This book draws together summaries of research dealing with both piglets and the sow.

The last books discussing the neonatal or weaned pig were published over 15 years ago. This new book provides up to date information on the suckling and weaned piglet. It covers novel and important topics such as microbiota development in piglets and management of hyperprolific litters. It also discusses topics such as weaning age and its long term influence on piglet heath and performance. The developments of lean and fat tissues and of the intestinal immune system in young pigs are described in detail. Emphasis is put on well-being with chapters focussing on husbandry interventions in suckling piglets as well as consequences of the lactational environment on behavioural disturbances of pigs after weaning. The multiple stressors encountered at and post-weaning are also discussed. Updates on essential subjects such as neonatal mortality, creep feeding of suckling piglets, feeding strategies for weaned pigs, housing systems post-weaning and diseases of piglets are provided. The information covered in this book should be of great assistance to animal scientists, nutritionists, veterinarians and swine producers. They will be made aware of most recent knowledge that will assist in improving the performance and welfare of suckling and weaned piglets.

This book is developed from a British Society of Animal Science occasional meeting, held in September 2000. It brings together all of the scientific disciplines involved in the pre- and post-weaning biology of the piglet, concentrating on growth/development, nutrition, immunology/health, ethology and the physical environment.

The last book on the lactating sow was published over 15 years ago. This new book brings us up to date in current knowledge on the gestating and lactating sow. It covers new and important topics such as conditioning of gilts for optimal reproductive performance, feeding high fibre diets to gestating sows and providing various fat sources in gestation and lactation. It also describes the several key success factors to group-housing systems in gestation, which is a must due to the current move towards group-housing. The new concept of transition feeding for sows is discussed, as well as the factors involved in mammary development of gilts and sows, both of which are instrumental for maximum colostrum and/or milk yields. The impact of the human-animal interactions on sow welfare and performance is discussed with focus on new handling practices that could be developed to overbalance the negative interactions inherent to pig management systems. Updates on must-have topics, such as amino acid and energy requirements of sows, colostrum and milk yield and composition, and sow health are also provided. The subjects covered in this book will assist animal scientists, nutritionists, veterinarians and swine producers in learning the most recent information on relevant and current topics affecting sow production, and in knowing which areas are in need of further research efforts.

'Feed efficiency in swine' has been prepared as a comprehensive treatise on the current state of our understanding of this topic which is so important to the pork industry. Each chapter is written by international authorities who understand both the science and application of their topic area. The book provides detailed insight into the many factors affecting feed efficiency, ranging from diet processing to herd health, from nutrition to physiology and from day-to-day barn management to the adoption of advanced technologies. The authors explain such practical aspects as the challenge of interpreting feed efficiency information obtained on farm or the role of liquid feeding. The authors also delve into more scientific topics such as amino acid or energy metabolism or animal physiology. This book is written for people who have a technical interest in pork production, including nutritionists, geneticists, farm management specialists, veterinarians, other academics and, of course, pork producers.

Local or autochthonous pig breeds represent a pool of genetic diversity of porcine species and a link with old-style traditional production systems and traditional pork products. These breeds were largely abandoned because they were not competitive in the concept of modern, industrial type of pig production. Despite an increased interest for local pig breeds in the past years, they remain largely untapped and the knowledge about their characteristics is limited, which was a challenge undertook in the project TREASURE in the frame of multicriteria evaluation of local pig breeds. The book represents a valuable compendium of data on census, breeding organisations, production systems, and performances with ambition to present their contemporary (preserved) phenotype. This work has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 634476 for project with acronym TREASURE. The content of this book reflects only the authors' view and the European Union Agency is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.