11 Understanding today’s sow and challenging ourselves for the future

Abstract

Abstract The impact of maternal influence across all species on lifelong health and performance is a topic that while recognized as important in the past was not heavily explored until more recently. Over the years, production has focused on sow nutrition and its role in improving birth weights and weaning weights. Today’s sow has approximately 3 more pigs per litter compared to sows 12 years ago and is producing more milk than that of a sow a quarter of a century ago (Nielsen et al. 2018; Rosero, et al, 2016). The biological challenges of supporting the increased total born and milk production, the change in the genetics and lean mass of the sow, along with the environmental challenges such as disease, temperature and social interactions have created an ever changing dynamic that has the potential to influence the sow’s nutritional demands, but also complicates the interpretation of data generated in sow facilities. Along with the increase in total born, other issues such as pelvic organ prolapses and agalactia have also started to increase. While little is known at this time as to the causative nature of these conditions, the goal to quickly resolve such challenges has become absolute. Furthermore, many wonder what else is on the horizon for the modern day sow? Researchers are working to better understand the basis of sow to piglet interaction in terms of immunology, microbiome hereditability and progeny wean to finish performance alongside those working to better understand nutritional requirements to improve longevity of the female. The presentation will focus on these aspects associated with predicting issues for the sows and proactively addressing these concerns along with exploring knowledge advancements and aligning them with sow performance and production.