In today’s hog industry, every extra pig weaned matters. Margins are tight in nearly every facility, labor is stretched thin, and producers are being pushed to drive more efficiently without relying on expensive electronics or complicated management systems. Yet one of the most overlooked factors in farrowing performance is also one of the most foundational: the flooring beneath your piglets and sows.
Across North America, producers are seeing a clear and repeatable trend—ADA Dura Trac flooring consistently helps reduce pre-wean mortality, which translates into more pigs weaned per litter and more pigs weaned per sow per year. In many barns, this performance boost is the difference between fighting to hit weaning targets and surpassing them with confidence. It allows producers to move more pounds and more pigs out the door with fewer sows. That means those return females, bad mothers, and thin sows that normally hang on “just one more cycle” can finally be culled instead of kept around out of necessity. Efficiency goes up, sow inventory improves, and profitability follows.
A Better Environment for Newborn Pigs
The reason Dura Trac performs so well comes down to what it delivers inside the farrowing room. ADA Dura Trac flooring creates a warmer, drier, and cleaner environment that gives newborn pigs the best possible start. The surface is engineered to stay dry, provide stable traction, and prevent chilling—three things newborn pigs struggle with on “cheaper” flooring.
When piglets stay warm and active, they find the udder faster, consume more colostrum, therefore avoiding fall behinds, and spend less time lying in danger zones near the sow’s shoulder for warmth. Those first hours of life will decide your weaning success more than any other timespan, and Dura Trac helps tilt the odds in the producer’s favor.
Cleaner Crates, Healthier Litters
Cleaner floors also help sows’ stability while in the crate, and that cleanliness pays dividends. Because manure drops through the flooring instead of spreading across it, sows keep cleaner underlines and pigs face lower bacterial exposure from the minute they pop out. The antimicrobial in our plastisol creates a significant reduction in scours and pathogen load, which can translate into noticeably stronger, more uniform litters by weaning.
Producers know a clean farrowing crate doesn’t just “look” better—it performs better. Healthier pigs grow faster, stay more uniform, and reduce labor pressure caused by treating sick litters and balancing litters.
Built-In Traction Reduces Crushing Losses
Another advantage is DuraTrac’s built-in traction, which plays a major role in reducing crushing losses. One of the most preventable and frustrating causes of mortality in the early stage of farrowing is really simple; it’s laid-ons. When pigs can’t grip the floor, they’re slower to move out of the sow’s path.
DuraTrac’s plastisol-coated expanded metal and welded rod provide a traction pattern that gives piglets the grip they need from the moment they hit the crate, helping them escape pressure zones quickly. Saving just one or two pigs per litter becomes significant in improving your operation and numbers. These are the small wins that accumulate into major gains in pigs weaned per sow.
Durability That Pays for Years
These performance benefits hold up year after year because ADA Dura Trac is built to last. Its heavy-duty welds and corrosion-resistant plastisol coating stand up to the constant moisture, manure, washing, sanitizing, heat, and pressure from the sow that destroy cheaper flooring.
This isn’t a product that needs replacing every few years—it’s a long-term investment that will pay dividends in your operation. Producers choose it not just for today’s production, but because they want barns that will still be performing for the next generation to come.
Conclusion: More Pigs With Fewer Sows
In the end, ADA Dura Trac flooring strengthens the most critical phase of pig production: Farrowing. By driving down pre-wean mortality, producers bring more pigs to weaning, improve target numbers, and reduce the number of sows needed to maintain or increase flow. For operations looking to wean more pigs without expanding sow numbers—or get more out of the sows they already own, the solution is literally right under their feet.
Ready to improve farrowing performance?
Contact Josh to learn how ADA Dura Trac flooring can help your operation wean more pigs with fewer sows.
