The effect of litter birth order on piglet body weight and vitality measures

摘要

Investigating piglet birth order in litters is necessary to better understand the interactions between litter matesand its influence on performance. With increased litter size, piglets born late in farrowing have a higher risk of beingstillborn or suffering hypoxia and as a result may take longer to suckle resulting in reduced colostrum intake andsubsequent immunity (Herpin et al 1996, Cabrera et al 2012). If these piglets survive their performance is likelycompromised. Indeed previous research suggests a higher birth order (i.e. pigs born later in the farrowing) is an indicator ofreduced ability of piglets to survive one week after birth (Panzardi et al 2012). The objective of this study was toinvestigate piglet birth order, vitality and weight, as a tool to identify vulnerable piglets, with the aim to improve pigletsurvivability and performance.