Breeding performance needs lift
Breeding performance needs lift
By Emma Penny
IMPROVING pig herd breeding performance can help boost returns, as well as ensuring units run as efficiently as possible.
Speaking at the launch of an Intervet booklet, How to improve breeding herd performance on the pig farm, vet Christianne Glossop said that units needed high levels of reproductive performance.
"Pig production needs to be well planned. Fluctuations in breeding performance reduce efficiency and output, which makes planning difficult. The only option is to manage the herd to help cut fluctuations such as those from seasonal infertility."
Dr Glossop also believes lack of understanding can affect fertility, and that the science behind certain breeding practices must be explained to everyone involved. "For example, explaining why sow stimulation is important during AI could help ensure it is carried out."
Time constraints can also reduce reproductive performance, she said. "It is crucial to understand the pressures on people. When prices drop, stockmanship can often fall too and there is a loss of job satisfaction which can hit performance."
On larger units, she warned that staff might not always understand how one section related to another, leading to possible problems. "You have got to bring the jigsaw pieces together." Agreeing with Dr Glossop, Inter-vets pig specialist, John Richardson, said sow performance in the UK has risen by only 2% in total over the past 10 years. "This is not good enough for long-term survival."
He cited figures from the MLC, and a recent award winning unit which reared 11.7 pigs a sow a year – more than the top third of MLC units had born alive. The winning herd also achieved 2.5 litters a sow a year, compared with 2.34 for the top third of MLC herds.
"Their figures show what can be achieved, and it is stockmanship that makes the difference."
Supervising farrowing can help maximise pigs reared a litter. He believed that leaving sows unattended at farrowing was a mistake when each piglet dropping out of the sow was nominally valued at about £20. "Piglets are vulnerable, and have little fat cover or hair; even drying them off rather than leaving them to generate enough heat to dry themselves can help."
But he said he was aware that supervising each farrowing could result in high labour costs. "One option is to synchronise farrowing so sows farrow during working hours which improves labour efficiency while supervision cuts losses."
Reducing empty days would also help improve efficiency and productivity, he believed. "Empty days are holiday time for sows, and cost producers £2.50-£2.70 a sow a day. On average, sows are empty for 37 days a year, but on some farms, they are empty for less than 10 days. All producers should be aiming for less than 30 days empty a year."
Observing and stimulating sows, watching boars, or using AI, and pregnancy testing all help cut empty days, as could using a product containing synthetic gonadotrophin to stimulate the sows ovaries to produce eggs, he said.
The booklet is aimed at everyone working on a pig unit and is available through vets or from the livestock department at Intervet (01223-436640).
lIntervet is launching a new product for synchronising farrowing. Prostapar, a synthetic prostaglandin, induces farrowing within 36 hours of injection. A POM product, it is available from vets and is administered at a rate of 2ml, one to two days before the desired farrowing date. It will cost £2-£3 a sow according to the company. *
SOW PERFORMANCE
• Up 2% over 10 years.
• Must improve further.
• Stockmanship vital.