Characteristic findings in piglets dying from trauma

Preweaning mortality of piglets remains a welfare as well as an economic concern in commercial swine herds. Post mortem examination can give insight in specific preventive measures.

A thorough investigation of preweaning piglet mortality was conducted in 14 loose housed Norwegian piglet producing herds. All dead piglets from one batch of sows in each herd, in total 1216 piglets from 378 sows, were collected for necropsy. Death due to trauma was defined as a piglet with external and/or internal lacerations and/or fractures.

Preweaning mortality, excluding the stillborns, was 15.3%. The weaning age was on average 33 days, and the oldest piglet that died was 32 days old. Of the 1200 piglets examined, 347 died of trauma (28.9 %). Among these piglets, almost 70 % had a full stomach, and nearly 25 % had an empty stomach. Additionally, 27 % of the piglets that died of trauma also had signs of anemia. Piglets died of trauma at day 2 after birth. However, as many as 158 piglets (45.5%) died after day 3. Average weight at death was almost 1.5 kg, ranging from 406 g to 4.7 kg. Considering the weight distribution, surprisingly heavy piglets died due to trauma. This was also reflected in a high Body mass index at death (average of 21 kg/m2).

The major cause of preweaning mortality of piglets in this study was trauma, mainly due to crushing. Compared to our finding of 28.9 % piglets dying from trauma, others have reported as many as 80 % of dead piglets having trauma as the cause of death. This may indicate that loose housing is not as risky as previously suggested. However, approximately half of the piglets were older than three days, a finding that call for attention on preventive measures. Our next step will be to investigate risk factors for trauma in piglets in our loose housed pens.

Disclosure of Interest: None Declared.