Summary
Losing piglets to crushing is a real problem. In Canada, most pre-weaning piglet deaths are caused by sows accidentally lying on their young. Researchers wanted to know: is this partly genetic — and can we select against it?
Using records from over 3,000 Yorkshire sows on three Ontario farms, the team developed a breeding value tool to rank sows by their tendency to crush piglets. They found this behaviour is heritable (about 7%), similar to litter size. The top 10% of sows crushed roughly 0.15 more piglets per litter than the bottom 10%.
For producers, this means genetic selection could gradually reduce crushing events — improving both piglet welfare and your bottom line, potentially saving millions across Canada's herd over time.