Farmscape for October 20, 2020

The Technical Services Manager with Hypor-Hendrix Genetics suggests effective management in the farrowing room can help increase the survival of piglets and improve overall profitability.
Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium 2020, hosted by Sask Pork, will be held virtually with sessions each Thursday from November 5th to December 3rd.
Among the topics to be discussed will be "Practical Farrowing Management for Better Results."
Carlos Martins, the Technical Services Manager Hypor-Hendrix Genetics, says key to effective farrowing management are minimising stress, close monitoring and effective intervention.

Clip-Carlos Martins-Hypor-Hendrix Genetics:
Our goal from the moment that the sow enters the farrowing room must be to reduce stress.
When there's less stress, the farrowing process will be easier and more efficient and the sow will show less up and down behavior before, during and also after farrowing so you need to control and try to minimise all the factors that can cause stress to the sow.
It's very important that we only intervein when needed and not in a systematic way.
Close monitoring of the farrowing process will lead to less but more effective intervention.
It's important to record all events during the farrowing process including the time frame.
We will intervein if no piglets have been delivered, which can result from a physical blockage, or if the interval between the birth of each piglet is too long.
We also need to consider the parity and the previous litter size.
Post farrowing, after the farrowing, there are also many important things to watch from the sow and piglet side to ensure a good start.

Martins says, if you can increase the number of weaned piglets by even one per sow per farrowing through effective farrowing management, it can have a significant impact on profitability.
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Bruce Cochrane.

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