A critical element in a highly productive herd is the appropriate management of a gilt pool to insure that regular breeding targets are achieved. Oral progesterone analogs such as altrenogest (Matrix, Intervet) when dosed daily to individual animals have been employed to control the female pig's reproductive cycle and synchronize inseminations around specific dates. Increasing animal welfare concerns are driving more breeding herds to move away from the housing of individual animals. Group housing greatly complicates the administration of these synchronization programs. Electronic Sow Feeding (ESF) allows for individual animal nutrition in group housed animals by uniquely identifying individual animals with a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag. The addition of a micro-doser suitable for dispensing small quantities such as required by pharmaceutical agents provides an opportunity to synchronize the estrous cycle of selective animals within group housing.
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