What are the precautions for raising new sows?

The average lifespan of a sow is about 6 years, but it is usually culled after about 5 litters, and in large-scale farming it is generally culled after about 3 litters. Therefore, new sows must be added every year to maintain the economic benefits of the pig farm. Whether kept on the farm or purchased from outside, new sows are the issue that all pig farmers care about most. Generally, new sows begin to be raised at 1-2 months of age, and there are also different feeding methods, so today the editor will talk to you about the precautions for raising new sows.

1. Feed

New sows are generally called replacement gilts. The feed for replacement gilts is different from the feed for other meat pigs. Many people choose to buy replacement gilts from outside; they may be relatively light, and in order to promote fattening they feed some ordinary fattening feed. But this is incorrect, because the nutrients, protein and a series of other nutrients required by replacement gilts are much greater than those needed by ordinary meat pigs. Sufficient nutrients are of great help to the later secretion of estrogen in replacement gilts, which indirectly determines the productivity of the sow after growing up. Therefore, the feed for replacement gilts should be fed separately from the feed for meat pigs.

2. Raising

During the raising process, replacement gilts should not only be fed differently from meat pigs, but also raised separately from meat pigs. First of all, because of the different feed, it is necessary not only to prevent replacement gilts from eating the meat pigs' feed, but also to prevent meat pigs from competing with replacement gilts for food. Moreover, mixed raising also cannot effectively manage replacement gilts. Raising them in separate pens is more conducive to regular inspections in the future, checking the health of the sows, and recording the growth of the sows. So if they are raised together, not only can the replacement gilts not be managed normally, but the quality of the sows will also be reduced.

3. Taming

During raising, it is necessary to ensure that the sow's temperament is suitable for pregnancy and production. The temperament of replacement gilts must be gentle and cooperative with the management personnel, otherwise it will be difficult to control them later during breeding and farrowing. Therefore, the sow's temperament should be tamed and trained from an early age. When the sow is young, you can do some command training just like training a pet dog. Let the replacement gilt learn to obey commands from an early age and make some corresponding simple movements, and in daily life you can often stroke the sow so that the sow has a sense of closeness to you.

4. Environment

After replacement gilts have been raised to the time when they can produce and become pregnant, many people will find that the sows show no sign of estrus for a long time. In fact, most of the reasons are caused by the environment. After formal maturity, aside from the boar not being the object of the sow's estrus, that is because of environmental reasons. A dirty and messy pig house environment, turbid air, and poor ventilation will not only breed bacteria and parasites in the pig house, but also lead to problems such as poor development and failure to come into estrus in sows. Therefore, keeping the environment neat, clean, and well ventilated is very important.

The above is all the content about the precautions for raising replacement gilts. If you want to improve the farrowing rate and survival rate of replacement gilts, the above four points must be taken seriously. It is necessary to control the living conditions of the sows well, breed at the appropriate time, assist farrowing correctly, and there are many other points to pay attention to, so everyone must learn the correct management methods for raising them. This article is for reference only, and I also hope this article can be helpful to everyone.