Assessment of sow mortality in a large herd

Causes of sow and gilt death were appraised with postmortem examinations for 20 weeks (May to October) in a 5200-sow herd experiencing higher than expected sow mortality. Complete necropsy findings and data are provided for 107 females. The locomotor, gastrointestinal, reproductive, and urinary systems were affected with lesions presumably causing death; however, lesions affecting the respiratory and circulatory systems also were evident. Sow death was more common during gestation and lactation than in the breeding phase of production. Animals euthanized by farm personnel accounted for approximately 40% of deaths. A group of 88 cull sows was examined at slaughter to discover the distribution of lesions in the surviving population. The proportion of animals with lesions differed between the culled and necropsied sows.