A longitudinal study of unweaned piglets raised by smallholder farmers in the Philippines Simon J. More a , Jenny-Ann L.M. Lee a,b, * , Eugene B. Lan ˜ada c , Alberto A. Taveros c , Basito S. Cotiw-an b a School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, PO Box 125, Kenmore 4069, Australia b College of Veterinary Medicine, Benguet State University, La Trinidad, 2601 Benguet Province, The Philippines c Department of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Visayas State College of Agriculture, Baybay, 6521 Leyte Province, The Philippines Received 14 January 2002; received in revised form 25 January 2005; accepted 25 February 2005 Abstract We conducted a longitudinal study to obtain detailed baseline information about the health and productivity of unweaned piglets raised by smallholder pig raisers in the Philippines, and to identify constraints and opportunities to smallholder-piglet production. At two sites in the Philippines, we collected data about 242 litters from 173 sows in 102 herds during on-farm visits over 12–18 months. Preweaning mortality at the northern and southern sites was 17 and 9%, respectively. Of the piglet deaths at the northern site, 49% occurred within 24 h of birth. Pig raisers used few of the recognised interventions known to reduce neonatal piglet mortality, although >50% of litters were given iron injections at the northern site and kept in a farrowing pen with a barrier at the southern site. Creep feeding was more common at the northern site but the nutritive value of the feeds given to piglets was low. We used repeated-measures and time-to-event analyses. Our results suggest that targeted extension (addressing, in particular, management issues relating to neonatal piglets) can contribute to increased productivity of unweaned piglets. # 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Longitudinal study; Epidemiology; Pig-reproduction; Smallholder; Philippines www.elsevier.com/locate/prevetmed Preventive Veterinary Medicine 70 (2005) 115–131 DOIs of original articles: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2005.02.016, 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2005.02.015. * Corresponding author. Present address: Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, 425 Werombi Road, Camden, NSW 2570, Australia. Tel.: +61 2 9351 1609; fax: +61 2 9351 1618. E-mail address: jennyt@camden.usyd.edu.au (Jenny-Ann L.M. Lee). 0167-5877/$ – see front matter # 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.prevetmed.2005.02.014