Leman Swine Conference: Continuous sow care training reduces sow mortality

Dr. Supple, why is sow care so important. 
I think it's something that we always need to focus on whether you're involved in production or if you're a herd health veterinarian. Sow care is one of the most critical pieces when we look at the success and productivity of a sow farm. It begins and ends with the sow, so all the different aspects of sow care are going to play into her ability to be productive, produce big litters and healthy pigs that are retained in the herd. Then the other aspect that I always like to focus on is the animal welfare component that goes into sow care as well. 

You conducted some research at a large sow farm. Tell us about the challenges the farm faced and how you conducted the research. 
We had a large 5,000 head sow farm where we were struggling with an increase in sow mortality. This farm has an open pen gestation (OPG) system. If you have challenges like lameness or sow mortality among your different farms, OPG situations can exacerbate them. Your challenges become more obvious. 

Sow mortality was one of the metrics that we wanted to look at and see if changes or an increase in individual sow care would impact and lower our sow mortality. We did a combination of in classroom and on-farm hands-on training in a very routine systematic approach with the sow farm to see if we could move the needle to improve sow mortality. 

What were the study results? 
We were able to significantly reduce sow mortality on this farm. We had done this combination of in-classroom and hands-on training, and I think the component of the hands-on aspect is really where I settle on the importance. 

As a system, I would say we have a great training program, and we did a good job there. Then being able to translate what you learn in a classroom or on a piece of paper, bringing it into the barn and teaching it to new employees and constantly revisiting it even with employees that have had tenure is important.

I learn best through experience, and it’s how you apply things. Different challenges arise, and you have to consider how you're going to approach it. The farm’s issue wasn't a lack of training; it was taking that training and translating it into hands-on learning with the staff.