Assessment of reproductive and growth performance of pigs on commercial swine farms in southern Kyushu, Japan

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to assess the productivity of pigs to investigate the time‐dependent change in productivity and compare productivity according to breeding company group and porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) status on commercial swine farms in southern Kyushu, Japan. Data used in the present study were 245 annual productivity records from 2014 to 2018 obtained from 72 farms. Average sow inventory was 481.2 sows. Mean numbers of pigs weaned per sow per year and market pigs sold per sow per year were 23.7 and 21.6, respectively. Pigs born alive per litter increased from 11.1 to 11.9 pigs from 2014 to 2018 (p < .05). Farms using domestic breeding companies had similar numbers in 2016 to those using international breeding companies, but fewer pigs in 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2018 (p < .05). Farms with an unknown or unstable PRRS status had fewer pigs born alive per litter and pigs weaned per sow per year than those with stable or negative PRRS statuses (11.2 ± 0.06 vs. 11.8 ± 0.08 pigs and 22.6 ± 0.38 vs. 25.0 ± 0.22 pigs, respectively; p < .05). These results can be used to establish feasible targets and standards of performance to identify problem areas and improve production.

Productivity analysis of 70 farrow-to-finish swine farms in Japan from 2013 to 2018

“…The rate of increase in the PBA in this study doubled compared with that of the previous decade (2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013), although different study designs are difficult to compare. Sasaki et al [26] found that the mean PBA increased by 0.20 annually from 11.1 in 2014 to 11.9 in 2018, which was similar to our results.…”

“…The rapid increase in PBA during the study period was likely due to the introduction of highly prolific sows from the EU, which began around 2008 [28]. Previous studies in Japan [10,26] found that farms that introduced highly prolific sows from foreign companies had higher PBAs than did farms from domestic companies. A study from the Netherlands reported that the PWMFY increased by approximately 35% in the 20 years prior to 2009 owing to genetic selection and management techniques [11].…”

“…[1], thus demonstrating significant improvements in productivity in these countries. However, to our knowledge, limited information is available on the current status and yearly productivity trends for Japanese swine farms [26]. Therefore, we conducted this study to investigate the current status of these productivity trends and examine future directions for the Japanese swine industry.…”

Combined spectral and speech features for pig speech recognition

“…With the rise of modern intelligent agriculture, how to grasp the growth status of pigs more efficiently and accurately has become a hot issue in the development of farming industry [ 1 ].…”

Quantitative relationship between the number of cross‐fostering piglets and subsequent productivity of sows on commercial swine farms

“…Because of the recent worldwide increase in the prolificacy potential of sows due to genetic improvements (Hernández et al, 2018; Sasaki, Kawabata, et al, 2020), the number of piglets per litter is increasingly exceeding the number of functional teats. Such litters show an increase in preweaning mortality and variation of weaning weight within the litter (Quesnel, 2011; Theil et al, 2006).…”