Possibilities for dealing with large litters of piglets

The nurse sow system ‒ A natural process of handling large litters: A review

“…The main goal of the nurse sow method is to maximize pre-weaning survival while also benefiting the piglets. Similar to this, using nurse sows significantly increases piglet average daily gain and weight at weaning (Rezac et al 2023), it is related to improved gut immunity in piglets (Berkeveld et al 2009) and boosts the overall worth of low birth https://doi.org/10.17221/158/2023-CJAS weight piglets (Craig et al 2020). However, possible negative effects could be observed on piglet performance.…”

“…When piglets weaned per sow/year are used as the standard, nurse sows nursing double litters depict significant numbers becoming economically advantageous. Furthermore, nurse sows nursing two litters have ample time for the uterus to involute before their next pregnancy (Rezac et al 2023). However, prolonged lactation in nurse sows has notable negative impacts.…”

“…The use of nurse sows breaks the biosecurity protocol in farrowing houses (Calderon Diaz et al 2017), as clinical diseases could rapidly spread from the incoming adult animals to the vulnerable young stock. Another problem is that nurse sows stay longer in farrowing crates than planned, resulting in blocking the farrowing pens (Rezac et al 2023). This obstructs the pig flow since the nurse sow's farrowing crate will not be ready for fresh litter for another two to three weeks (Kirkwood et al 2021).…”