Beautiful gilts and employees who know which sows are good at caring for the smallest piglets provide the best opportunities to ensure that all sows in the farrowing unit can wean “marzipan pigs”, which is what the herd calls their robust, pink piglets.
At the farm Dalhus in Denmark, you will find some of Denmark’s most beautiful piglets. At least that is pig producer Mette Hjort’s ambitions when she talks about their farrowing unit. Mette owns the farm together with her husband Keld Hjort. Together with their skilled employees, they focus on a set of values for how to care for their 600 sows.
“I believe that having a set of values gives us the best position to work from. Among other things, it is important to us that both pigs and sows thrive in all housing units, and that the pigs are vital,” explains Mette Hjort.
The values have also already given good results with 20.2 liveborn piglets per litter and a piglet survival of 89.6 %. In addition, Dalhus has 13.9 weaned pigs per weaning, without the use of a milking system, and an average of 43 weaned pigs per sow per year.
Progress quickly manifests
In order to get the best gilts for their production, they choose their zigzag sows based on which of the sows perform best and have the best DanBred breeding index. According to Mette Hjort, it is important to avoid infections in the herd and at the same time have an influence on their own breeding level.
“The sows are selected based on the index, and we also look at liveborn, stillborn, number of teats, and the ability to care for the piglets. The sow’s ability to care for her piglets is assessed when she weans a litter of piglets, where we grade them as 1 for marzipan pigs, 2 for fine pigs, and 3 for pigs that are not thriving and where the sow has not milked. As a general rule, one sow is chosen for breeding, and she must be 2nd parity, so we already know how she is at farrowing, milking, and taking care of pigs,” she explains.
In addition to the grade for the sow, it is also emphasised that she has a minimum of 14 teats. Generally, the gilts must have been cared for by their own mother in the farrowing unit and weaned at four weeks. In addition, the mother should be a super-milker and give the gilts the best start in life.
“The results they have at Dalhus are really great. Our recommendation will always be to use the DanBred index in order to see the breeding work manifest as quickly as possible,” explains Tage Ostersen, Head of Department for Breeding & Genetics, Danish Agriculture and Food Council, where the DanBred breeding programme is developed.
Same routines 365 days a year
DanBred Nucleus Management and Dalhus’ own set of values are not the only foundations for Dalhus’ excellent sow unit. It is also important to have the same routines.
“We have the same routines around nursing sows and litter equalisation, which help us wean heavy pigs in the weaner unit. 1st and 2nd parity sows are always used as two-stage nurse sows, so they always produce large piglets at litter equalisation. Older sows that usually produce marzipan pigs get the smallest piglets. This way, we ensure that all pigs have the opportunity for optimal well-being. So, we know how all of our sows milk even before they have farrowed, allowing us to take that into account,” Mette Hjort explains, adding that they always look into the stables in the evening. And they follow these routines 365 days a year.
