Litter Swapping
A practical introduction from BPEX to the swapping of complete litters, rather than cross-fostering individual piglets.
22 December 2008
3 minute read
Cross fostering is a recommended practice used to even up litter sizes and piglet birthweights after farrowing. If piglets then start to fall behind, they will often be swapped with a stronger piglet from another litter, or a new litter is created for the fading piglets However, every time piglets are mixed with new litter mates it takes time for them to re-establish the suckling hierarchy, and it can result in a lack of feed intake and reduced performance.
Swapping whole litters will reduce the stress normally experienced by the piglets from being moved and mixed with a group of new litter mates, whilst providing the weaker piglets the opportunity to recover through improved milk intake.
| Equipment required | Personal Safety |
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The process
* "A strong uniform litter can encourage a sow that is showing signs of poor milk production to start producing milk again" * "As soon as there are signs of reduced performance and one or more piglets are falling behind, the litter swap should be carried out" |
- Move the whole litter when it contains a number of piglets that are showing signs of reduced viability, onto a sow which is milking well
- The receiving sow must either be a young sow or previously have been a foster sow and she must be suckling a strong and uniform litter
- Move the strong litter to the sow from which the poorer litter came
- After the swap the sows will follow their normal feed curves
Remember
- The age gap between the two litters must not exceed four days
- There must be the same number of piglets in both litters
- All the piglets must be healthy
- The swap between the litters must be direct eg the sows should not be without piglets for an extended period
- After the swap give special treatment to the poorer litter eg an extra heat lamp, a squirt of piglet booster etc.
Swapping litters
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| A successful swap will lead to more uniform piglets, improved piglet performance and reduced mortality | If the swap is too late, piglets may be too weak to suckle; they will fall behind further and mortality will increase |
The swap is likely to fail if:
* "Vigilance is key for litter swapping to be a successful management tool" |
- The swap is too late; the piglets in the poor litter may be too weak to suckle
- The sow with the poor litter is ill
- The poor litter is ill
- The sow has poor mothering ability and does not let piglets suckle
- The litter is restless because the sow is unwilling to let them suckle
December 2008
