Hyper prolificacy and the ‘Rescue Deck’

I have been talking to many commercial breeders across Europe since Christmas about the need to take the strain off the sow of suckling these very large litters of 14 and 15 piglets. While many of these farmers are struggling to achieve an average of 12, a typical response was: “It is all very well for top producers in Denmark, the Netherlands, France and the UK to claim such stratospheric results, but it will be a long time before it affects me!” Not so, dear reader – not so! Three point