Breeding pigs: Piglet survival and uniform litters
arrow_backTo the overview08 November 2022 | Danish Pig Genetics P/S
To strengthen the path to an increased piglet survival, we have started a new development project. The intention is, in the future, to be able to breed for piglets with a more uniform birth weight in the litter. This concept will strengthen our path to increased piglet survival and a more sustainable breeding program.
Our recurring data collection has been fully implemented since the fall of 2021. We register more than 40.000 individual piglets a year – and we continue to collect this data. A comprehensive database strengthens our work regarding developing our Danish Genetics breeding animals. In the project we do individual registrations of the birthweight of all liveborn purebred Landrace and Yorkshire pigs in the breeding herds.
With registration of the individual birth weight of piglets within the maternal lines Landrace and Yorkshire, Danish Genetics aims to be able to breed for more robust pigs and a higher piglet survival – and more weaned pigs per sow per year. This will affect the sustainability in a positive way, as increased piglet survival will lead to a need for fewer sows to produce the same number of piglets.