Farms with a strong focus on setting pigs up to succeed can earn dividends, both in more pigs produced and more quality pigs finished.

To reach that success, it takes engaged employees who have been trained in the proper concepts and who understand what it takes to carry them out in a consistent fashion, says Sarah Probst Miller, DVM, Carthage (IL) Veterinary Service (CVS), who maintains a veterinary consulting office at Neoga, IL.

“I see a lot of farms where employees might be going through the motions, but unless they are engaged and understand what they are doing and can multitask,” working in the demanding farrowing rooms may not be the right place for them.

CVS promotes a “critical care” program that encompasses the importance of both sow and pig care in its Training Toolboxes software programs used to guide and educate farrowing room managers, according to Miller.

Three goals are pursued: getting pigs off to the best start, reducing mortalities and ultimately reducing variation, she says.

Goal One: Preventing Fallouts

Research has shown that getting pigs off to the best start begins with reducing the number of fallouts by placing the right number of pigs on the sow. “We want to practice minimal, but smart movement of pigs after they are born. This task is best initiated before the sows even farrow.

“So one thing we want employees to do, even as they load sows into the farrowing crate, is to count the number of functional teats on the sow and write that number on the sow card,” Miller explains.

During the critical first 24 hours of life, sows and pigs must be closely scrutinized. The number of pigs farrowed must be compared to the number of functional teats a sow has. “We want to utilize each functional teat — without implementing an undue amount of pig movement,” she cautions. “Doing this right prevents fallouts.”

Fallouts are small pigs that vary in size and will likely remain behind in growth their entire lives.

“If these pigs are in the group that makes it to market, they are hitting the lower end of the matrix and are not providing full value,” she explains. “We would predict that these pigs would be more likely to have health problems, perhaps because they didn't get enough colostrum or possibly (experienced) iron leakback or because they didn't have a functional teat,” she adds.

“Making sure pigs have functional teats needs to happen at the right time. If you add a pig to a litter too far past farrowing, a teat may or may not be stimulated to produce milk. If we move a pig too soon, it could be possible that you've moved a pig that didn't receive that all-important colostrum,” Miller emphasizes. “This could be a death sentence.”

Baby pigs naturally select a teat based on their size — the big, dominant piglets typically secure the up-front positions and smaller pigs are often destined to get the back teats. That aligns with the natural order of milk flow — front teats usually provide the most milk and rear teats typically supply the least.

“This lineup is okay and this natural variation in pig size is okay, too, as long as pigs have functional teats. Often a sow may have extra functional teats or not enough functional teats and this is where our opportunity to prevent fallouts lies,” Miller says.

Occupying all those functional teats must be done within 24-48 hours of farrowing in order to keep teats functioning at optimal levels, she adds. If not nursed within 24-48 hours, a teat will start to shut down.

Miller says one farm study showed that getting the right amount of pigs on the sows in the first 24 hours, based on functional teat count, along with proper pig care, reduced the amount of fallout pigs at weaning from 15% to 4-5%.

Goal Two: Warming/Drying, Colostrum

Before pigs can be moved to a new sow to nurse, several key events must take place, Miller points out.

First, it is beneficial for pigs to be warmed and dried immediately after birth, using a towel or double heat lamps. “When the baby pig is born, its temperature is going to be the same as the sow's, around 103-104°F. If we allow that pig to dry itself off, there will be a lot of evaporative cooling, and the temperature of the pig can drop drastically down to 96-98°F. That sounds warm, but it will cause that pig to shiver and shake — a high-energy activity,” she says.

Next Page: Goal Three: Runt Pig Litters