Page 16 of articles about sow in Articles

The gestation period in the majority of sows is usually around 113 to 115 days. However, a percentage of sows can farrow normally up to 3 days before or after.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.