Carles Casanovas

Achieving a high prolificacy and knowing how to take advantage of it (transform it into weaned piglets) is vital for the productivity of a sow farm.

Different systems allow the sows to eat several times a day. In some of them we are the ones who decide, in other ones it is the sows.

It is common to see that there are many farms on which the gestation of the sows entered in the farrowing quarters is not correctly managed. How much space / batch would be losing a farm that enters systematically a 10% of sows / batch one week before than the appropriate date?

There is an unusual increase of the returns-to-oestrus at 31-39 days. The majority are due to sows previously negative to the pregnancy ultrasound testing, and the returns-to-oestrus happened before 42 days.

Each batch of sows is identified with a different colour, so we will only have to look at the colour of the pegs

By ear tagging a gilt in the group with its birth date we will always know the age of the replacement gilts.

Knowing how to make the most of space in our farrowing rooms is a key point, not only when using foster sows, but also for increasing the age at weaning. The farrowing pen is the most expensive pen at the farm, and we must obtain the maximum possible efficiency out of it.

The goal of this trick is to create a register of the coming into heat of the gilts that can be interpreted quickly and easily, and to control the day of the beginning of the treatment with altrenogest when we wish to delay their mating/service.

The goal is to identify the number of returns to oestrus of the sows quickly and at a glance using coloured pegs.

Use of sows' ear tags for identifying each of the liquid feed valves with their corresponding number.

In the previous piece of advice we saw that obtaining foster sows by moving piglets "forward" had some disadvantages, which are solved by moving the sows "backwards".

The goal is to have readily visible, quick, and handy information of the farm.

Medication of the water in the tank in a quick way and without having to go up a ladder, and achieving a good mixing of the product.

System for avoiding carpal injuries in suckling piglets.

When using nurse sows (foster sows) whilst making some piglets "go forwards" before the expected time we end up weaning them one week before. This poses certain problems.

The goal is to increase the agility of the reading process of the body condition of the sows using the Renco device.