Sow mortality in Ontario: A comprehensive study to assess trends and to identify risk factors

Project 24-01 - Terri O’Sullivan, University of Guelph

This project will directly address Ontario Pork's research objective to understanding and addressing sow mortality on Ontario swine farms.

The Canadian pig industry has undergone major changes with swine production transitioning from gestation crates to group housing and with sow productivity being maximized. While managing and understanding sow mortality has always been a concern in commercial swine farms, the issue is gaining importance as reported mortality numbers have been increasing (1, 2).

Using advanced qualitative and quantitative epidemiological methods (a mixed-methods approach), and with confirmed industry collaborations, this research will investigate trends and risk factors associated with sow mortality on representative Ontario farms. The qualitative research approaches will seek to understand the perspectives of industry stakeholders (veterinarians and producers) on the key issues associated with sow mortality and to gain insight into their lived challenges and experiences with the issue.

The data resulting from this project will also be used to inform the design of prospective field studies and industry survey. The prospective studies will be designed to capture empirical sow mortality data (e.g., on-farm post-mortem examinations) and will make industry-derived (focus group data) recommendations on how to improve on-farm data recording of sow mortality events. The data will also inform questionnaire design to further survey the industry to inform future intervention and management strategies.