Could a different management routine that strengthens the mother-offspring bond contribute to a more efficient organic piglet production?

Summary

In current Swedish organic piglet production full reproductive potential of the sows and growth potential of piglets are not achieved. The efficiency is held back by occurrence of lactational oestrus, low litter weight and large weight variation within litter. Therefore it is critical that these obstacles are reduced in a way that is easy to adapt in practice and does not contradict the ideas behind organic animal husbandry.
This project aims to an improvement of the conditions needed to efficiently produce organic piglets in a batch wise manner. The batch wise breeding will reduce production costs and increase disease control.
Our preliminary results indicate that the sow’s weaning to oestrus interval can be affected by the time spent in individual farrowing pen during the lactational period.