Low birth-weight pigs are a problem for hog producers.
“Gilts born to these sows with a low birth-weight phenotype carry all the same risks for low individual birth weight (in their own litters),” said Jenny Patterson, a University of Alberta gilt development specialist, told the recent Manitoba Swine Seminar.
The tendency to produce small litters is a “transgenerational trait,” so keeping those gilts out of the sow herd is important.
“It’s a litter trait, not an individual piglet trait.”
John Deen of the University of Minnesota said low birth-weight pigs bring many problems with them, including health challenges, a greater risk of becoming disease reservoirs that could affect the rest of the herd, and profitability losses because of poor results.
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The small piglets on average never catch up to their litter mates and never have the same growth rates as other pigs, Deen said. When it comes to losing profitability, the biggest factor is the weakest pigs rather than the overall average of the group.
Chris Opschoor of Topigs Norsvin Canada said low birth weight can flag a poor finisher pig.
“Focusing on birth weight is really key,” Opschoor said.
Low birth weight is a key symptom of problems to come. Patterson said piglets lighter than one kilogram have compromised growth for the rest of their lives, suffer more health problems and have a higher death rate.
“These low birth-weight gilts are… slower in reaching puberty,” said Patterson. Piglets born 1.2 kilograms or larger don’t have the same collection of problems.
However, keeping gilts with the “low birth-weight phenotype” out of the breeding herd stops that drag on performance from lingering. Only 10 to 13 percent of pigs carry it.
“By culling them you would increase the efficiency of the genetic transfer program,” as well as improve uniformity of herd members.
