Maximising weaner weights

摘要

One of the main factors that influences weaning weight is piglets' birthweight. Previously the emphasis to improve birthweight has been focused on feeding in late pregnancy, but surprisingly it can also be affected in the first 21 days of pregnancy by the degree of attachment of the embryo to the uterine wall following 'implantation' which occurs between day 14 and 18 after service. Previously sow feeding was very hard focused on the number of piglets produced per sow per year, as driven by the marketing strategy prevailing at the time. Nowadays, it is more important to initially establish the market outlet for the pigs produced, i.e. is it a 12 or a 14 probe and the target number of finished pigs consistently required per week. With this in mind,the number of matings required per week can be established taking into account the returns and conception rate on any unit. Once this has been ascertained the real business of producing piglets can be addressed.