Preventive Veterinary Medicine 63 (2004) 91–102 Factors associated with suckling piglet average daily gain Markku Johansen ∗ , Lis Alban, Helle Dodensig Kjærsgård, Poul Bækbo The National Committee for Pig Production, The Danish Bacon and Meat Council, Vinkelvej 11, DK-8620 Kjellerup, Denmark Received 6 February 2003; received in revised form 24 December 2003; accepted 17 January 2004 Abstract Low piglet weight at weaning implies a loss of income for the farmer and might influence the welfare of the affected animals negatively. The objective of our cohort study was to identify risk factors in the farrowing section associated with average daily weight gain (ADG) of piglets from birth to weaning. The study was done in 3 Danish farrow-to-finish herds and included 581 sows, 277 pens, 814 farrowings, and 8241 piglets. The data were analysed with a linear mixed model where the response was ADG, and sow and litter were random effects. Piglet treatments for arthritis (-38 g per day), diarrhoea (-8 g per day) and other infections (-21 g per day) were the major infectious contributors to lower ADG. Forelimb-skin abrasions on a piglet (-5 g per day), weak pasterns of sows on concrete slats (-34 g per day), suckling a sow with poor milking 3 weeks after farrowing (-14 g per day), low birth weight (-8.4 g per day per 100 g), male compared to female (-4 g per day) also were associated with lower ADG in the suckling period. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Risk factors; Piglets; Suckling period; Average daily gain (ADG); Animal welfare 1. Introduction Low piglet weight at weaning implies a loss of income for the farmer and might influence the welfare of the affected animals negatively. Several factors in combination determine the weight gain of the pig between birth and weaning. These factors can be divided into factors related to (1) the herd/sow; (2) the pen; (3) the litter and (4) the piglet. ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +45-87-71-40-34; fax: +45-87-71-40-05. E-mail address: mjo@danishmeat.dk (M. Johansen). 0167-5877/$ – see front matter © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.prevetmed.2004.01.011