Charles J. Christains University of Minnesota

Publish Date: June 3, 2006

Abnormalities are deviations from normal development and can involve any part of the pig, internal or external. These defects can impair the pig’s ability to function or even cause death. Anatomical abnormalities or defects occur in at least 1% of newborn pigs. These defects may be caused by genetic or environmental factors. Although the frequency of these defects is low, they can be frequent enough in an individual herd to cause substantial economic loss.

Publish Date: June 3, 2006

The swine industry is re-emphasizing the importance of efficiently developing a quality product. To fulfill this objective, market hogs will need to come from larger litters and convert feed into lean meat more efficiently. For this to occur in your herd, favorable genetic change needs to be made in those traits that effect efficiency of production. Therefore, pork producers need to understand basic genetic concepts so that they can apply them to improve economically important traits.