3.1 Pig breeding management tools, equipment and materials
Breeding management depends on finding the sow in heat at the right time, getting her mated or inseminated correctly, and keeping a record of what was done. The tools and materials of this topic support those jobs. Some are used every day, such as the heat detection devices, and others are used only on service day, such as the insemination equipment. A technician chooses clean, correct and well-kept equipment, because poor hygiene at service lowers the chance of conception.
| Name |
Specification |
Use |
| Heat detection devices |
Teaser boar and boar pen, boar odour spray, marker crayon |
Showing that a sow or gilt is in standing heat |
| Insemination guns |
Single-use catheter with a spiral tip for sows or a foam tip for gilts, fitted to a semen tube or bottle |
Placing semen in the cervix and uterus during artificial insemination |
| Semen cool box |
Insulated box that holds semen at 15 to 18 °C |
Storing and carrying semen to the farm |
| Ultrasound scanner |
Portable scanner with a probe for pigs |
Confirming pregnancy from about four weeks after service |
| Record cards and boards |
Sow cards, service chart, wall calendar |
Recording heat, service and expected farrowing dates |
Heat detection devices
Heat detection devices help the technician to see which sows are ready for service. A widely used aid is contact with a mature boar, because the smell, sound and sight of a boar make a sow in heat stand still. A teaser boar, which cannot make sows pregnant, is walked along the pens or kept in a pen across the passage so that sows can see and smell him.
- Teaser boar: A boar that is used only for detecting heat. He must be healthy and have a good temperament, and he must not be able to serve the sows.
- Boar odour spray: A spray with boar smell that is applied near the sow's nose. A sow in heat stands rigid when the technician presses on her back.
- Marker crayon: A mark on the back of a sow that is smeared when other sows ride her, which shows that she has been mounted. It is also used to mark sows that have been served.
- Daily routine: Sows and gilts are checked twice a day, morning and evening, because heat is short.
Insemination guns
An insemination gun is the tool that carries semen from the container into the reproductive tract of the sow. In pigs it is a catheter fitted to a semen tube or bottle. The tip is shaped to fit the cervix of the female being served, and its tip is locked in the cervix so that the semen is deposited in the right place.
- Sow catheter: A spiral tip that screws into the folds of the cervix and holds the catheter in place.
- Gilt catheter: A foam tip, smaller and softer, that suits the narrower passage of a young female.
- Single use: A catheter is used for one animal only and is then discarded, because reuse spreads infection between sows.
- Clean handling: Hands are washed, the vulva is wiped clean and dry, and the catheter tip is lubricated with a small amount of approved gel before insertion.
- Storage: Catheters are kept in their sealed packs and in a clean, dry place until they are used.
Other breeding tools, equipment and materials
- Disposable gloves and paper towels: Gloves are used once, then discarded. Paper towels clean the vulva before insemination.
- Thermometer: It confirms that semen is held within the correct temperature range during storage and transport.
- Microscope and slides: Used in a semen laboratory to check that sperm are alive and moving.
- Ear tags and applicator, and a marker pen: Used to identify sows and boars so the records are correct.
- Weighing scale or weigh band: Used to judge when a gilt has reached the right weight for service.
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Create a free account 🔒3.2 Pig breeds
A breed is a group of pigs with common ancestry that share visible features such as colour, ear shape and body type, and that pass these features to their young. Knowing the breeds helps a technician to choose breeding stock that suits the farm's purpose, clim…
🔒3.3 Selection of pig breeds
Selection means choosing which breed and which individual pigs will be kept for breeding. A good choice raises the number of pigs sold, the speed of growth and the quality of the meat for years to come, while a poor one stays in the herd for generations. A tec…
🔒3.4 Heat signs in sows
Heat, also called oestrus, is the period when a sow or gilt accepts the boar and can be mated. A technician who can recognise the signs of heat can time the service correctly and avoid wasted mating. A sow comes into heat about every 21 days if she is not preg…
🔒3.5 Flushing
Flushing is the practice of increasing the amount of energy-rich feed given to gilts and sows for a short time before mating. The extra feed raises the number of eggs released at heat, which raises the number of piglets born in the litter. Flushing is useful f…
🔒3.6 Breeding methods and technologies
Breeding methods describe how animals are paired, and breeding technologies are the tools that make pairing more accurate and more efficient. A technician who understands the choices can match the method to the farm's aim, whether that is to produce market pig…
🔒3.7 Provision of care to pregnant sows
A sow stays pregnant for about 114 days, which is three months, three weeks and three days. During this time, the technician must feed, house and handle her so that the piglets develop well, she stays healthy and she is in good condition at farrowing. The embr…
🔒3.8 Steaming up
Steaming up means giving the sow extra feed in the last weeks of pregnancy. About two thirds of the growth of the piglets takes place in the last third of pregnancy, and the sow also needs to build body reserves for milk production. A sow that is steamed up fa…
🔒3.9 Farrowing management
Farrowing is the process of giving birth in the sow. A well-prepared pen, a calm sow and an attentive technician reduce piglet deaths in the first days after birth. This topic covers preparation before farrowing, the signs that farrowing is close, supervision…
🔒3.10 Breeding records
Breeding records are written facts about every sow, gilt and boar in the herd. They show when each animal was in heat, when she was served and by whom, when she is expected to farrow and how her litter performed. With these records a technician decides which s…
