Australia - Tasmania leads the nation in welfare of pigs
The Minister for Primary Industries Bryan Green announced that Tasmania will lead the nation by moving to ban the use of dry sow stalls in piggeries.
Page 42 of articles about sow
Thawing boar semen in the presence of seminal plasma: Effects on sperm quality and fertility
The present studies confirm an adverse effect of inseminating FT sperm on sperm quality and sow fertility but suggest that thawing FT sperm in 50% SP may partially alleviate these adverse effects.
Environmental and sow-related factors affecting the duration of farrowing
Allowing the sow to move freely before farrowing, reducing the constipation state and avoid excessive fattening during late pregnancy all appear to be key factors in shortening farrowing time and reducing perinatal mortality.
Organization of the replacements III
In the previous chapter we began to describe several systems for recording clearly and quickly the dates that gilts come into heat and for planning gilt service.
A flooring comparison: The impact of rubber mats on the health, behavior, and welfare of group-housed sows at breeding
The provision of alternative comfort flooring may provide welfare benefits to breeding sows, though environmental temperature needs to be considered when providing rubber mats.
European Commission will not allow a delay in implementation of the ban on the use of individual sow stalls
In a letter responding to Eurogroup’s request for a clarification of the EU’s current position, the director of the Commission’s animal welfare department informs Eurogroup that the Commission “has no intention” to delay the entry into force of the ban on sow stalls in 2012, which was introduced in 2001 and is included in Directive 2008/120/EC on the protection of pigs.
Relationships between colostrum production by primiparous sows and sow physiology around parturitio
Relationships between hormonal and metabolic changes around parturition and colostrum yield and composition were investigated in 16 Landrace x Large White primiparous sows.
Australia - Tasmania: Changes to pig farming proposed
A state government committee is pushing for a major overhaul of Tasmania's pig farming regulations.
The Animal Welfare Advisory Committee is urging the government to ban the use of sow stalls, or cages, due to concerns about animal welfare.
Austria - Slight decrease in swine stocks
Swine stocks were recorded on the reference date of 1 December 2009 and yielded a total figure of 3 137 000 animals. This corresponds to a 0.5% decrease in stocks compared to the date of the last census in June 2009.
Benefits of synchronizing ovulation with porcine luteinizing hormone in a fixed-time insemination protocol in weaned multiparous sows
Double insemination of multiparous sows, timed to coincide with optimal sow fertility, may improve litter size.
Organization of the replacements II
In previous chapters we have looked at the importance of maintaining the ideal parity profile within each batch.
The effect of dietary herbs supplement in sow diets on the course of parturition, stress response and piglets rearing results
Dietary herb supplementation may reduce periparturition stress in sows
Farrowing batches: keeping the breeding groups full
In the last chapter we looked at the importance of achieving homogenous farrowing batches (age distribution + nº sows). In this chapter we will begin to see how to achieve this.
Organization of the replacements I
We have already seen that in order to achieve a correct parity structure and homogeneity of the production batches, it is necessary to control the number of replacement gilts entering the herd.
Sow parity structure (II)
Until now we have spoken about the general parity structure of the herd, but in an ideal situation this optimum distribution should be put into practice in each of the productive batches of sows.
Sow parity structure (I)
One of the main goals for a sow herd is to achieve a correct homogeneity of the productive batches.