10 ways to productivity for this sow unit in Canada

摘要

"We believe that Hutterville Colony in Magrath, Alberta, may have the highest productivity in North America," says the president of the Canadian Swine Breeders Association. Alfred Wahl, who combines his association role with being general manager of Peak Swine Genetics Inc in Canada, is talking about an enterprise that achieved 30.2 pigs weaned per sow per year in 2006. Sales from the Hutterville Colony farm totalled 13 800 pigs in the year, Mr Wahl continues. This is from a unit that acts as both acommercial herd and a multiplier of F1 females. Its 540 sows are split evenly between retained F1 gilts and Yorkshire sows bred to Landrace boars. Notwithstanding the fact that the herd is PRRS-positive in the finishing barn, there is little effect on reproductive parameters in the breeding herd.