Dimension and design of the gestation unit
The gestation unit is basically a parking unit where sows should be kept comfortable to allow the pregnancy to develop
Page 13 of articles about gestation
Hormone management (II)
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.
Maternal Nutrition and Foetal Development
Low maternal feed levels cause a reduction in muscle fibre numbers, whereas enhanced maternal nutrition resulted in a higher number of muscle fibres in specific muscles.
Pork CRC: Award winning pig egg cells
Vital research to reduce seasonal infertility, an ongoing problem for Australia’s pig industry, has been rewarded with a 2009 Science and Innovation Award for Michael Bertoldo, a Pork CRC supported PhD student at The University of Sydney.
PRRS Eradication: A dream or missed opportunity?
Since 1987, Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome virus (PRRS) has become a global drain on pig productivity, profitability, and many a producers’ morale. One thing that remains certain is PRRS virus continually finds ways to circumvent our best bio-management efforts. PRRS marches on in a ceaseless continuum of antigenic change making current vaccines and other control techniques of limited value.
Management of the breeding chart (I)
A breeding chart would be like a type of computer without wires, screen or keyboard.
Feed palatability and voluntary feed intake in pigs
Piglets face a very stressful process at weaning and feed intake becomes one of the most limiting issues.
The effect of management strategies and parity on the behaviour and physiology of gestating sows housed in an electronic sow feeding system
Multiparous sows enter easily to the electronic feeders than primiparous without effects on feeder aggressions
Getting gilt integration right
With good returns on finished pigs, attractive cull sow prices and a contracting EU pig herd, many producers are building up their breeding herds again, some of which have been run at below optimum capacity for a long time.
Increased sow nutrition during midgestation affects muscle fiber development and meat quality, with no consequences on growth performance
Feeding pregnant sows amounts above the requirement during the period of secondary muscle fiber formation affected muscle fiber characteristics
Extra feed or lipid supplies 10 days prior to parturition and their consequences on farrowing and lactation performances
Extra lipid supplies before farrowing may improve piglet survival
Response of piglets weaned from sows fed diets supplemented with conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) to an Escherichia coli K88+ oral challenge
The use of sow dietary CLA supplementation through late gestation and lactation may improve piglet immunity and health status after weaning
Seasonal Infertility in Swine
In natural conditions, there are seasonal fluctuations of availability of food and the earliness or delay in the onset of breeding is related to food levels.
Thompson’s tip: Get cover for reduced fertility
Last year many herds suffered from reduced fertility in both summer and autumn. On many units this is a predictable effect says Paul Thompson, veterinary consultant to pig- breeding company, ACMC Ltd.
Feed intake in the multiparous lactating sow: Its relationship with reactivity during gestation and tryptophan status
High feed intake and low plasmatic Tryptophan levels during the lactation may be directly associated to sow reactivity