An interesting chart produced by Paragon Economics shows costs of production in 33 countries to be by far highest in Japan, followed by Belgium/Luxemburg and England and being lowest in the US, Brazil and Argentina. A group of countries with similar production costs includes Canada, Ecuador, Thailand, Venezuela, Peru and Chile. Low Canadian feed costs are offset by lower labor and overheads costs in those other countries.

F&S Hog Farm nucleus herd is improving performance on a regular basis. Largest loin for Landrace gilts in April was 66.6 mm; for Yorkshire gilts was 66.4 mm; Yorkshire boars was 63.1 mm.

Parkland Colony’s first purebred gilt farrowing produced 16 live piglets, each weighing 1.4 kg at birth. There were 6 gilts in the litter.
 

This article is the wrap-up of this series by Dr. Frank Aherne. We will miss the good advice he has provided to PEAK Swine Genetics clients over the past four years.

Because nutrient requirements of sows increase with advance in pregnancy as the sow gains weight and the litter develops, especially so in the last two weeks of pregnancy, it is recommended that sows be fed an extra 1.0 kg feed/day from day 100 of gestation until farrowing. For most herds, this higher level of feeding late in gestation will not increase the incidence of mastitis, metritis or sow milking problems [but piglet size may be increased at birth].

Table 3. Feed intake and mineral and vitamin intakes of sows fed according to condition score or bodyweight (see also Vol. 9, No. 4)

Table 4. Mineral requirements and intakes of sows fed according to condition score or bodyweight

The objective of this feeding system is to have all sows reach a backfat level of 18 to 19 mm at farrowing. By feeding sows according to their weight, this ensures that heavier sows are being properly provided for. Some recent research has shown that if sows are fed only on the basis of condition score, the heavier sows do not receive sufficient vitamins and minerals to meet their potential for number of pigs born and weaned.

The research showed that when older parity sows (parity 6 to 11) were fed extra vitamins and minerals, there was no decline in number of pigs born and weaned per litter with increasing parity number. [See Roseglen Colony tabulation below.] By feeding sows according to weight, this problem will be avoided (Table 3).

It is assumed that the accuracy of the feed line drop boxes or electronic sow feeders has been checked and adjusted as required. Because gestation lasts for 114 to 116 days, small differences in daily feed allowance can lead to large differences in sow weight gain and backfat levels by the time of farrowing. Gestation barn temperature should be kept at 18?C to 19?C for sows in stalls or 14?C to 15?C for loose-housed sows with straw bedding.

[Litter sizes by increasing parity in PigChamp data from Roseglen Colony]

	Parity	Total born	Live born
	1	11.5	10.6
	2	11.6	11.1
	3	13.0	12.3
	4	13.2	12.5
	5	13.5	12.7
	6	13.6	12.5
	7+	13.4	12.4

2005 Data from 1206 litters

[See also the related article in Pig International April 2006 by Dr. Dean Boyd entitled “Sow Mineral Supplies Decline with Age”.]

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