Dr. Mark Estienne - Nursery Management and Sow Longevity

Title Here

Early-in-life experiences impact lifetime
reproductive performance and longevity in
sows
M.J. Estienne, Ph.D.

Tidewater AREC
2012- Allen D. Leman Swine Swine Program or
Title Here, Optional
Unit Identifier

Conference

Early-in-life Here
Title
experiences impact lifetime reproductive
performance and longevity in sows

Management of the Replacement Gilt
Pre-conception-Genetic/Breeding System Decisions
Post-conception – prenatal, neonatal, nursery, grow-finish,
Post-farrowing- neonatal, nursery, grow-finish, gilt pool
gilt pool

Conception Birth Weaning- Puberty- Farrowing-
21 days ~180 days ~365 days

Timeline Representing the “Life” of a Replacement Gilt

Title Here, Optional or
Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title

Event Day of Gestation
Pass into uterus 2 to 3
Differentiation of germ layers into ectoderm, 7 to 8
mesoderm, and entoderm
Initial attachment to endometrium 11 to 12
Implantation 18
Testes or Ovaries differentiated 28
Formation of scrotum in male and clitoris in female 44
Secretion of pituitary hormones begins 50
Formation of seminal vesicles, prostate and 51
bulbourethral gland in male , and oviducts, uterus,
and vagina in female
Testes enter inguinal canal in male 95
Birth 114
Adapted from Pond et al.,or1991
Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title

Fetal Programming (Barker, 1997) is a
process by which an acute or chronic
stimulus in utero elicits a response in
the fetus that permanently impacts
physiologic function later in life.
Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title

In swine, fetuses are programmed as a
consequence of:

Intrauterine Growth Retardation (IUGR)

Factors such as husbandry and handling
of the gestating sow

Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title

12

11
Litter Size

10 Born
Born Live
9 Weaned

8
1990 1995 2000 2006
Year
National Animal Health Monitoring
System, 2008 Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title

15 (#) = number of litters (14) (3)
Pigs with birth weights

(18) (5) (1)
< 1.0 kg, %

10 (8)
(18)

(11)
5 (8)
(7)
(1) (0) (3) (2) (3) (9)
0
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Litter Size

Litters farrowed (n = 111) at the Tidewater AREC
Tidewater AREC 4/11/09 – 7/18/10 Swine Program or
Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title

Pigs weaned, % 100
80
60 P < 0.01

40
20
54.4 92.4
0

< 1.0 > 1.0
Birth Weight, kg
Litters farrowed (n = 50) containing one to
five light birth weight (< 1 kg) and one or Tidewater AREC
more heavy birth weight (> 1 kg) pigs. Swine Program or
Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title

From: Fix , J.S. and M.T. See. 2009. Birth
weight impacts weaning through finishing
closeout. National Hog Farmer 54(12):14-15. Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title

Ovarian development in intrauterine growth-retarded (IUGR) and
normally developed piglets originating from the same litter

Item Normal Runt SE P
No. of piglets 14 14 --- ---
Body weight, kg 1.55 0.72 0.04 0.01
Ovarian mass, mg 108 51 9.6 0.01
No. of primordial follicles* 235 268 20.1 0.05
No. of primary follicles* 20 11 3 0.01
No. of secondary follicles* 1.0 0.0 0.5 0.05

*Values expressed per mm2 of ovarian cortex.

Adapted from Da Silva-Buttkus et
al., 2003 Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title

250
Age at Puberty, d 225
200
175
150
125
r = -0.43, P < 0.1
100
1 1.25 1.5 1.75 2 2.25
Litter Average Birth Weight, kg

Age at puberty in gilts from litters (n = 33)
with different average pig birth weights .
Each point represents mean for 2 to 7 Tidewater AREC
gilts. Swine Program or
Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title

Age at Puberty, d 210

200
P = 0.09
190

180

170
186.7 198.3
160

> 1.5 < 1.5

Average Litter Birth Weight, kg
Tidewater AREC
Swine Program or
Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title

In swine, fetuses are programmed as a
consequence of:

Intrauterine Growth Retardation (IUGR)

Factors such as husbandry and
handling of the gestating sow

Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title

Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title

Fetal exposure to maternal stress influences age at
puberty in gilts
Crossbred sows served as controls or were stressed by subjection
to daily restraint for 5 min during wk 12 to 16 of gestation.
Age at Puberty, d

180 P < 0.05
170
172
160
150 158
140
Control Stressed

O’Gorman et al., 2007 Title Here, Optional or
Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title

Type of accommodation during gestation
affects growth performance and reproductive
characteristics of gilt offspring

Gilts were farrowed by gilts kept in individual
crates or group pens throughout gestation, or crates
for the first 30 d post-mating and then group pens for
the remainder of gestation.

No effect (P > 0.82) of gestation accommodation
on nursery ADG, ADFI, or G:F.
Tidewater AREC
Estienne and Harper, 2010a Swine Program or
Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title

Grow-finish performance
Item: Crates Pens Crates/ SE P
Pens
No. Pens 9 9 9 --- ---
Daily gain, kg 1.0 0.96 0.96 0.02 0.13
Daily feed, kg 2.61 2.62 2.52 0.14 0.54
Feed/Gain 2.60a 2.73b 2.62a 0.04 0.05
Last Rib 10.9c 12.5d 12.1c,d 0.5 0.09
Backfat, mm
1Each pen contained three gilts each.
a,b c,d Within a row, means with different superscripts differ.

