Abstract
Data obtained from 68 farrow-to-finish swine farms were used to evaluate reproductive performance and determine which factors are important in improving performance. The number of pigs weaned per mated female per year (PWMFY), pigs weaned per litter (PWL) and pigs born alive per litter (PBA) increased between 2010 and 2012 among farms with high reproductive performance in 2012 (HP farms). No change was detected in these parameters at farms with normal to low reproductive performance in 2012 (NP and LP farms, respectively). A significant correlation between PBA and preweaning mortality risk (PRWM) was observed in all farm groups classified by reproductive performance, indicating that a high number of the piglets born on these farms were being lost during the suckling stage. Therefore, increasing the PWMFY on HP farms would require increasing the PWL by increasing the PBA and decreasing the PRWM, because there is limited room for improvement in the number of litters per mated female per year (LMFY). However, increasing the PWMFY can be accomplished by improving both the PWL and LMFY among LP farms.
