover.

Why collaboration matters

For University of Guelph researcher Dr. Terri O’Sullivan, principal investigator on the project, collaboration is the only way to tackle an issue as complex as sow mortality.

“It’s a topic that touches welfare, economics and the human side of farming,” O’Sullivan says. “Nobody likes to lose animals. And when it happens, there are often multiple factors coming together — the sow, the environment, management decisions.”

From an epidemiological perspective, large, diverse datasets are essential. The Guelph team’s strength lies in analyzing patterns and pulling meaning out of complex data, work that isn’t possible without clinics and producers who are willing to contribute data.

Value for producers — now & later

While final recommendations are still 12 to 18 months away, future phases of the project will include interviews with veterinarians and producers, as well as plans to provide participating herds with individualized benchmarking so they can see where they fall relative to industry trends.

“That kind of local, Canadian data is more practical for producers to relate to,” Werth says. “It’s something they can use with their staff for education and on-farm improvements.”

Industry investment, long-term impact

Beyond sow mortality, the dataset opens doors to future research and training opportunities. Graduate students and faculty at the U of G are involved, contributing to the development of highly qualified personnel for Canada’s swine sector.

“This isn’t a quick fix,” O’Sullivan says. “But collaborative projects like this create sustainable solutions that actually work in commercial conditions.”

The project is funded by Ontario Pork and the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance, with South West Vets contributing significant in-kind support, particularly in recruiting farms, de-identifying data, and managing consent. BP

LRIC is funded in part by the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP), a five-year, federal-provincial-territorial initiative.