Reproductive qualities of sows at different durations of previous lactation

Abstract

To achieve the goals of our study, we investigated the dependence of reproductive qualities of sows on different duration of previous lactation. For the study, three hundred pigs were selected into two separate groups with an equal number of 150 animals in each, taking into account the age, genotype and fatness. The first group included sows that had previous lactation for 28 days and the second group included sows that had previous lactation for 21 days. After seventh week of gestation, including results of ultrasound scanning, all pregnant sows were transferred into two identical sections for keeping females with established gestation, where they were kept in stable groups of 60-65 heads. On 110 day of gestation, all sows were transferred to the farrowing branch where they were kept during pregnancy and lactation under identical feeding conditions and microclimate. As a result of the study it was found that duration of previous lactation had no impact on gilts productivity besides the indicator weight of piglets nest at birth, which was 3.15% higher in sows with traditional duration of lactation. There was no difference in the growth intensity of suckling piglets in sows with traditional and reduced lactation.