Project Grant 20216702134198

IN THE PAST DECADE, PRE-WEANING PIGLET DEATH LOSSES AVERAGED >29 MILLION/YEAR IN THE UNITED STATES ALONE AND MAY HAVE COST THE SWINE INDUSTRY >$1.2 BILLION/YEAR DUE TO LOST PROFITABILITY. WHILE REASONS FOR LIVEBORN PIGLET MORTALITY ARE MULTIFACTORIAL AND INTERRELATED, A SIGNIFICANT SOURCE OF STRESS FOR PRE-WEANING PIGLETS IS LOW AND/OR VARIABLE TEMPERATURES. TO MAINTAIN A PIGLET'S PREFERRED TEMPERATURE RANGE, HEATING LAMPS AND PADS ARE OFTEN USED IN COMBINATION WITH MAINTAINING SWINE FACILITIES AT ELEVATED TEMPERATURES. UNFORTUNATELY, THESE METHODS MAY NOT BE EFFECTIVE AS THEY ARE BASED ON A SINGLE ROOM TEMPERATURE RATHER THAN AT THE INDIVIDUAL ANIMALPEN LEVEL, WHICH CAN VARYSIGNIFICANTLY. FURTHERMORE, EFFORTS TO IMPROVE THE PIGLET THERMAL ENVIRONMENTMAY INADVERTANTLY CAUSE HEAT STRESS FOR SOWSRESULTING INDECREASED WELFARE AND PRODUCTIVITY (I.E., MILK PRODUCTION FOR PIGLETS) DUE TO DECREASED FEED INTAKE. THIS CAN HAVE A NEGATIVE DOWNSTREAM EFFECT ON PIGLET SURVIVABILITY AND GROWTH WHEN CONSIDERING THE TREND FOR INCREASED LITTER SIZES ACROSS THE SWINE INDUSTRY (MORE PIGLETS PER SOW = GREATER MILK PRODUCTION REQUIREMENTS). THEREFORE, THE OVERALL PROPOSAL OBJECTIVE IS TO AUTOMATICALLYMAINTAIN SEPARATE THERMAL ENVIRONMENTS FOR LACTATING SOWS AND THEIR PIGLETS ON AN INDIVIDUAL LITTER BASIS THROUGH THE USE OF A MICROENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM. SPECIFICALLY, WE WILL DETERMINE WHETHER HOUSING LACTATING SOWS AT LOWER TEMPERATURES THEY PREFER WHILE USING PRECISION TECHNOLOGY TO MAINTAIN THE PIGLETS PREFERRED TEMPERATURE WITHIN THE PENS WILL IMPROVE PIGLET SURVIVABILITY, SOW WELFARE AND PERFORMANCE. COMPLETION OF THIS RESEARCH PROJECT WILL PROVIDE SWINE PRODUCERS WITH A NEW PRECISION TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT PRACTICE TO REDUCE PRE-WEANING MORTALITY,IMPROVE THE WELFARE AND PERFORMANCE OF BOTH SOWS AND THEIR LITTERS, AND ULTIMATELY IMPROVE PRODUCER PROFITABILITY IN THE U.S. AND GLOBALLY.