Nuno Rainho

It's necessary to promote a standardization of the causes of the losses/cullings of the sows. Some rules on which this standardization can be based on are proposed.

The registration of the sow losses/cullings in the management computer programs is normally something easy, but it is not always given the importance that it really has so, sometimes, the registration is incomplete, with wrong dates and without writing down the cause of the loss/culling. Nevertheless, its correct registration and its later analysis can give us very useful information for the correct technical-financial management of the farm.

In previous articles we have talked about the importance of a good sow replacement, and we have explained methods to calculate an adequate sow replacement rate. In this article we are going to show an example of a bad replacement policy and its consequences throughout time on the productivity of the farm.

Normally, when we ask a farmer which is their average number of weaned piglets per sow they normally know this parameter, because its calculation is easy, nevertheless...

It is a widely documented fact that pig production has seasonal variations mainly focused on a descent in the reproductive efficiency in the gestation phase (difficulty in the coming into oestrus, a higher number of reproductive failures) during the summer and autumn months.

Short weaning to service interval isn’t always a synonym for good management, since we have to take into consideration not only average number of days, but also the effect on the percentage of distribution after returns.