Common mistakes: sow unit
Victor Evert, doctor of veterinary medicine, coordinator of Consultation center of the Ukrainian Pig Producers Association
The heart of every pigfarm is a sow unit. In general, the best staff is working there and managers’ efforts are concentrated. The sow unit index shows how effective the farm is. If there are any problems in this section, they have a negative impact on production in general. Unfortunately the most of all mistakes are made here
Data accounting
«You can only change the thing that is measured». There are no unimportant data in sow unit, all should be taken into account: number of farrowing per week, total amount of piglets born and liveborn of them, piglets’ birth weight, the duration of suckling period, sow condition and piglets’ weight at weaning, repeat and replacement rate of sows and many others. All this figures are very important! You can write them down or record into the program (this variant is better!). The only thing that matters is true data.
Adherence of farrowing process procedure
Correct and well-timed actions of the staff are very important before sows run out to farrowing pens, just prior to, during and after farrowing for piglets to be healthy and sow to operate longer. Thus on some farms the sanitary preparation of animals is ignored at all (their washing), obligatory deworming, that secure piglets from worm infestation during lactation, etc.
The important moment is litter lining and skill to work effectively with piglets that are bad doers. Not so many pigmen in Ukraine can «bring about» weak piglets.
Professional veterinary aid at farrowing and during lactation
It is obligatory for sows and piglets. Diarrhea is a typical problem of suckling piglets. Their prophylaxis (especially newborn diarrheas) should begin with sow. It can vaccination by specific medications and/or back feeding and/or sterilization with help of antibiotics.
Employment issue
If the household want to have good results, the employments issue needs as much attention as genetics, feed and pigs management. It is important to match correctly, constantly teach and control. Good worker is a «gold reserve» of every pigfarm. He does less mistakes (or doesn’t do them at all), multiplying farm profit thanks to his knowledge and skills.
- Why should true data in sow unit be the #1 priority?
- What typical mistakes are made at farrowing? At organization the sanitary conditions in sow unit?
- Where does the problem of weak piglets’ survival ability lie in?
- What are mistakes of mass processing piglets/sows?
You can find answers for these and other questions in the full version of the article in the magazine «Profitable Pig Production», № 4 (22) 2014
