Seed mortality increased by 1.5 percent in the United States

Breeding companies in the U.S. have had a bad year in terms of sow losses. On average, 15.8 percent of pigs died due to mortality and euthanasia. This is 1.5 percent more than in 2022. National Hog Farmer reports that sow mortality is 1.1 percent higher than the previous record year (2020).

In 2020, sowing losses due to mortality peaked at 14.7 percent. In 2021 and 2022, seeding growers in the US provided slightly lower figures. Although pig mortality during these years averaged 2 percent higher than 12.4 percent in 2019.

MetaFarms Ag Platform’s analysis among 300 companies with a total of 800,000 seeds shows that this downward or stabilizing trend will not continue this year. In contrast, the average mortality rate for pigs is assumed to be 15.8 percent. According to Metaforms, a new low.

The 10 percent best-scoring companies achieve less than 7 percent sow mortality. The 10 percent worst-scoring seed farms averaged 22 percent. Especially the month of August stands in a negative way this year. At 19.4 percent, the highest average mortality rate among pigs has been recorded in the past ten years.

Unknown causes

In 34 percent of the cases, the main cause of death of pigs was unknown. In 23.5 per cent of cases, death was due to malformation and in 22.6 per cent of cases, death was due to uterine collapse, specifically.

First and second litters in particular pose a high risk. It is also worth noting that seedling mortality is higher in colder months. In 11.6 percent of cases, death was attributable to a pig’s general health.