Increase in piglet survival with DanBred genetics

In the summer of 2022, DanBred implemented two new piglet survival traits in their breeding goal. The results from DanBred’s breeding and multiplier herds show increasing survival in all three DanBred breeds.

“The new traits for piglet survival are yielding positive results,” says Lizette Vestergaard Horndrup, Project Manager, Breeding & Genetics, Danish Agriculture & Food Council.

The new approach can improve the piglet’s own ability to survive and the sow’s ability to ensure her piglet’s survival. This is a breakthrough in breeding work and the results show that the new approach has been highly effective.  

"When we improve the piglet’s own ability to survive, we see a rapid effect in production because of improvements in DanBred Duroc,” explains Anders Vernersen, Head of the Breeding & Genetics Department.

Significant effect in the breeding nucleus

The results regarding piglet survival from the past 12 months show an improvement of almost 5 percentage points in Duroc compared to the previous 12 months. This is significantly more than anticipated.

"The breeding herds have noticed a substantial difference in their piglets over the past 12 months. The piglets are more robust and piglet survival is increasing. Of course, the new breeding goal cannot explain this improvement alone.  There has been a strong focus on management initiatives in all breeding herds, particularly the feeding of gilts. Similarly, you would expect to see an improvement in production herds, but genetics cannot stand alone,” says Anders Vernersen.

As regards the female breeds, DanBred Landrace and DanBred Yorkshire, the improvement is around 2.5 and 1 percentage points respectively, on average over 12 months in the breeding and multiplier herds. Improvements via Landrace and Yorkshire, however, take slightly longer to reach the production herds as progress has to be made from the breeding nucleus via multiplication before it reaches the production sow.  

Innovation behind the breeding goal

The research into implementing the new traits is based on a large database.  

Data stems from the breeding and multiplier herds which report dead piglets until weaning. The analysis uses statistical models that calculate breeding values for all pigs in the breeding nucleus. Based on data, the statistical model for piglet survival can separate the genetic effect stemming from the sow which describes the sow’s ability to enable her piglets to survive. It can also separate the genetic effect that comes from the piglet itself, which explains the piglet’s own ability to survive.

“When selecting pigs with the highest breeding values, you get pigs that are better at surviving and sows that are better at getting their piglets to survive,” says Anders Vernersen. “Duroc’s breeding goal contributes to increasing the piglet’s survivability whereas Landrace and Yorkshire contribute both to the piglet’s ability to survive, but also to the sow becoming better at getting her own piglets to survive.”

An improvement in piglet survival is now also evident in production herds, particularly due to the genetic potential of Duroc.  

Fact box: Great improvement in the breeding nucleus

Following the implementation of the new breeding goal, the results for piglet survival show that there has been an improvement of almost 5 percentage points in DanBred Duroc when compared with the previous 12 months. These are the results from the breeding herds, but an improvement can already be seen in the production herds. Progress is expected to continue in the years ahead.