Select4Milk

The economic optimization of piglet production has led to a tremendous increase in fertility performance in recent years, with a significant increase in the number of live piglets born per sow. However, this is negatively correlated with the piglets' birth weight. A critical overall assessment reveals that this can have a detrimental impact on animal health and welfare. Therefore, the focus of the Select4Milk research project is the development of a selection index for the parameters of milk yield and longevity, which will subsequently enable each farm to make the right decisions with the simplest means possible with regard to maintaining and optimizing the performance of their herd. At the end of the project, farmers should have new and easy-to-use tools in their barns, such as the use of thermography and a new management tool (selection index), to help promote animal health and rearing performance through early detection of sick and underperforming animals and targeted selection. Overall, these measures and the resulting more targeted process optimization can improve the health of the herd.