Characteristics and risk factors for severe repeat-breeder female pigs and their lifetime performance in commercial breeding herds

BACKGROUND Repeat-breeder females increase non-productive days (NPD) and decrease herd productivity and profitability. The objectives of the present study were 1) to define severe repeat-breeder (SRB) females in commercial breeding herds, 2) to characterize the pattern of SRB occurrences across parities, 3) to examine factors associated with SRB risk, and 4) to compare lifetime reproductive performances of SRB and non-SRB females. Data included 501,855 service records and lifetime records of 93,604 breeding-female pigs in 98 Spanish herds between 2008 and 2013. An SRB female pig was defined as either a pig that had three or more returns. The 98 herds were classified into high-, intermediate- and low-performing herds based by the upper and lower 25th percentiles of the herd mean of annualized lifetime pigs weaned per sow. Multi-level mixed-effects logistic regression models with random intercept were applied to the data. RESULTS Of 93,604 females, 1.2% of females became SRB pigs in their lifetime, with a mean SRB risk per service (± SEM) of 0.26 ± 0.01%. Risks factors for becoming an SRB pig were low parity, being first-served in summer, having a prolonged weaning-to-first-mating interval (WMI), and being in low-performing herds. For example, served gilts had 0.81% higher SRB risk than served sows (P < 0.01). Also, female pigs in a low-performing herd had 1.19% higher SRB risks than those in a high-performing herd. However, gilt age at-first-mating (P = 0.08), lactation length (P = 0.05) and number of stillborn piglets (P = 0.28) were not associated with becoming an SRB female. The SRB females had 14.4-16.4 fewer lifetime pigs born alive, 42.8-91.3 more lifetime NPD, and 2.1-2.2 lower parities at culling than non-SRB females (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS We recommend that producers closely monitor the female pig groups at higher risk of becoming an SRB.