Sow Productivity

As pork producers strive to achieve higher and higher levels of sow reproductive performance, the health and dietary demands on the sow herd becomes increasingly important, the impact on subsequent pig flows is magnified, and the bar to capture full genetic potential is raised.

May 22, 2012

News

Swine Reproduction Seminars Set for June in Iowa, Nebraska

An Advanced Swine Reproduction Seminar is being offered at two locations to help pork producers perform at a higher level of management for preparing the sow and farrowing space, knowing when/how to assist farrowing sows, managing sows to maximize feed intake and more....More
May 15, 2012

Article

Battling Preweaning Mortality Challenges

Preweaning mortality is influenced by several factors affecting the sow and her litter. These factors include disease, environment, neonatal pig care, equipment design and nutrition. If we assume the sows are healthy and located in a comfortable environment at farrowing, then the piglet becomes the likely focus to reduce death losses....More
Apr. 17, 2012

News

Boar Stud Conference Attracts International Audience

The Midwest Boar Stud Managers Conference Aug. 9-10 in St. Louis will explain the newest advancements in academic and industry research to better manage male pigs....More
Apr. 9, 2012

Article

Digging Deeper into AI Technicians’ Impact on Reproductive Performance

In this article, we will focus on how wean-to-1st-service interval affects farrowing rate and total pigs born by artificial insemination (AI) technician...More
Mar. 23, 2012

News

Research Reviews Top Reasons Producers Cull Sows 2

The U.S. sow herd experiences a greater than 50% replacement rate annually, an average parity at culling of 3.5 to 3.8 and fewer than 40 pigs produced during a sow’s lifetime, according to Ken Stalder, an Iowa State University animal science professor, who has reviewed available databases. The five most common reasons sows leave the herd are: 1) Reproductive failure 2) Feet and leg soundness 3) Age 4) Mortality 5) Postweaning issues ...More
Mar. 12, 2012

Article

How AI Technicians Affect Farrowing Rate, Total Born

When we looked at the Swine Management Services (SMS) database for the last 52 weeks, the average farrowing rate for 754 farms was 85%, with the top 10% of farms at 90.3% and the bottom 25% at only 79.2%...More
Nov. 10, 2011

article

High-Health Status the Goal of 30 pigs/sow/year

Sixty-four-year-old pork producer Robert Dircks has striven all of his life to build a progressive hog operation that achieves top production and high herd health that makes it a joy to raise pigs in southeast Iowa...More
Oct. 20, 2011

article

Feeding for Sow Reproductive Efficiency

As recently as five years ago, many in the U.S. pork industry felt the prospects of achieving 30 pigs/mated female/year (P/MF/Y) was a dream. Today, the 30-P/MF/Y goal can be and is being achieved on some select farms...More
Oct. 19, 2011

article

10 Crucial Steps to Sow and Litter Care

In recent years, the goal of many sow units has been to achieve the elusive 30 pigs/sow/year (P/S/Y) production goal. Several units have already achieved this goal, and an elite few North American producers have surpassed the 30-pig mark...More
Oct. 19, 2011

article

Understanding the Physiology of 30+ Pigs/Sow/Year

The number of pigs a sow can produce annually continues to be a popular measure of production efficiency. The common metric used to compile sow productivity level is the well-recognized pigs/sow/year...More