Weaning 30 piglets per sow, per year is becoming a goal within a producer’s grasp.
Colin Pratt of Big Sky Farms at Porcupine Plain, Sask., has peaked at that number. With modern practices, a little technology and a lot of attention to husbandry, it will be the new production benchmark, he said.
“All the best genetics, top quality feed, most effective barn designs won’t get you there. It’s all about the people who do the work with animals,” he told producers attending the Saskatchewan Pork Symposium in Saskatoon Nov. 8.
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“Every detail must be looked after when it comes to the breeding and farrowing areas.”
He said maintenance, paperwork and other duties have to take a back seat to duties that ensure animals get the attention they need.
Pratt said higher production begins with the gilts.
Producers need to begin with mature gilts that have cycled at least once and have 14 functional teats.
“You can’t compromise on your gilt quality. You need
every litter of 14 to make it,” he said.
Pratt said getting 30 animals weaned requires sows to produce 2.55 cycles per year with an average 12.7 piglets born alive. Preweaning mortality must be kept to seven percent from the industry average of 10.
Heat detection is critical to ensure that breeding takes place at the height of estrus in order to achieve a 90 percent farrowing rate of 13.5 to 14 piglets born on average.
Pratt said semen should be stored at 17 C and needs to be turned twice daily. Breeding should be done with a boar present and with sow or gilt stimulation before, during and after insemination.
If the female must be moved to another house, it should take place either in the first five days after insemination, or after 28 days to ensure embryos are well implanted.
He said drafts, overcrowding and other stress factors must be avoided at all costs.
Piglets should be sorted for fostering within two hours of birth and placed with equivalent sized farrowing pen mates with appropriate sows while still wet. A second fostering is done once farrowing is complete.
Staff need to ensure that each piglet receives colostrum.
Pratt replaces any dead piglets with live ones to create uniform litter sizes that aid the lactation management of sows. This avoids unbalanced competition for maternal resources and produces an even weaning weight in the pen.
“Well-trained technicians that are focused on the larger goal are the only way this work gets done,” he said.
“You need two temperature zones in the farrowing areas. A 25 to 28 C for the piglets and a 19 C area for the sow to encourage lactation.”
Pratt said producers shouldn’t rush to replace a sow until its production falls below that of a new gilt.
Induced farrowing helps ensure that staff is on hand to assist when necessary. The strategy reduces stillborns to as few as four percent.
“Sixty percent of all (pre-weaning mortality) takes place in the first 48 hours. You need to staff these times appropriately. Keeping losses low is where you make your money,” he said.
Success with the next breeding begins while the sow is feeding piglets. Sow nutrition is critical both for her and for the litter to maximize its average daily gain.
Because feed makes milk, sow rations should be reduced after farrowing to maintain weight and keep milk production at a level that is just enough to provide for a litter of newborns during the first week.
Sows with leftover milk will reduce their overall milk supply, hampering their ability to make more once the piglets have grown larger.
Sow feed rations may begin as low as two kilograms per day and increase to a targeted level of 14 kg by the 18th day.
Pratt said sows should be fed as many as five times per day to ensure maximum intake once the litter is growing fast.
John Patience of the Prairie Swine Centre at the University of Saskatchewan said the economics of delivering as many live pigs to the feeder-finisher are easy to understand.
He agreed that proper staffing and attention to detail pay off for farmers.
“At 28 piglets weaned versus 22, there are 7,200 more pigs delivered annually from a 1,200-sow operation. That’s a lot of money to do things right,” he said.
