Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Livestock Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/livsci Management routines influencing piglet survival in loose-housed sow herds Ellen Marie Rosvold a,d, ⁎ , Camilla Kielland a , Marko Ocepek a , Tore Framstad a , Bente Fredriksen b , Ina Andersen-Ranberg c , Geir Næss d , Inger Lise Andersen a a Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, PO Box 5003, 1432 Ås, Norway b Norwegian Meat and Poultry Research Centre (Animalia), PO Box 396, 0513 Oslo, Norway c Topigs Norsvin, PO Box 504, 2304 Hamar, Norway d Nord University, PO Box 2501, 7729 Steinkjer, Norway ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Piglet mortality Management Farrowing Loose housed sows Field survey ABSTRACT Piglet mortality is still a significant welfare and ethical matter in pig production, as well as an economical challenge for the farmer. Most of the mortality occurs early after farrowing, and previous studies have shown that the farm's management routines, especially around farrowing, are important factors to reduce it. When sows are loose-housed at farrowing and in the following lactation period, it puts higher demands on management input from the farmer to keep piglet mortality low. The objective of this study was to assess the importance of different management routines around the time of farrowing, and other farm qualities for piglet survival in loose-housed herds. To study risk factors for herd piglet mortality, a cross-sectional field survey was carried out in Norway in the year 2013, and included 52 commercial herds with hybrid LY sows (Norwegian Landrace x Swedish Yorkshire). The farms were visited once, and the farmers answered a questionnaire about their management practices. The outcome was the average herd pre-weaning mortality in the years of 2012– 2013. To include as many management factors as possible into the multivariable linear regression model, we generated a new variable based on 4 management routines: 3 routines at farrowing (presence at 80–100% of the farrowings, drying newborn piglets, and practice split suckling), and one concerning farmer´s contact with the sows. This variable was called “Management type” (M), and were divided into 4 categories with increasing effort; M1 herds without any of the 4 mentioned routines, M2 had contact with sows > 2 times per day, M3 performed the 3 routines at farrowing, and M4 combined the high sow contact and the 3 routines. The predicted values of mean herd piglet mortality for M1, M2, M3 and M4 were 20.1%, 17.0%, 16.2% and 13.3% respectively. The farmer's increased management effort was associated with lower piglet mortality (P < 0.05). The farmer's effort at critical times together with systematic and important routines, and having frequent contact with the sows, makes a huge difference for piglet survival. The farmers are credited for this work by having lower piglet mortality as a result. 1. Introduction High piglet mortality is still an ethical and economical challenge in pig production. As much as 50–80% of the piglet mortality is caused by crushing and starvation (English and Morrison, 1984; Dyck and Swiestra, 1987; Marchant et al., 2000), and this mainly occurs within the first two or three days after farrowing (Dyck and Swiestra, 1987; Cronin et al., 2000; Marchant et al., 2000; Andersen et al., 2005; Westin et al., 2015). A field survey from Norwegian farms reported that the mortality of live born piglets ranged from 5% to 24%, and management was suggested to be an important factor (Andersen et al., 2007). In a review by Kirkden et al. (2013), it was concluded that piglet mortality can be reduced by a range of management routines, especially around farrowing. One important procedure is the supervision of farrowing by trained staff, and also attending sows a couple of days postpartum, which can reduce piglet mortality (Holyoake et al., 1995; White et al., 1996). While being present, the farmer could more easily detect animals that are in need of assistance, and for instance save piglets from near-crushing incidents. Some management routines, such as drying and placing piglets under a heat source immediately after birth can all reduce mortality (White et al., 1996; Christison et al., 1997; Andersen et al., 2009). Rearing piglets in loose housing systems demands sows with good maternal abilities (Wechsler and Hegglin, 1997; Andersen et al., 2005; Johnson et al., 2007). But as litter size has increased over the years, and sows have a limited biological capacity related to number of http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2016.12.001 Received 12 February 2016; Received in revised form 3 November 2016; Accepted 2 December 2016 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: ellen.m.rosvold@nord.no (E.M. Rosvold). Livestock Science 196 (2017) 1–6 1871-1413/ © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. MARK