OPTIMISING LACTATION LENGTH

BASED ON SUBSEQUENT SOW

REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE

M. Aparicio, J. Morales and C. Piñeiro

PigCHAMP Pro Europa S.A.
Segovia, Spain

ADSA-ASAS 2006 Joint Annual Meeting

Minneapolis, Minnesota July 9-13
 BACKGROUND I

BACKGROUND

Commercial farms generate a huge amount of
data

A good processing and management of these
data allows to obtain helpful information:
MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

A tool for the staff Analyse your production

(workers, technicians and system and predict
managers) at both individual (farm) or
global (company, region) levels

You can take more confident decisions and measures

 BACKGROUND II

BACKGROUND

Our company works under a Bureau System,
developed to collect and process data from 120
farms (about 50,000 sows)

The processing of these data allows us:

To implement early alarm systems

To perform statistical studies to decide optimal
practices of management and improve productive
performance of our farms

To assess the effect of different factors:

Age at first mating

Genetics

Farm size

Lactation length …
 BACKGROUND III
LACTATION LENGTH
LL affects reproductive and productive performance
and consequently economical benefits

Legislation of EU is requiring 28 d minimum of lactation,

based on welfare recommendations.

Might affect important performance indicators (piglets
weaned, weaning to oestrus interval, farrowing rate and hence
litters and piglets /sow/year)

On the other hand, lactation length (LL) has been
progressively reduced in other countries, with several
effects described:

Increased weaning to first mating interval (WFMI)

Increased weaning to conception interval (WCI)

Subsequent farrowing rate (FR)

Litter size at next farrowing (TB and BA)
 OBJECTIVE

To determine the optimal lactation

length based on productive results in
commercial farms
MATERIAL
AND
METHODS
 MATERIAL AND METHODS I

DATABASE

PigCHAMP Pro Europa database

15 farms during the period 2001- 2005

72.160 reproductive data from 11.275
sows

Same country, same region, same genetic
and similar management.
 MATERIAL AND METHODS II

GROUPS DISTRIBUTION

• L1: 0-7 days

• L2: 8-15 days
• L3: 16-23 days
• L4: 24-32 days
• L5: >33 days

60 57.1%
n=33,114
50 37.4 %
n=21,654
40
%
30

20 4.5%
0.3 % 0.7 % n=2,586
n=168 n= 424
10

0
L1 L2 L3 L4 L5
 MATERIAL AND METHODS III

PARAMETERS ANALYSED

Weaning – to – first mating interval (WFMI): Days

Weaning – to – conception interval (WCI): Days

Farrowing rate (FR): %

Total born (TB): Nº

Born alive (BA): Nº

STATISTICAL ANALYSES

FR was analysed by a Chi – squared test using the

CATMOD procedure of SAS

WFMI, WCI, TB and BA were analysed using the GLM
procedure of SAS
RESULTS
 RESULTS I
TOTAL BORN AND BORN ALIVE

13
b a
12 c
d d
a
11 b
d c
10 d
Nº
9

6
L1 L2 L3 L4 L5

TB BA Groups of lactation length

 RESULTS II
FARROWING RATE

85
a a a
80
b
75

% 70

65
c
60

55
L1 L2 L3 L4 L5
Groups of lactation length
 RESULTS IV
WEANING TO FIRST MATING INTERVAL AND
WEANING TO CONCEPTION INTERVAL

30 a

25
a
20
Days

15 b
c
b d d
10
c c d
5

0
L1 L2 L3 L4 L5
Groups of lactation length
WFMI WCI
 DISCUSSION I
COMPARATION OF PRODUCTIVITY ACCORDING TO LL

Average Litters/sow
Groups BA WCI BA/sow/year
LL /year

L1 9.37 3 26.98 2.52 23.61

L2 9.91 13 13.25 2.58 25.57

L3 10.32 21 9.91 2.50 25.82

L4 10.57 27 9.83 2.40 25.41

L5 10.78 35 11.30 2.26 24.39

 DISCUSSION I
COMPARATION OF PRODUCTIVITY ACCORDING TO LL

Average Litters/sow Weight at weaning:

Groups BA WCI BA/sow/year
LL /year 6.5 kg.
L1 9.37 3 26.98 2.52 23.61

L2 9.91 13 13.25 2.58 25.57

L3 10.32 21 9.91 2.50 25.82

L4 10.57 27 9.83 2.40 25.41

L5 10.78 35 11.30 2.26 24.39

Weight at weaning:
8.0 kg.
 DISCUSSION II
COMPARATION OF PRODUCTIVITY ACCORDING TO LL

Assuming the same pre-weaning mortality (8.0%) :

Kg. Weaned / sow/

BA / sow / year Weaned / sow / year
year

L3 25.82 23.75 154.4

L4 25.41 23.37 186.2
 DISCUSSION III

COST DUE TO NPD ACCORDING TO LL

Groups WCI Litters/sow/year Cost of NPD (€) €/sow/year

L1 26.98 2.52 2.0 135.9

L2 13.25 2.58 2.0 68.5

L3 9.91 2.50 2.0 49.6

L4 9.83 2.39 2.0 47.2

L5 11.30 2.26 2.0 51.1

 CONCLUSIONS

1. Total born and born alive increased with

lactation length.
2. The optimal results for FR and WCI were
obtained with lactations of 21-28 days
(L3 and L4). Based on our results the
optimal lactation length is 25 days.
 IMPLICATIONS
1. In EU lactation must be minimum of 28 days. Based
on this study, reproductive results will not be
negatively affected.
2. In countries where lactation length is not legislated,
producers should decide it based on their particular
interests:
a) Producers of piglets: No. of piglets /sow/ year. Shorter
lactations
b) Closed cycle farms: Heavier litter weaning weights. Longer
lactations
3. In any case lactations shorter than 16 d and longer
than 32 d are advisable (only under specific situations
such as MEW)
Thank you