Articles - Management

Another convenient option for controlling the replacement entry is to incorporate the information on the breeding chart.

In the previous chapter we began to describe several systems for recording clearly and quickly the dates that gilts come into heat and for planning gilt service.

Man is possibly the only animal capable of living in practically all places in the world, regardless of the climate. This is due to his capacity to construct buildings to isolate himself from the climate however extreme it may be, maintaining an environment which allows him to survive. As domestic animals live together with man, they have to take advantage indirectly of this capacity.

In previous chapters we have looked at the importance of maintaining the ideal parity profile within each batch.

In the last chapter we looked at the importance of achieving homogenous farrowing batches (age distribution + nº sows). In this chapter we will begin to see how to achieve this.

We have already seen that in order to achieve a correct parity structure and homogeneity of the production batches, it is necessary to control the number of replacement gilts entering the herd.

Until now we have spoken about the general parity structure of the herd, but in an ideal situation this optimum distribution should be put into practice in each of the productive batches of sows.

One of the main goals for a sow herd is to achieve a correct homogeneity of the productive batches.

When external administration of the hormonal product is stopped, the levels of progesterone fall.

In the first part of management of the breeding chart we basically looked at how it can help us to control returns. In this second part we will look at other applications.

In this chapter we will look at how hormones can be used to influence the time of farrowing according to our needs.

Since concentrated feeds were first used it has been possible to see that mixing them with water has certain advantages. Probably the most important are a higher consumption and an improved exploitation.

Regardless of the causes we often waste food and the animals do not consume everything that arrives to the farm.

When the sow is pregnant, the corpus luteum remains and continues to produce progesterone. While the levels of progesterone are high the sow does not become in heat and maintains gestation.

So far we have seen different options for retaining the males and for stimulating the stalled sows that maximize speed and stimulus. Once stimulated, now we are going to mate them.

Without a doubt weaning is the most stressful process suffered by a pig, or at least it is up until that moment in its life.

For hormones to be efficient it is essential to use them with the right approach. For this we must know the reproductive cycle of the sow and the hormones that are involved.

Different systems of boar’s retention during stimulation and mating in stalls have already been seen. Now we are going to put it into practice.

Colostrum offers 3 essential properties to the piglet: very useful energy source (vital for generating movement and avoiding temperature loss), immune supply (protects against germs that the piglet begins to come into contact with) and natural growth factors (complete the maturity of the piglet).

For the animals to be comfortable it is important to know their needs. The more needs that we can fulfill the more productive the animal will be.

Both for heat detection and for mating, maximum efficiency is achieved if the sow is well stimulated.

A breeding chart would be like a type of computer without wires, screen or keyboard.

With this article we begin the publication of a series of three unpublished articles by José Barceló for pig333.com on the age at weaning. José gave us the articles a few days before his death. As a way of paying homage to him we have decided to publish them posthumously without any alterations.

Piglets are born with very limited energy reserves: compared to other newborn mammals, they have much less energy stored per kg liveweight.