High-performing farms exploit reproductive potential of high and low prolific sows better than low-performing farms

Table 3 Comparisons of reproductive performance of sows during the first parity compared with the subsequent five parities in high, intermediate and low-performing farms of either high prolific or low prolific sows ^{1, 2}

		Subsequent parity
Farm groups³	N⁴	1	2	3	4	5	6
High prolific sows⁵
		Piglets born alive
High-performing farms	6232	15.8 (0.10)w	13.1 (0.10)az	13.7 (0.10)ax	13.8 (0.10)ax	13.6 (0.10)ax	13.3 (0.11)ay
Intermediate-performing farms	3541	15.8 (0.08)w	12.7 (0.08)abz	13.1 (0.09)bx	13.0 (0.09)bxy	12.8 (0.09)byz	12.7 (0.10)byz
Low-performing farms	732	15.6 (0.14)w	12.3 (0.14)bx	12.7 (0.15)bx	12.8 (0.16)bx	12.5 (0.17)bx	12.3 (0.19)bx
		Piglets weaned
High-performing farms	6232	11.2 (0.09)aw	11.3 (0.09)aw	11.2 (0.09)aw	11.1 (0.09)ax	10.9 (0.09)ax	10.9 (0.10)ax
Intermediate-performing farms	3541	10.8 (0.07)bw	10.7 (0.07)bwx	10.5 (0.07)bxy	10.4 (0.08)byz	10.4 (0.08)byz	10.2 (0.08)bz
Low-performing farms	732	10.2 (0.12)cw	9.9 (0.12)cw	9.9 (0.12)cw	9.8 (0.13)cw	9.8 (0.13)cwx	9.3 (0.15)cx
Low prolific sows⁵
		Piglets born alive
High-performing farms	2924	5.0 (0.10)z	11.8 (0.10)ay	12.5 (0.10)ax	12.8 (0.11)aw	12.9 (0.11)aw	12.7 (0.13)awx
Intermediate-performing farms	4058	5.3 (0.07)y	11.0 (0.07)bx	11.6 (0.08)bw	11.8 (0.08)bw	11.7 (0.08)bw	11.8 (0.09)bw
Low-performing farms	1903	5.1 (0.10)y	10.3 (0.10)cx	11.1 (0.11)cw	11.1 (0.11)cw	11.2 (0.12)bw	11.3 (0.13)bw
		Piglets weaned
High-performing farms	2924	10.4 (0.11)ax	11.1 (0.11)aw	11.1 (0.11)aw	11.2 (0.11)aw	11.1 (0.12)aw	11.0 (0.13)aw
Intermediate-performing farms	4058	9.4 (0.08)bx	10.3 (0.08)bw	10.3 (0.08)bw	10.2 (0.08)bw	10.2 (0.09)bw	10.2 (0.09)bw
Low-performing farms	1903	8.1 (0.11)cx	9.7 (0.11)cw	9.7 (0.11)cw	9.8 (0.12)bw	9.7 (0.12)bw	9.5 (0.13)cw

^a-cDifferent superscripts within a column represent significant differences in means (P ≤ 0.03)
^w-zDifferent superscripts within a row represent significant differences in means (P ≤ 0.03)
¹Means and SE were estimated by mixed models
²There were no differences between the farm groups in any parity for weaning-to-first-mating interval and farrowing rate (P ≥ 0.05)
³Categorized by farm means of the upper and lower 25th percentiles of annualized lifetime piglets weaned per sow over 6 years: high- (> 24.7 piglets); intermediate- (24.7 to 21.2 piglets) and low- (< 21.2 piglets) performing farms
⁴N represents the initial number of sows
⁵Groups based on the upper and lower 10th percentiles of piglets born alive in parity 1: High (15 piglets or more) and Low (7 piglets or fewer) prolific sows

ISSN: 2055-5660