Newborn Pig Management and Sow Health

Vocabulary flashcards covering newborn pig management, processing procedures, identification, euthanasia, and sow population metrics.

Segregated Early Weaning (SEW)

A management method where pigs are moved to a separate facility between weaning and $22$ days of age to minimize disease transfer from the sow while the pigs have passive colostrum immunity.

Specific Pathogen Free (SPF)

A production design intended to raise pigs completely free of defined chronic pathogens such as Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae, PRRS, and PEDV.

Snatch farrowing

A process used in SPF or biomedical lines where pigs are removed immediately at birth before contacting the sow's environment to obtain pathogen-free offspring.

Iron deficiency anemia

A condition that develops rapidly in nursing pigs (within $7 ext{ to } 10$ days) due to low iron reserves at birth, low iron in milk, and lack of contact with soil.

Iron dextran injection

A supplement of $1 ext{ to } 2mL$ administered at a $45^{\circ}$ angle behind the pig’s ear in the neck muscle between $1$ and $3$ days of age to prevent anemia.

Tail docking

The practice of cutting the tail approximately \frac{1}{2} ext{ to } rac{3}{4} inches from the body within $24$ hours of birth to reduce tail biting and cannibalism.

Ear notching

The most common identification method where the right ear denotes the litter number (zones $1, 3, 9, 27, 81$) and the left ear denotes the individual pig number (zones $1, 3, 9$).

Needle teeth

Also known as wolf teeth, these are eight sharp teeth present at birth that may be clipped ($1/3 ext{ to } 1/2$ of the tooth) to prevent injury to littermates or the sow's udder.

Boar odor (boar taint)

An offensive odor found in the pork of uncastrated male pigs at slaughter weight, corrected by surgical castration within $7$ days of birth.

Euthanasia

The humane process of rendering a pig insensible with minimal pain and distress until death, recommended for non-ambulatory pigs or those not responding to treatment.

Carbon Dioxide Euthanasia

A bloodless method approved for all ages but most practical for pigs under $70$ pounds, which causes anesthesia and death by respiratory arrest.

Non-penetrating captive bolt

A euthanasia tool approved for pigs less than $70$ pounds that uses a flat-head bolt to cause concussion and trauma without breaking the skin.

Penetrating captive bolt

A euthanasia tool approved for pigs greater than $12$ pounds featuring a concave bolt that penetrates the skull to cause physical damage to the brain.

Barbiturates

Pharmacological substances used for vet-administered anesthetic overdose to cause respiratory and cardiac arrest through intravenous injection.

Sow mortality

A metric calculated as the number of breeding females that died or were euthanized divided by the total sow population.

Voluntary culling

The intentional removal of sows for suboptimal performance, such as poor rearing ability, maternal behavior, or being too large for farrowing crates.

Involuntary culling

The removal of sows due to factors beyond the producer's immediate selection choice, such as failure to conceive, lameness, or disease.

Cost per sow-day

The value determined by the formula: $\frac{\text{Total cost of sow maintenance per year}}{\text{Productive days per sow per year}}$.

Cost of reproductive failure

The economic impact calculated as: $\text{Cost per sow-day} \times \frac{\text{Non-productive days}}{\text{Pigs born alive per sow per year}}$.