Abstract

Modern pig farming worldwide has been facing substantial economic loss due to perinatal mortality which is mainly associated with the farrowing process. Therefore, the present study aimed to identify factors affecting the farrowing duration in natural farrowing sows in the intensive indoor conditions. In total, 210 farrowing sows in 4 commercial farms were included in the study. The association between potential risk factors and farrowing duration was analyzed by using general linear models. Two final models demonstrated that the number of total born piglets, number of stillborn and mummified piglets, litter weight, and average birth weight were significantly associated with farrowing duration. Among the four factors, average birth weight had a negative association with whereas the other three factors had positive associations with farrowing duration. Two models explained about 19.1-19.5% variation of the farrowing duration. The results also demonstrated that the number of total born piglets, stillborn, and mummified piglets were more important than litter weight and average birth weight in explaining the variation of farrowing duration.