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A Critical Evaluation of Culling Policy in a Commercial Herd of Sows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2017

J H Dunne ,
P R English ,
O MacPherson ,
J A Roden  and
R C Segundo
J H Dunne
Affiliation:
School of Agriculture, University of Aberdeen, 581 King Street, Aberdeen AB9 1UD
P R English
Affiliation:
School of Agriculture, University of Aberdeen, 581 King Street, Aberdeen AB9 1UD
O MacPherson
Affiliation:
School of Agriculture, University of Aberdeen, 581 King Street, Aberdeen AB9 1UD
J A Roden
Affiliation:
School of Agriculture, University of Aberdeen, 581 King Street, Aberdeen AB9 1UD
R C Segundo
Affiliation:
School of Agriculture, University of Aberdeen, 581 King Street, Aberdeen AB9 1UD
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Extract

Pig producers must continuously strive for improved productivity and efficiency in order to remain competitive. The effect of sow culling rate on overall herd productivity is well documented in the scientific literature (Kroes and Van Male 1979, Dagom and Aumaitre 1979, Dujkhuizen 1986). Recent indications, however, are that there is still much room for improvement in the efficiency of sow culling policy. The objectives of this work were a) to determine the incidence of and reasons for culling in a modern 800 sow commercial pig farm using Large White x Landrace sows, and b) to attempt to develop a more objective basis for culling on poor litter performance (essentially low numbers born).

Type
Pig Production
Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Production (1972) , Volume 1990 , March 1990 , pp. 96
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Production 1990

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References

Dagorn, J and Aumaitre, A (1979). Sow culling: Reasons for and effect on productivity. Livest. Prod. Sci., 6: 167–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dujkhuizen, A A (1986). Pork Chop: an interactive microcomputer model dealing with sow replacement economics. Tijdschrift voor Diergeneeskunda. 11(21), 1055–1063.Google Scholar
English, P R, Bark, L J, MacPherson, O and Birnie, M (1984). (Quoted by English et al, 1988 in Chapter 15, The Growing and Finishing Pig: Improving Efficiency, Farming Press Ltd., Ipswich, Suffolk).Google Scholar
Kroes, V and Van male, J P (1979) Reproductive lifetime of sows in relation to economy of production. Livest. Prod. Sci., 6: 179–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar