Pigs Notes May 2007

I recently spent 5 days in Holland studying the pig industry. The Dutch excel at the management of sows post weaning. In relation to service management the areas that the Dutch view as critical in improving overall sow fertility are the provision of light in the service house and heat detection.

Light

All Dutch service houses have fluorescent lights installed at eye level above the heads of the sows. The lights are controlled by a timer and are on for 14 to 16 hours per day throughout the year. As sows can be individually confined in Holland up to 4 days post service the installation of lights above the sows heads is practical. However in Northern Ireland lights could be installed in voluntary cubicle houses above the sow’s head without the risk of damage.

Heat detection

In Holland boars are housed separately from weaned sows and are only introduced to the sows during heat detection and insemination. Sows are checked for heat using the boar twice/day. It has been shown that limiting boar contact to twice per day is more effective as there is less risk of over stimulation. Also, on some units the sound of a boar is played into the service house via CD before and during artificial insemination. This has been shown to improve heat detection and the uptake of semen during artificial insemination. In addition, the boar appears to be keener as he thinks there is another boar present in the service area and again this has a positive effect on heat detection and insemination. The manufactures of the CD recommend that it be played twice/day for 10 minutes from weaning to service.

It is evident from farm visits that an area that requires more attention is feeding sows in the farrowing house. I am of the opinion that on many units sows are not receiving as much feed in the farrowing house as producers sometimes think.

An analysis of the Greenmount Pig Benchmarking results shows that the average amount of feed/sow/year is 1.3t. This figure appears to be adequate. However for units feeding two sow diets the breakdown between the diets is important. As a general guideline lactation feed should account for about 35 percent of total sow feed used i.e. 450 KG/sow/year. However on benchmarked units over one quarter of units feeding two diets this level of lactation feed intake was not achieved.

I think it would be a worthwhile exercise to calculate how much lactating sows are actually being fed. This can easily achieved for any period if we know the following:

The causes of poor lactation feed intake are numerous. Sow in the farrowing house can be encouraged to eat more by:

If you would be interested in calculating how much the sows in your farrowing houses are eating please contact me, e-mail address. liz.donnely@dardni.gov.uk