Prowess Bioscience featured in Pig World
Industry & Media · August 2026
Prowess Bioscience was featured in Pig World in an article exploring how sow body condition calipers can help producers move from subjective assessment towards more consistent, decision-focused monitoring of body condition.
Published on 10 August 2026, “The sow caliper: Understanding body condition” examines the role of body condition throughout the reproductive cycle and how practical, repeatable measurements can support feeding and management decisions on commercial farms.
From measurement to management information
Body condition reflects the balance between nutrient intake, mobilisation of body reserves, lactation demand, growth and recovery before the next reproductive cycle.
This is particularly relevant in first parity sows, which must continue supporting their own growth while meeting the demands of their first litter. Managing excessive loss of body reserves during this period is therefore an important component of lactation management and subsequent reproductive recovery.
The article discusses how visual body condition scoring, while practical, can vary between observers and even within the same observer under different farm conditions.
The sow body condition caliper provides a more standardised approach. Used consistently at key production stages, it can help quantify how body condition changes over time rather than simply describing the sow at a single point.
Looking beyond the average
The article also presents analysis of body condition records from 1,424 first parity PIC Camborough® sows from a commercial farm. On average, the sows lost approximately 5% of their initial caliper value during lactation. However, the individual variation around that average was substantial, with some animals losing considerably more condition while others gained condition.
Looking at transitions between body condition categories provided additional information. While many sows remained within or moved towards the desired condition range, others moved from ideal or higher body condition into an underconditioned category by weaning.
These differences illustrate why averages alone may not provide enough information for management decisions.
Turning data into action
The greatest value of body condition monitoring comes from using repeated measurements to identify patterns that can inform management.
Consistent caliper records can be reviewed by parity, batch, feeding group, litter size or starting condition to identify which groups are changing, by how much, and whether those changes are moving animals towards or away from the desired range.
This can support more focused discussions around lactation feeding, feed intake, litter demand, gilt development and recovery before the next service. For higher risk animals, additional monitoring during lactation may also help identify excessive condition loss while there is still an opportunity to intervene.
At Prowess Bioscience, this reflects a broader principle behind our work: the objective is not to collect more data for its own sake, but to structure, analyse and interpret data in ways that support better decisions.