Benchmark USA 2025

Spring 2025 www.pigchamp.com 31 If the sow lost more body condition during lactation, then you would expect her subsequent reproduction to be impacted, right? Throughout this trial, we were reminded that today’s modern sow is resilient. Yes, sows lost more body condition during lactation when the number of pigs relative to functional teats was increased, but there were no differences in the percentage of sows bred by day 7 post-weaning, the percentage of sows culled, or subsequent farrowing rate. In fact, +2 sows had a shorter wean-to-estrus interval than 0 sows (5.0 and 5.6 days, respectively). We also found that sows tended to have increased total born and higher liveborn in the subsequent litter as litter size relative to functional teat count increased. In the subsequent litter, +2 sows had 1.2 more liveborn pigs on average than -1 sows (15.4 and 14.2 liveborn pigs, respectively). Lastly, pigs weaned/ sow/year increased as litter size relative to functional teat count increased (Figure 2). Bottom line: The optimal strategy is ultimately dependent on your primary criteria of interest. If you want to optimize individual performance and have the lowest pre-weaning mortality, lowest sow body condition loss, and highest piglet weaning weight, then utilizing the -1 loading strategy was the best option. However, if you want to maximize farm throughput for the highest pigs weaned/litter, highest litter weaning weight, and highest pigs weaned/sow/year, then the +2 strategy was the best option. Keys to Success With More Pigs Than Teats: 1. Good entry sow body condition: The farm in which this study was conducted averaged 15 mm of backfat, and and had fewer than 10% of its sows classified as skinny when utilizing the PIC caliper at entry into the farrowing house. The sows that enter lactation in better condition are more resilient, and we believe this makes them better equipped to nurse more pigs than functional teats. 2. Teamwork: Implementation will require everyone in the farrowing room to be clear on the new standard operating procedure and why these changes are important. 3. Proactiveness: Loading more pigs than available teats requires that the farrowing team must remain cognizant of a sow's limitations—that not every sow is a +2 sow. As well, any fall-behind pigs need to be removed early. This will help maximize their chance of survival and weaning to provide full value. This is why nurse sows are still required. It's just that fewer nurse sows are required than when loading sows with fewer pigs. The full research report will be available at the 2025 K-State Swine Day on November 20, 2025, in Manhattan, Kansas. This project was supported by the National Pork Board (PR-005981) and the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research. Effect of pigs placed relative to teat count on pigs weaned/sow/year (PSY) assuming a litters/sow/year of 2.43. (Jenkins et al., 2025). Figure 2 Abigail Jenkins Abigail Jenkins is a Ph.D. candidate with the Applied Swine Nutrition team at Kansas State University and is expected to complete her Ph.D. in June. In 2022, she obtained her Master’s degree in Swine Reproductive Physiology from North Carolina State University under the direction of Dr. William Flowers.

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