This is an increase of 0.9 piglets compared to 2007. This conclusion has been drawn from the technical results of 1006 farms with a total of almost 415,000 sows.

The top 25 per cent of farms achieved 29.7 weaned piglets per sow in 2008 and the top 10 per cent of farms managed an impressive 30.7 piglets per sow. In 2008, 80 farms weaned more than 30 piglets per sow per year. The absolute top weaned more than 32.5 piglets per sow per year.

For comparison: two years ago, in 2006, just 9 farms exceeded the boundary of 30 piglets.

The increased production is due to an increased litter size. In 2007 this was still 12.8 whereas in 2008 this was 13.1. The litter index remained the same.

The results were compiled on the basis of overviews from the sow management system sent in by Dutch sow farmers. Farms with their own breeding that are linked to the TOPIGS Pigbase system also provided information that was included in the overview.

Technical results TOPIGS sows 2008
	Number of farms	Average no. of sows present	Farm litter index	Weaned piglets per sow per year	Live births per litter	Still births per litter	Preweaning mortality (%)	Weaned piglets per litter
Average 2008	1006	412	2.37	27.3	13.1	1.0	12.3	11.4
Average 2007	942	391	2.37	26.4	12.8	1.0	12.1	11.2
Top 10% of farms 2008	101	506	2.46	30.7	13.8	1.0	10.6	12.3
Top 25% of farms 2008	251	465	2.44	29.7	13.6	1.0	11.2	12.0

Trend in number of weaned piglets per sow per year

Trend in live born piglets per litter and preweaning mortality