Causes of Piglet Death From Birth to Weaning

Causes of piglet death were determined for 569 piglets that died between birth and weaning out of a total of 2388 born over the second to fourth parity in 124 Yorkshire and 109 Yorkshire × Lacombe sow litters. Eight specific causes of death were identified. Starvation, crushing by the sow and stillbirths were the three main causes. Unidentified causes and piglets euthanized largely because of sow death or injury were of secondary importance. Exposure, congenital abnormalities and disease were of minor importance. In addition, the primary underlying cause of death appears to be a lack of adequate nutrition for the piglets as only 6.3% of the piglets dying during the first 3 d had an increase in body weight and only 15.4% of the piglets dying after day 3 had body weight increases that could be considered as adequate for their age. Key words: Piglets, death, birth, lactation