Interactions between climatic and production factors on returns of female pigs to service during summer in Japanese commercial breeding herds

The objectives of this study were to determine the associations between climatic factors and production factors for returns to service of female pigs during summer and to quantify the associations between these factors and occurrences of returns to service. The factors that were assessed were as follows: maximum temperature (HT), relative humidity, age of gilts at first mating, parity, weaning-to-first-mating interval (WMI), and lactation length. The study analyzed records of 18,307 gilts in 99 herds and 78,135 parity records of 56,322 sows in 103 herds; all the females were first-serviced between June and September, 2007 to 2009. Average daily HT and relative humidity for 15 days post-service of a female were obtained from 21 local weather stations and coordinated with the performance data of the respective local herds. The returns to service were categorized into three groups: regular returns (RRs: 18–24 days), irregular returns (IRs: 25–38 days), and late returns to service (LRs: 39 days or later). Two-level mixed-effects models were applied to the data by using a herd at level 2 and an individual record at level 1. In mated gilts, the occurrences (%) of RRs, IRs, and LRs were 4.8%, 1.8%, and 5.3%, respectively. In mated sows, the respective occurrences were 3.3%, 1.8%, and 4.2%. Mean values (ranges) of HT and relative humidity were 28.4 °C (13.6 °C–39.8 °C) and 73.4% (35.0%–98.0%), respectively. In gilts, as HT increased from 25 °C to 30 °C, the occurrence of RR increased from 3.7% to 4.4% (P < 0.05). However, there was no association between the occurrence of RR and either relative humidity (P = 0.17) or age at first mating (P = 0.23). In addition, there were no associations between the occurrences of either gilt IR or LR and HT (P ≥ 0.05), relative humidity (P ≥ 0.46), or age at first mating (P ≥ 0.32). In sows, greater occurrences of RRs, IRs, and LRs were associated with higher HT, lower parity, and a WMI of 7 days or longer (P < 0.05), but they were not associated with relative humidity (P ≥ 0.62) or lactation length (P ≥ 0.13). The occurrence of RRs in sows of all WMI groups increased 1.22 (1.04⁵) times for each 5 °C increase in HT. For sows with WMI 0 to 6 days, each 5 °C rise in HT increased the occurrence of IRs and LRs by 1.36 (1.06⁵) and 1.27 (1.05⁵) times, respectively. However, there was no association between increased HT and occurrences of IRs or LRs for sows with WMI 7 days or longer (P ≥ 0.38). Therefore, in order to prevent returns to service, it is recommended that producers apply cooling management for females during the post-service periods in summer.