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Vet Perspective
Internal Production of Replacement Females
by Dr. Keith Aljets, Veterinary Medical Center, Williamsburg, Iowa
In the swine industry what goes around seems to come back around. In the past 15 years many farms switched from producing their own replacement females to purchasing maternal line females. This was a big change for many traditional swine farms. The change was made to increase production by improving maternal traits of sow herds and by maximizing the performance on the grow finish floor. This plan is still the standard on how most farms utilize their genetic package.
As what happens so many times, when we make one change on a farm we may get the desired result, but we also create other outcomes that we did not expect. By purchasing all replacements as grown females, which on many farms means replacing over 50% of the sow herd annually, we found out that we can have difficulty controlling disease, especially the PRRS virus.
When purchasing live genetic material, we hopefully are purchasing animals that are healthier than our own sow herds. These healthy animals need to be exposed and acclimated to the diseases on the sow farm, before they get pregnant and on their way to becoming sows. Many systems have set up acclimation periods that are 30-60 days long. This seems to be too short of a time period to adequately acclimate animals to some diseases, especially the PRRS virus.
The frustrations of dealing with recurrent disease have producers and their Veterinarians again looking at better ways to access their genetic material. More and more farms are using longer acclimation periods by accessing their gilts/boars at an earlier age, either as weaners or 50 lb feeders. Some farms and/or production systems are again looking at making their own replacement gilts, with an internal production system.
The internal production of replacements for a sow farm is the most “natural” way to produce gilts. With internal production, disease exposure occurs naturally, from the sow to the suckling pig. If the sow herd is unstable to a particular disease, it will leak that disease into the suckling pigs. These pigs, or replacements, are then infected with the disease at a young age. In most cases, this results in a replacement female that has a better prepared immune system to enter your sow herd.
Is internal production a “cure all” for PRRS control? Absolutely not. Controlling the PRRS virus hinges on many critical factors. One of these factors is developing good immunity in the replacement animals for your farm. Work with your Veterinarian on the best control plans for your farm.
If you are planning to begin an internal production system, ask yourself these questions.
1) Do you have the facilities to accommodate raising your own females from birth to entry weight? If you have to go off-site to raise your gilts is the off site area biosecure?
2) Does your genetics supplier have an internal production program that will insure that your farm is making continuous genetic improvement? The reason most farms started purchasing gilts was to make continual genetic improvement. Make sure this occurs with your program.
3) Do you have the ability to manage an internal program? These programs can be complicated and they require day to day decision making and a clear understanding of the entire process for them to be successful.
4) Will an internal program help the health of your sow farm? Consult with your Veterinarian about this question.
Internal production systems are becoming more and more popular in the swine industry today. Before switching to this system make sure you understand the benefits and downfalls to producing your own replacement females.
