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Carefully selected premium gilts
In swine farming, maintaining a healthy and productive sow herd requires continuous replacement. This means selecting high-quality gilts to replace sows that are weak, have delayed heat cycles, poor lactation performance, or fail to breed effectively. A gilt is a female pig that has not yet given birth but has been raised specifically for breeding purposes. The process of selecting gilts is highly technical and involves careful evaluation throughout their entire growth period. A thorough assessment should be made based on the overall performance of their parents, littermates, and themselves.
When evaluating the maternal line, it's important to choose gilts from sows that have had multiple litters, high feed efficiency, and strong weaning weights. Ideally, these gilts should come from sows in their second to fifth litter. Additionally, the parents of the gilts should demonstrate excellent production traits—such as high reproductive capacity, fast growth rates, good disease resistance, and efficient feed conversion.
Looking at the littermates, the pigs born in the same litter should show consistent carcass quality, high uniformity, and minimal size variation. It’s also crucial to ensure that there are no inherited health issues among the siblings, such as hernias, cryptorchidism, nursing problems, or prolapse.
When assessing the gilt itself, several key characteristics define a high-quality candidate. First, the physical appearance should meet breed standards—this includes a well-proportioned body, good muscle development, a long back, large and full hindquarters, strong legs, and a natural gait. The fur should be light in color, and the limbs should be well-developed and not overly straight.
Second, the udder should have at least seven pairs of functional teats (six pairs for lean-type pigs), arranged neatly with even spacing and no genetic defects. There should be no extra teats or underdeveloped mammary glands.
Third, the genitalia should be well-developed, with a properly shaped vulva that is neither too tight nor too loose. Finally, the gilt should meet certain weight benchmarks: a birth weight above 1.5 kg, a weaning weight of at least 8 kg at 28 days, and a weight of around 30 kg by 70 days. The overall body condition should be moderate, not too fat or too thin.
Before being placed into the breeding program, gilts should undergo a final screening. Those with poor sexual development, irregular estrus cycles, or unclear signs of heat should be excluded to ensure only the best candidates are selected for breeding.