Greetings everyone. It has been a couple of months since we last had the opportunity to visit, and lots has happened since then.

The ice storm in eastern Ontario and Quebec has reminded us that we take many of our neighbours, daily tasks and conveniences for granted. Residents of these regions have commented that the storm has given the word "community" a whole new meaning.

The Maple Leaf strike/lock-out at Burlington combined with the traditional holiday shipping problems contributed to a severe drop in pig prices. The old saying "what goes up, must come down" holds true again. Unfortunately, the down always hits harder than we expect. Hats off to everyone working to keep the hogs moving during the strike. Life is much simpler when we are able to operate under our usual routine.

Breeding and farrowing barn management appear to be characterized by a never ending stream of complaints. Litters are too small, repeats too high, heat detection is a pain, and breeding as a whole just takes too much valuable time.

In this issue of the "Lens" we would like to take a detailed look at some of the many aspects relating to breeding management. We hope this newsletter will provide suggestions to improve everyone's breeding management and stockman-ship skills.

Gestation stalls, farrowing crates, slatted floors, liquid manure and 8 to 9 hour days are modern conveniences that have allowed the hog industry to move towards larger units while decreasing the labour requirement. New technologies like AI, 3-site production and improved vaccines have drastically altered the appearance of the swine industry. Many of these changes were implemented so that we could achieve better health, better feed conversion, improved lean yields and a more standardized industry. Perhaps this is the underlying problem. The modernization of farm practices was conducted with the comfort of the human component of swine production as the primary objective. This may seem like a very strong statement, but I suspect there is more truth in it than we may be willing to admit. After all, what does a sow stand to gain when she weans 25 pigs per year?

Porcine reproduction is not merely a factor of inseminating with strong viable semen. Instead it is a complex interaction of female fertility, male fertility and the breeding technician's skills. One aspect may be out of line, but as long as all other aspects are kept up to par, production standards can be maintained with relatively little effort. If, however, we lack a little in a lot of areas, problems arise and may at times even appear unsolvable.

Following are a number of issues that influence reproductive efficiency. Perhaps there is something here that catches your attention.

Ensure proper feed intake in the farrowing room. This requires increasing the intake during late gestation, as well as a high quality nursing ration. A sow which is too milked down will not conceive well as she is too preoccupied with regaining her own condition.

Time of weaning has been a subject of debate for a long time. Research out of Ridgetown College suggested that production could be improved when sows were weaned at 5:00 a.m. Though this may not be practical for many operations it is considered to be beneficial to wean sows before 10:00 a.m. Time constraints may make it impractical to move the piglets to the nurseries at this time of the day, however, it is not usually a significant problem to pull the sows out of the farrowing crate and return them to the breeding area. The weaned pigs can be left until later in the day when more time and bodies are available to help with their movement.

Nutrition after weaning is often a subject of great debate. There is evidence to suggest that full-feeding of weaned sows is important to embryonic survival. Dr. Cheryl Ashworth of the Rowett Research Institute (UK) found that embryonic mortality could be reduced when the wean to breed interval was characterized by a 2.5 kg daily feed intake (Pig Progress Vol. 13 No. 7 Page 41).

SEW systems and early weaning were implemented partly to improve the health of the pig population and improve productivity. We have since learnt that proper nutritional intake is extremely important to successful re-breeding shortly after weaning. European pig producers wean their sows between 21 and 28 days post- farrowing and are able to produce just as many pigs as their North American counterparts. Perhaps we have underestimated the value of strong stockman-ship skills.

Recently lighting too has been a hot discussion topic. Traditional research suggests that we need more light in the breeding barn, while the farrowing barns need relatively few hours. More recent work suggests that we may have this backwards. Weaning weights can be improved with longer hours of light as piglets nurse more often, while farrowing rates appear to improve when the sows receive 8 to 10 hours of light. Consider outdoor sows production systems. Sows and boars recognize the shortening of the days and know that this indicates the arrival of winter. This is a poor time to produce a litter of piglets as there is little nutrition available and the temperatures make it difficult to keep the young offspring warm. During the winter months days start to lengthen signaling the coming of improved weather and feeding conditions. Both sows and boars pick up on this day-light pattern change and reproductive behaviour improves.

Grouping of bred sows is still a concern to many sow units. Research suggests there should be no negative impact provided that the sows are moved less than 7 days or more than 21 days post-breeding. Field experience on the other hand suggests that sows should be kept in stalls at least until they have been tested pregnant. Ideally the breeding barn is designed in such a fashion that no sow is moved from the breeding area until she has tested positive (5 weeks post-breeding). If the sows need to be moved to alternate stalls before this time, keep them in the same order so as to minimize stress.

