Piglets being crushed by the sow is a major welfare challenge in outdoor pig production. To develop interventions with the highest impact on mitigating crushing, it is necessary to know whether the major behaviour leading up to crushing can be considered mainly sow- or piglet-related or due to inappropriate housing conditions and thus whether the genetics of the sow is a factor of importance. In this observational study, piglets classified as fatally crushed based on necropsy were identified on video recordings. Seventy-two crushing events were observed on video in 32 litters. Forty of the events took place in 17 litters born by DanBred Landrace × Yorkshire hybrid sows while 32 events took place in 15 litters born by Topigs Norsvin TN70 hybrids (TN70). The fatal posture changes were rolling (31%), standing to sternal lying (22%), standing to lateral lying (11%, where half were classified as ‘flopping’), sitting to sternal lying (11%), stepping on a piglet (11%), minor movement (10%), sternal lying to standing (3%) and lateral lying to standing (1%). We hypothesised that a larger proportion of the fatal crushing events could be attributed to either inadequate maternal behaviour (no exploration of piglet location before lying down, ‘flopping’ or not responsive to squeezing a piglet), inappropriate housing (squeezing against inventory), low piglet vitality (weak/damaged before) or an unattractive creep area (piglets clustering near the sow). There were no detectable differences between parity and hybrid on whether the sow explored before or made a posture change after crushing. One-third of the crushed pigs were weak/damaged before and took up a larger proportion of the fatally crushed piglets in DanBred (38%) vs. TN70 (16%) sows. ‘Flopping’ and squeezing against inventory were rare (7% and 1%, respectively). The sow explored before lying down in 42% of the events. Exploring before occurred more often before lying sternal and before stepping on a piglet than for all other fatal sow posture changes (P < 0.01). In 18% of the fatal events, the sow made a new posture change within one minute. Based on the findings, options to reduce crushing are discussed, including genetic selection for maternal behaviour and more robust piglets, housing conditions to slow sow posture changes and/or by attracting piglets away from the danger zone.

Weaners have a great genetic potential for growth, which currently are not fully utilized in the organic pig production under European conditions, characterized by prolonged lactation period, access to roughage and a limited range of feedstuff available as compared to conventional pig production. Nutrition is a key element for improving the growth and utilization of nutrients, however, is also a risk factor for post-weaning diarrhea. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of a starter diet, with a high content of dietary protein and including fermented soybean cake, on the growth performance of organic pigs weaned outdoors. In total, 600 organic pigs weaned at d 49 on average were included in the study. The study comprised of five outdoor feeding trials lasting 46 d on average. The initial 14 d, pigs were fed an organic standard starter diet (control (n = 5); 134 g standardized ileal digestible crude protein/kg) using toasted soybean cake as the main protein source or high protein starter diet (HP (n = 5); 167 g standardized ileal digestible crude protein/kg) using fermented soybean cake as the main protein source. After 14 d the dietary differentiation ceased, and the pigs were offered a standard organic grower diet. Initial and final bodyweight and feed consumption were recorded at paddock level and diarrhea traits were visual assessed during the feeding trial. Pigs fed control starter diet had a 3% greater average daily feed intake compared to pigs fed HP starter diet (P = 0.022). Moreover, the average daily gain was increased by 8% (P = 0.013) and the feed conversion ratio was improved by 12% (P = 0.001) when pigs were fed the HP diet as compared to the control diet. The improved feed efficiency of pigs fed the HP diet, improved the calculated N efficiency and reduced the estimated N excretion per produced pig. In spite of the high protein content of the HP starter diet, the subjective diarrhea evaluation did not indicate increased risk of developing post-weaning diarrhea. In conclusion, organic pigs weaned outdoor benefitted from being fed a starter diet high in protein using fermented soybean cake as the major protein source. Growth performance was improved, without indication of increased risk of developing post-weaning diarrhea.