Reproductive Problems in Commercial Pig Farms

Abstract

The main goal of commercial pig production is to produce as much fattened pigs per sow per year as possible. Farm productivity depends from at least 3 mutually related parameters which are: 1)     Health status of pig population. It depends from health status and biosecurity protocols. 2)     Farm management. It implies adequate level of knowledge, experience and ability to manage with farm production. With aim to have a lot of success in the pig farm production,all that mentioned before is needed to achieve a harmonization of available capacities, conditions concerning housing of animals and farm equipment with genetic potential and health status of a herd. 3)     Quality feeding of all pig categories using high quality feeds and adequate technology. Reproductive properties are basic of pig production but there is also a need to define performances which are important for breeders. If we consider females, especially is important the number of ovulated oocytes, the number of fertilized oocytes and number of pregnant gilts/sows (the percentage of conception). All this is resulting in a number of live born piglets per sow or boar and a number of weaned piglets. Artificial insemination serve to enable maximum utilization of animal genetic potential. That is possible to achieve by applyingadequate and controlled conditions of housing, care, feeding and health monitoring along with implementation of modern management. During recent years there have been a large import of genetic superior animals in big and medium farms in Serbia in order to raise productivity and profitability of pig production. Expected production results on healthy farms implies farrowing rate of over 90% with 18 born piglets, 16 weaned piglets per litter, 37 piglets per sow per year and 31 fattened pigs per sow per year. This results are achieved on modern farms in countries which invest a lot in pig production, but in Serbia are a rarity. Poor final results of the local farms are the consequence of unintentional mistakes in production, both in terms of health care and management, technology and nutrition. As well, the technology of artificial insemination is a significant factor. By analyzing of all factors which may cause reproductive problems on farms, we concluded that reproduction results can be improved by modern solutions from the domain of boar exploitation, technology of semen production and examination and technology of breeding sows insemination. Fertilizing potential of boars depends of amount and quality of ejaculate. Motility and viability of spermatozoa to a large extent determine the quality parameters of sperm. Spermatozoa should move from the place of ejaculation through the reproductive tract of sows to the site of fertilization and to be capable to fertilize the oocytes at the right moment.Percentage of dead and deformed spermatozoa is an important factor which influences fertilization ability of boars. Besides routine macroscopic assessment and microscopic examination of semen, it is recommended to do smears and determine pathological forms of spermatozoa. It allows that bad quality semen can be excluded timely. Implementation of proper hygienic measures with the use of disposable equipment is required. By applying of all this specified measures during 12 months, we achieved improving of sows’ conception rate for 7% andthe number of weaned piglets per litter raised for 0.6.