To die or not to die

摘要

I am not really sure when we, in the pork industry, started thinking in terms of pigs/sow/year but I know for sure it was not in the 1940s. I know that in 1940 the average litter size was about 6 pigs weaned and sows farrowed seasonally, at best, if not once a year. So with a little cowboy arithmetic one can quickly figure that pigs/sow/year was short of a dozen.When I spoke at a recent swine genetics meeting, the top farm in the system was recognized for weaning 33.2 pigs/ sow/year. Ironically, the animal rights activists that I deal with often say, "We speak for the animals because they cannot speak for themselves." Nothing is further from the truth. The advancement in reproductive performance speaks volumes to those that truly care about animal welfare.