Genetic Selection is a powerful ally against PRRS
By Claudia Sevillano Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is one of the most damaging diseases in pig farming, causing illness during all stages of production. However, new research from Topigs Norsvin confirms that traditional breeding can be used to help combat this disease. At Topigs Norsvin, researchers have been analyzing data collected from pigs […]
Genetic analyses of posture traits automatically recorded from video data of pigs
By Kristine Hov Martinsen With bigger farms and fewer people working closely with animals, it’s harder to keep an eye on how pigs behave. But behavior is important — we want pigs that are calm, healthy, and not hurting each other. In this study, we used video cameras and smart technology to identify and track […]
Automated video analysis for monitoring of sow behavior
By Sehrish Malik Piglet mortality remains a major challenge in pig production, with over 18% of piglets lost before weaning (Ingris 2023). One key factor influencing piglet survival is the sow’s behaviour before and after farrowing. However, observing these behaviours manually is time-consuming, subjective, and often disruptive to the animals. In our study, we developed […]
Genetic analyses of blood metabolites and amino acids in blood serum in pigs
By Kristine H. Martinsen In pig production, resilience is an individual’s ability to cope or recover rapidly from a wide range of disruptive challenges back to the original level of normal health, fertility, and production. However, recording resilience in nucleus herds is challenging, as the health status is high, and natural disease challenges rarely occur. […]
How to define good mothering ability using computer vision of free farrowing sows?
By Victor Lei and Lisette van der Zande Most of the sows are housed in a cage system in the farrowing unit. Although this system is intended to reduce piglet mortality, it impacts the welfare of the sow as she is not able to express natural behavior in this system. Therefore, Innova Canada has 360 […]
Selecting for social behaviour helps to meet the challenges of pork production
By Kristine Hov Martinsen Economic factors and increased consumer demand for animal-welfare-friendly meat production have changed the parameters for pig production. Farms are bigger with high animal turnover, manual work has been automated, group sizes are increasing, and human-animal interactions are decreasing. Therefore, Topigs Norsvin must acquire information about pig behaviour to develop breeds that […]
Breeding for enhanced natural robustness to disease
By Jenelle Dunkelberger It is vital for pigs to exhibit enhanced robustness to disease in order to thrive in current and future production systems. Robustness to disease is defined as a pig’s ability to maintain performance (or recover quickly) following exposure to disease. Results from our research trials show that there is a wide range […]
Breeding for enhanced sow longevity
By Jenelle Dunkelberger and Torunn Aasmundstad Topigs Norsvin has selected for enhanced sow longevity for over a decade. Much of the data used to facilitate genetic improvement in our lines is collected at nucleus farms. Sow longevity, however, is not one of the traits measured at these locations. Given the need to continuously evaluate the […]