Ovarian Follicle Growth during Lactation Determines the Reproductive Performance of Weaned Sows

摘要

In this field study, the ovaries of weaned ( = 191, experiment 1) and lactating ( = 40, experiment 2) sows were transrectally scanned to measure the diameter of the follicles. Both the weaned and lactating sows showed great variability in the diameter of the ovarian follicles, indicating that the variability at weaning already existed during early lactation and was carried over to weaning. Sows with small follicles at weaning showed low reproductive performance and were more frequent among those with fewer farrowings and those weaned in summer–autumn.