The Rural Voice, 1998-03, Page 30from four to 10 weeks of age.
Using a four-week cycle with
three-week weaning, there are 13
farrowings per year per crate with the
crates turning over every four weeks.
In theory a single farrowing room
can be used. This system uses two
wcaner rooms where baby pigs enter
at three weeks of age and stay until
thcy're 11 weeks old.
A three-week cycle with three
week weaning is the most intensive
with, in theory, 18.2 farrowings
possible for each crate in a year. The
crates that are washed on Thursday
are immediately filled with sows who
will farrow as soon as the next day. It
uses two farrowing rooms, one to
hold 85 per cent of the sows while a
smaller room is used for sows that
farrow early. Two weaner rooms are
required where pigs stay from three
to nine weeks of age.
Dr. Claire Plante of the
Department of Population
Medicine, University of
Guelph, dealt with problems in
artificial insemination, problems that
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26 THE RURAL VOICE
mostly come from management
problems, she said.
The number one problem in any
breeding herd is accurate detection of
females in heat, she said. Because
many people don't think a sow
comes into heat before the fourth or
fifth day after weaning, they don't
even try to start checking until then.
But by stimulating animals daily with
a boar, often sows will cycle sooner.
Stimulating sows daily allows
insemination at the optimal time, 24
to 36 hours from the beginning of
heat. If heat detection isn't started
until the fourth day post weaning, the
first and second day of the cycle may
be missed and there's only one
chance to breed in the cycle. She
recommended heat checks begin the
day following weaning.
Heat checks should be performed
at a standard time every day, at least
once a day but ideally twice daily
(though timing should be at least six
to eight hours apart). If two different
people do the checks they can cross-
check each other and improve results.
Plante suggested breeding at the
The number one problem
in any breeding herd is
accurate detection of
females in heat
heat check following the first
detection of heat. The sow should
then be bred again every 12-24 hours
until the sow is out of good standing
heat. That should allow the sow to be
bred two to three times during each
heat period.
Breeding should either take place
within 15-30 minutes after first heat
detection or more than six hours
later. Breeding 30 to 60 minutes after
detection may cause a refractory heat
in which the sow will not show a
good standing heat and will not draw
semen properly into their uterus.
The quality of semen is also
important. It should be stored in the
dark at 16-18 degrees Celsius (under
15 degrees will kill the sperm). You
can teach yourself what is good
semen and what is not, she said.
Better farrowing will be obtained
with semen Tess than 48 hours old. A
microscope can be used to check the
i