Can three-way crossbred pigs be used as sows for breeding?
With the emergence of scientific breeding methods, the breeding industry has become increasingly prosperous, and various types of breeding have appeared on the market, almost to the point where as long as you dare to raise it, there is nothing you cannot raise. Today we are going to talk about three-way crossbred pig farming.
1. What is a three-way crossbred pig?
A three-way crossbred pig is a hybrid pig breed, generally produced by crossing three breeds. Depending on the crossbreeding breeds used, this kind of pig is divided into two types: internal three-way crossbred and external three-way crossbred. The advantages of three-way crossbred pigs are fast growth and high feed conversion rate. Three-way crossbred pigs produced by crossing with the world's most advanced “double-muscled rump” breeding pigs need only 150 days from birth to a body weight of 100 kg, and the feed conversion rate is within 1:2.7.
Among the types of three-way crossbred pigs, internal three-way crossbred refers to using a superior local sow as the maternal parent, first using a Large Yorkshire boar as the first sire to cross with a superior local sow, producing a first-generation crossbred sow, namely a two-way crossbred sow; after the two-way crossbred sow grows up, a Duroc or Landrace boar, etc. is used as the second sire to cross with the two-way crossbred sow, producing a three-way crossbred pig.
External three-way crossbred refers to the first sire, second sire, and maternal parent all being improved foreign-breed pigs, producing three-way crossbred lean pigs through crossing. The method is to first mate a boar of the Landrace breed with a sow of the Large White breed; after the sow among the resulting two-way crossbred offspring grows up, it is then mated with a Duroc boar, and this is called a three-way crossbred pig, and its offspring are called three-way crossbred stock. This kind of three-way crossbred pig is also called Duroc x Landrace x Large White.
2. Can three-way crossbred pigs be used as sows?
It is best not to use three-way crossbred pigs as sows, because the production performance of three-way crossbred pigs is not very stable. If used as sows, there will also be the following drawbacks:
1. Fewer piglets born.
2. Poor maternal nature. With some three-way crossbred sows, the sow must be tied down every time the piglets nurse, and sometimes they even bite people.
3. The back is too wide, so they cannot turn out the lower row of teats. During nursing, piglets are easily crushed to death.
4. Body size cannot be controlled. The nutrients in the feed all go to growing the sow's body size. This causes the piglets produced to be small.
5. In high-temperature seasons, they cannot instinctively mate, because the body size of three-way crossbred pigs is too large, so heat dissipation is poor, and the first few days after mating are precisely when high temperatures are feared.
This is some knowledge about what three-way crossbred sows are and whether they can be used as sows. When raising three-way crossbred pigs, it is best to use relevant breeding manuals and consult experts more, and do not conduct experiments blindly, otherwise losses are likely to occur.