• Provide a reasonable environment with even temperatures. Cleanliness in the facilities is essential.
• Maintain good body condition prior to breeding and during pregnancy by your nutrition and feeding program.
• Maintain sow health and immunity to disease through vaccination.
• Have sufficient boar power available so that they need to be used only once every 24 hours.
• Make sure that the right type of stockperson is in charge of matings. The abilities in this stockperson have a direct effect on reproductive performance.

• Ear tag all gilts and record them on a day sheet as they come into heat.
• Breed gilts on their second heat cycle and when they reach 115 kg in live weight.
• Vaccinate gilts (and young boars) against erysipelas and porcine parvovirus as they are delivered. Vaccinate and booster the gilts 4 weeks and 1 week before breeding begins so that gilts achieve excellent immunity.
• Include a cull breeding boar into the gilt pool as an inducement for the gilts to come on heat. The pheromones (boar smell) produced by the older boar stimulate the gilts.
• Young breeding boars need to be in proximity of the gilts so that both are excited for breeding as heat is observed.
• A stocking density of less than 1.4 square metres (15 square feet) of floor space may depress exhibiting of strong estrus.
• Provide a minimum of 14-16 hours of light per day – light enough to be able to read a newspaper at floor level.
• Make sure a worming program has been in place prior to the gilts coming into the facilities. Start the fill with as high health gilts as possible.
• Feed an adequate breeding ration and ad lib feed 2-3 weeks prior to expected matings.

• Always introduce the gilt to the boar.
• Observe every service to completion in indoor situations.
• Don’t serve too early in the heat cycle.
•  Make sure gilts are standing completely still and solid for their first mating.
• Serve in a pen that is dry, with a non-slip floor. The pen should be at least 2.5 metres (8 feet) on a side.
• Assist entry of the penis into the vagina if necessary by cupping with a clean or gloved hand. Do not handle the boar’s prepuce – squeezing it will empty the preputial sac and cause heavy bacterial contamination in the gilt.
• Ensure the penis is locked into the gilt cervix and then observe between the testicles for the pulsation of the urethra to indicate that insemination has taken place.
• Always use a fresh, unused boar for the first service.
• If boars are stiff or lame, you risk farrowing a small litter. Boars can be treated with an anti-inflammatory and antibiotic to minimize stiffness.
• Avoid using a boar for at least 14 days if he has had a temperature over 40 degrees Centigrade (104 degrees Fahrenheit). Fevers will kill the sperm cells already formed in the epididymis.
• Handle the boars and gilts quietly and patiently during service.
• Serve gilts am and pm every 24 hours.
• Don’t mix gilts after 2 days post-service.
• Feed gilts 2 kg maximum for 2 days post-service. Then a minimum of 2.8 kg to day 21 post-service.
• Feed a diet of at least 14.0 MJ digestible energy and 1% lysine.
• Success by artificial insemination is possible where good observance of heat, clean insemination technique and good nutrition are managed.

• Normal returns to service should be noted any day between day 18-day 23. Check gilts during this period for a swollen vulva, riding other gilts and interest in a boar.
• If gilts return, they should be rebred with a different boar than their first service. Consider the management details that might have led to the return.
• Gilts that don’t conceive after three heat cycles should be culled and sent to slaughter.

Abnormal returns to service need additional reviews to determine the likely cause: disease, physical injury, etc.

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