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Improved Breeding For Pork
Written by AM 1250/ Mix 96 FM News
Monday, 08 February 2010
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 Dr. George Foxcroft of the University of Alberta
 
Pork producers could see increased savings from the implementation of improved breeding practices. Dr. George Foxcroft leads the Swine Reproduction Program at the University of Alberta. He says producers should consider switching back to single boar mating programs, rather than using pooled semen samples. He says a single boar mating system allows producers to choose a high performing animal, rather than the pooling system where producers don't know the characteristics of the progeny. He notes when semen is pooled, the effectiveness of the sample is usually dominated by the least productive boar. Hutterite colonies in western Canada tend to have more success with breeding. Foxcroft points to the natural mating system used by many Hutterite colonies as an example of what can be done with a single effective sire. He says producers could see a meaningful increase in the average weanlings per litter by shifting to a single sire system. The key to making this shift, Foxcroft notes, is the ability to evaluate the performance of the boars at the commercial level. Foxcroft shared his insight with producers at the Manitoba Swine Seminar last week.

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