Reduced farrowing times with uterotonic, Vetrabutin
Different super script means statistically significant differences (Source: D. Mota Rojas et al., 2005)
Signs of excessive intra-uterine pressure during birth:
Slow start of breathing in newborn piglets
Ruptured, profusely bleeding umbilical cords at birth
Strangulation of the piglets by the umbilical cord
Uterine spasm, retarded birth
A typical situation: farrowing was planned for the Thursday but many sows have already farrowed by Tuesday. Weak piglets lead to low milk-release of the sow.
Sow herd vaccination, i.e. against influenza and other viruses that can be transferred from the sow’s blood stream through the uterine blood supply thereby breaking through the uterine barrier: PRRS-virus, Circovirus, Parvovirus
Good body condition and fitness of the sow
Ingelheim, Germany, 26 September 2018 – The winners of the 2018 European PRRS Research Award have been announced at this year’s international swine veterinary assembly by Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health in Lisbon, Portugal.
Newborn piglets lack brown adipose (fat) tissue which is available to many other mammals as an energy source at birth and thereby they are more sensitive to cold stress when compared to other mammals. They are at greatest risk of hypothermia immediately after birth with a lowering of body-temperature of up to 5°C possible. Through shivering piglets try to maintain body temperature but as a result lose valuable energy reserves!
In normally developing suckling pigs, although a piglet breathes from soon after birth, the lung’s tissue increases its size and function during the first 14 days of life. The oxygen transfer continually improves during this time.
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