Focus on sow productivity and breeding progress (productivity + genetic gain)

High sow productivity is critical for the economic sustainability of any farm. DanBred achieves its world-leading performance by consistently linking production results with a robust and forward-looking breeding programme.

Current productivity and future gains

In 2024, DanBred herds supported the world’s highest reported productivity, averaging 37.3 weaned piglets per sow per year, with the top 10% best weaning 41,9 pig per sow per year.

This stable increase of 0.9 to 1 piglet per year in the last 2 years is supported by careful selection focused on traits that deliver true economic value.

Our realized breeding progress over the past two years stands at EUR 2.35 per year per DanBred finisher pig. Looking ahead, the prognosis for the breeding progress in the is expected to go to EUR 2.48 per year.

This continual improvement ensures that DanBred customers stay at the forefront of global production efficiency.

Genetic focus for a sustainable future

The backbone of this success is our strategic focus on robustness and productivity.

• Robustness will dominate: Robustness traits are expected to contribute 69% of the total expected breeding progress in the coming years, reflecting our commitment to creating even stronger pigs in production.
• Survival continues to lead: Piglet survival and sow survival will continue to be the most important breeding goal traits in the future, ensuring long-term herd productivity by continuously improving sow longevity.

• Improving nursing ability: The new trait, litter weight gain, is expected to be the third-most important trait moving forward. The trait will improve the sows nursing ability, and the prognosis predicts an annual increase of almost 3 kg, which could correspond to half an extra weaned pig per weaning.

For the Spanish sector, where improving sow efficiency and managing sustainability challenges are paramount, DanBreds focus on high productivity coupled with genetic