Tidewater AREC
Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title

Crates Pens Crates/Pens
120
*
Body weight, kg

100 *
80

60

40 Accommodation x week,
P =0.04
20
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Week
Tidewater AREC
Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title

Type of accommodation during gestation affects growth
performance and reproductive characteristics of gilt offspring

Item Crates Pens Crates/ SE P
Pens
Avg. wt of ovaries, g 9.1a 10.8b 9.9ab 1.0 0.07
Uterus wt, g 583.9 530.6 557.0 28.0 0.42
Follicular fluid wt, g 2.66a 4.55b 3.05a 0.59 0.08
Corpora lutea 15.3 16.1 14.9 0.7 0.55
Age at puberty, d 175.4 170.7 169.6 4.4 0.61
Pubertal by 165 d of 13.0a 47.6b 41.7b --- 0.05
age, %
ab Within a row, means with different superscripts differ .

Tidewater AREC
Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title

Cortisol concentrations in serum of gilts kept
in individual crates or group pens for the first
30 d post-mating

100
ng/mL serum

P < 0.06
Cortisol,

75
79.4
50 57.1
25
0
Group pens Crates

Tidewater AREC
Estienne and Harper, 2006 Swine Program or
Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title

Management of the suckling pig and
future reproduction

Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title

100
P < 0.10
Farrowing Rate, %

90

85.4
80 81.5

70

60

<7 > 10
Neonatal litter size, pigs
Flowers, 2008 Title Here, Optional or
Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title

12 Boar Exposure @ 140 d 12 Boar Exposure @ 170 d

11
* 11
Pigs born live

Neonatal
Litter Size
10 10 Small
Large
9 9

8 8
1 2 3 Total 1 2 3 Total

Parity

Flowers, 2008 Neonatal Litter Size x Age at Boar or
Unit Identifier
Exposure, P < 0.05

Early-in-life Here
Title

75
P < 0.05
Sows retained after
three parities, %

50 56.3

37.6
25

0

<7 > 10
Neonatal litter size, pigs
Flowers, 2008 Title Here, Optional or
Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title

Management of the nursery pig and
future reproduction
Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title

Effect of space allowance during rearing (from 38 to 128 kg body
weight) on performance of PIC gilts over three parities
1.13 m2 0.77 m2 SE P
No. of gilts 510 747 --- ---

Gilts per pen 15 22 --- ---

ADG, g 758 752 10 0.49

Age at puberty, d 182 184 1.1 0.01

Parities 1 to 3 (Data for gilts farrowing 1, 2 or 3 litters)

Total born 25.7 24.7 0.8 0.21
Born alive 23.2 22.5 0.7 0.37
Removed by end of parity 3, % 44.6 48.2 2.3 0.28
Adapted from Young et al., 2008 Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title

600
P < 0.01
580

560
ADG, g

540

520

500

6 gilts 12 gilts 6 gilts
0.5 m2/gilt 0.25 m2/gilt 0.25 m2/gilt
Cho et al., 2008 Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title

12
10
Pigs Born Alive

8
6 8 gilts/pen
4 16 gilts/pen

2
0
Parity 1 Parity 2

Lindemann (personal communication) Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title
Methods
Animal work performed at production facilities owned and
operated by Smithfield Premium Genetics (nursery: 40
pens/room; 7 rooms).

At weaning, gilts will be randomly placed in nursery pens to
allow 0.17, 0.25, or 0.33 m2 floor space/pig.

Gilts weighed at the beginning and end of 5-wk nursery phase
of production and average daily gain determined.

Blood samples will be collected from subset of gilts to determine
blood chemistry profiles, complete blood count and cortisol levels.

Subsequent reproductive performance determined through three
parities (at least 500 gilt/sow records per treatment group).
Tidewater AREC
Swine Program or
Unit Identifier

Early-in-life Here
Title

Summary
Increasing litter size increases the proportion of pigs with low-birth
weight phenotypes.

In addition to well-documented poorer growth performance and
carcass quality, low-birth weight pigs are programmed in utero such
that reproductive characteristics are adversely affected.

 Management and husbandry practices to which sows are
exposed may program fetuses such that future growth and
reproduction is impacted.

Stressors during the suckling and nursery phases of production may
have long-term consequences on reproductive efficiency.

2012- Allen D. Leman Swine Unit Identifier

Conference

Early-in-life Here
Title

Implications
Long-term, the low-birth weight pig issue must be addressed
through genetics.

Short-term, need for nutritional or management strategies that
mitigate at least some of the consequences of fetal programming in
low-birth weight pigs.

Refine farrowing room and nursery management to consider effects
on future reproduction.

Manage gestating sows to increase welfare.

2012- Allen D. Leman Swine Unit Identifier

Conference

Early-in-life Here
Title

The End

Tidewater AREC
2012- Allen D. Leman Swine Swine Program or
Unit Identifier

Conference

Dr. Mark Estienne - Nursery Management and Sow Longevity

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Dr. Mark Estienne - Nursery Management and Sow Longevity