Top pig farms in Denmark wean 43 piglets/sow/year
Denmark’s pig industry continues to break records. An overview of the 2nd quarter of 2025 by consultancy firm Velas revealed that the top farms easily break the barrier of 40 piglets weaned per sow per year.
That was reported by Germany’s agricultural title Top Agrar. The Velas analysis included data from 467 sow farmers, 331 rearing farms and 315 finishing farms.
From those data, the company wrote, it emerged that Denmark’s piglet producers are at an average of 37.3 piglets per sow per year. When zooming in at just the top 10%, the average amount was at 42.8 weaned piglets per sow per year; when doing the same at the bottom 10%, the average was at 29.7. In total, 30% of sow herds are now exceeding the mark of 40 weaned piglets per sow.
Finishers and feed efficiency
Also worth mentioning are the performance data of finishing farms included in the survey. The average daily weight gain is about 1,095 g, with losses being just under 3%. The average feed conversion rate is at 2.5 kg of feed being required per kg of weight gain. The top 10% of farms even achieved an FCR of 2.27.
High production figures do have an impact on the average sow lifetime as well. At a recent event of animal health company Hipra, the Danish veterinarian Dr Andreas Birch of Ø-vet said that Denmark’s high prolificity rate comes with a downside of 15% mortality amongst sows.
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