Farrowing response and piglet viability following Cloprostenol-induced farrowing in Duroc sows with prolonged gestation

Effects of Farrowing Induction on Some Farrowing Characteristics in the Pig − A Review

“…A decreased farrowing duration following induction was also reported (Gokuldas et al, 2015). It is worth noting that the shorter farrowing duration (Gokuldas et al, 2015) came simultaneously with a higher litter size (6.1 vs. 4.8) and higher litter birth weight (9.8 vs. 5.04 kg), and the parity (1−2) was balanced across the control and treatment groups. This result is interesting because it is well established that an increased litter size and litter birth weight will result in an increased farrowing duration .…”

“…Among the prostaglandins used, cloprostenol is the most popular, with the most frequently reported dose of 175 µg (Boonrondraud et al, 2018;Otto et al, 2017;Zaremba et al, 2015). Some authors have used a lower dose of 37.5 µg or 75 µg (Kaeoket et al, 2006), 125 µg (Fraser and Conor, 1984), or a higher dose of 250 µg (Vallet and Miles, 2017), 370 µg (Taechamaeteekul et al, 2022), 526 µg (Gokuldas et al, 2015) or even 5000 µg (Gaggini et al, 2013). The reported dose of 5000 µg by Gaggini et al (2013) is surprising because it exceeded the 175 µg manufacturer's recommended dose (Sincrocio ® , Ourofino) and it did not affect any investigated parameters including farrowing duration, birth weight, and stillbirth.…”

“…There is no biologically appropriate link between farrowing induction and reduced birth weight of piglets in such cases (Boonraungrod et al, 2018;Mills et al, 2021). In one study, the birth weight of piglets in the induced group was much heavier than that in the spontaneous farrowing group, i.e., 1.6 vs. 1.05 kg (Gokuldas et al, 2015). This difference apparently came from the nature of the piglets rather than the effect of any treatments applied one day (Day 114) before farrowing.…”

Effects of farrowing induction using cloprostenol on sow farrowing characteristics

“…Our finding that farrowing induction had no significant effect on birth weight agrees with the finding of a meta-analysis by Monteiro et al [8], which concluded that birth weight decreases only when induction is performed ≥3 days before the expected farrowing date. Some studies reported that farrowing induction reduced the rate of stillbirths [34][35][36]. These findings may have been influenced by naturally heavier piglets born to induced sows [34,36] or by a 100% farrowing supervision rate in the induced group, compared with non-supervision in the control group [35].…”

“…Some studies reported that farrowing induction reduced the rate of stillbirths [34][35][36]. These findings may have been influenced by naturally heavier piglets born to induced sows [34,36] or by a 100% farrowing supervision rate in the induced group, compared with non-supervision in the control group [35]. Previous studies [37,38] found that stillbirth rates increased when farrowing induction was performed on day 111 of gestation, which is also associated with reduced birth weight and an increased rate of premature births.…”