Rather than relying on heat detection skills only, use a pregnancy tester to determine the status of bred sows. Beware of sows which are in heat. A number of pregnancy testers determine pregnancy status based on the presence of fluid in the reproductive tract. Sows which are in heat will therefore appear pregnant to the tester and can increase the non-productive days significantly.

Boar exposure is a crucial component to successful heat detection and breeding. He has the looks, the smell, the touch and the talk that stimulates the females. Work done by Dr. Billy Flowers from North Carolina State has shown that a lack of boar exposure results in a 15% drop in farrowing rate and decreases litter size by 0.6 BA.

Traditionally we have housed the boars side by side with weaned sows. Research and field experience have shown that the sows can be overexposed due to the boar's full-time presence. It is better to house the boars away from the breeding area and bring one out to visit (in a controlled environment) twice daily. It increases the stimulating effect of the boar's presence and will make it easier for you to determine standing heat.

When checking for heats or inseminating the sows make sure the boar's visits are limited to 5 sows at a time. If he has access to more females than that, Murphy's law suggests that he will be at the end opposite to where the technicians are working and is of little help. Furthermore, by the time technicians reach the last sow in the row she will be tired of standing and the insemination will be difficult.

Take sufficient time to stimulate and breed the sows. It is cheaper to spend a little extra time on the stimulation and breeding processes than feeding a sow to the next heat because of poor breeding practices in the first place.

Take a short break after inseminating 10 to 15 sows. Inseminating is a time consuming process that to a large extent relies on routine. People can only concentrate on one particular function for about 30 minutes. By taking a short break the mind has less opportunity to get bored thereby increasing the effectiveness of the technician.

Spend time in the breeding area, even when the actual heat detection and breeding routines have been completed. It is not too difficult to find weaned sows in heat, however, finding repeat sows and gilts is a function of time. If the technicians are only in the barn when feeding or breeding there is an increased possibility of missing repeat breeders as the technician's attention is otherwise occupied. Dollar wise it is more effective to spend more time on heat detection rather than inseminating a third or fourth dose because inseminations were started too early.

Use a three colour coding system to identify pre-estrus, estrus, and inseminations. It will make it easier for anyone walking into the breeding area to identify animals that need extra attention for heat detection and/or breeding.

Keep records of the quality of the insemination, record unusual happenings (i.e. poor insemination) and the breeding technician(s). Written records should include sudden changes in the weather, vaccination programs, daily routines, staffing etc. It is also important to record the lot number and expiry date of vaccines, feed ingredients, extender and other products with this information. One can never predict what will or will not affect the production of any particular operation.

A person with bad stockman-ship skills does not make a good inseminator. After all, if one usually slaps the sows to speed up their movement, vaccinates and administers antibiotics with a well-intended vengeance, how is the sow to know that the insemination will not inflict pain and is actually a "positive" experience?

New gilts and/or boars should go through a quarantine and/or acclimatization period. This will reduce health problems and also put some additional age on the animals. Having grown to proper size, does not mean that puberty has also been achieved. Field experience has shown that breeding gilts older than 210 days usually results in lower repeat rates, reduced farrowing problems, better litter size, and decreased culling requirements. During the quarantine/ acclimatization period feed a relatively simple maintenance ration so that the gilts do not become too large. If at all possible check the gilts for heat and group them accordingly. Bring the gilts to the breeding barn about 5 to 6 days prior to their expected return to estrus. Place the gilts on full-feed 10 days prior to breeding. Limit her feed intake as soon as a gilt is bred.

Last but not least: try to anticipate and prevent problems. If your herd experiences a 10% drop in farrowing rates during the months of August and September breed extra animals so that the farrowing crates will remain full. Until there is evidence to the contrary do not expect that a 5 year trend will not re-occur this year. Contact your breeding supplier to ensure that you will have enough gilts (and boars) acclimatized prior to August. Plan on breeding early in the day so as to minimize heat stress, keep the animals cool and ensure proper water quality and flow rates.

If you would like to know more about breeding management and stockman-ship plan to attend "In pursuit of Excellence" at the Kirkton Community Centre on March 20th, 1998. Phone Total Swine Genetics at 1-800-844- 9913 to register for this event.

As always, we look forward to hearing from you. Send us a fax or e-mail with your comments and/or suggestions. Of course, you may also call.

Insemination Technics and Supplies International, Inc.
1-800-692-4874

Ontario: 519-458-4856
Alberta: 403-944-2575
Manitoba: 204-736-4112
Quebec: 418-692-1932
Nova Scotia: 902-538-3273

E-mail: information@itsi-ai.com