Articles - Management

Animals tell us how they feel, but do we understand what they are telling us?

Use a waist bag to always have the supplies you need for farrowing assistance at hand.

Javier Lorente outlines step by step the keys to reducing piglet stress during the weaning process.

We are sharing an example of a sow card used to record basic breeding sow data, which is essential on all farms regardless of their size.

This trick allows us to save hypothermic piglets easily, quickly and with surprising results.

Everything you need to know to successfully wean your piglets.

Meeting the needs of the newly weaned pigs often proves to be difficult in many production settings.

The aim of this trick is the improvement of the quality of the environment in the farrowing quarters for the sows as well as for the piglets, saving on energy consumption by means of the manufacturing of nests.

This is how to assemble an "emergency" ramp using the insulation panels left over from the construction of the nursery.

In order to carry out this economic analysis we have kept in mind the variables between the two types of weaning in the different phases: site 1 (reproductive sows), site 2 (weaning), and site 3 (fattening).

Despite being a well-known technique, mistakes are still made with its application on farms, and questions are raised that we will try to answer.

Normally the productivity of the sow is valued for the number of litters/sow/year multiplied by the number of weaned piglets per litter.

A high dose of oxytocin given in the 16 h following the end of farrowing prolongs the colostral phase which can improve the quality of milk in early lactation.

In swine, dystocia is usually caused by oversized piglets (or by a narrow birth canal) instead of foetal positioning problems.

Piglets are born with very limited energy reserves: compared to other newborn mammals, they have much less energy stored per kg liveweight.

We continue our series of articles in which swine reproduction and artificial insemination expert Javier Gil shares key points about proper management to improve fertility and prolificacy. This article addresses the criteria to establish correct insemination methods.

We hold the legs of the piglets together with plastic straps, avoiding that they move apart from each other.

Preventing the entry and spread of diseases should be an objective on any swine farm, so adequately designing biosecurity aspects is key. In this article, we continue to discuss biosecurity measures with two experts: Lara Ruiz and José Casanovas.

Understanding the farrowing process and recognizing the signs for the different stages of birth, help us to develop management plans to improve the likelihood for live born piglets.

For the animals to be comfortable it is important to know their needs. The more needs that we can fulfill the more productive the animal will be.

Here are three basic rules for deciding if and when to do cross fostering and use nurse sows.

To ensure that each piglet intakes enough colostrum and to help the smallest piglets get it, split suckling should be used.

The goal is to make the management during the gestation easier using a different colour spray colour each week to mark the tasks carried out with the sows.

In the first part of this article series we addressed how to correctly stimulate oestrus. In this article we continue talking with swine reproduction specialist, Javier Gil Pascual, focusing on heat detection.