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We aim to secure the right balance of the traits in the breeding goal to ensure sustainable genetic progress that contributes to high productivity and efficiency in pig productions worldwide.
Our professional Research & Development department at the Danish Agriculture & Food Council have spent decades improving our breeding programme. Together, we constantly work to ensure maximum progress in an everchanging industry through balanced breeding goals.
We breed for productivity. This includes traits such as daily gain, feed conversion, and lean meat percentage.
We select for high daily gain to shorten the number of days it takes to grow your pigs for the market. This decreases your costs of production, as fewer days in the stable means you lower your costs for feed, energy, management etc.
Improved feed conversion ratio (FCR) results in pigs that produce more pork with less feed – so you can lower your costs of production. A better feed efficiency in pig production also helps to reduce the carbon footprint.
Achieving the ideal meat-to-fat content of the carcass matches the rising demand for high-quality pork. We ensure excellent meat quality by selecting for a high lean meat percentage.
We also consider slaughter loss, this means less waste, which contributes to a better utilisation of resources for a more sustainable pig production.
We breed for reproduction. This includes traits that affect litter size.
We select for a favourable number of piglets born. That means, you need fewer sows to produce the same number of finisher pigs with less feed than previously. It contributes to a higher economic gain for you and a more sustainable use of resources.
We breed for robust and healthy pigs. This includes traits such as survival, piglet vitality, conformation, and longevity.
We select for the piglet’s own genetic potential to survive as well as the sow’s effect on piglet vitality. We emphasise the importance of strong, healthy piglets that are thriving, and these traits are genetically correlated to the number of weaned piglets. Vital piglets contribute to improved animal welfare as well as increased efficiency in your production.
We focus on conformation to ensure stronger and more robust pigs. It is assessed as an overall score of the pig’s legs, back and posture with the aim to reduce the risk of early culling for both the finishers and the sows. This means, we can supply healthier and more resilient pigs, which is important for animal welfare.
Selection for longevity prolongs the sows’ productive lifespan by ensuring durability, fitness, and lifetime reproductivity. Our continuous focus on the sows’ potential for longevity has a positive effect on survival to benefit both animal welfare and your overall profitability.
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