Bioscientifica Proceedings

In the recent years the use of hyper-prolific sows has increased and litters with more than 14-16 born alive piglets are not uncommon. However, piglets’ mortality after birth before weaning can range between 11 to 24 % in several countries. Recent findings show that, without human assistance of piglets (cross fostering, movement to a nurse sow, split- or suckling assistance), sows with an average litter size of 13.5±0.8 piglets managed to wean 10.6±0.6 pi...