Length of productive life of sows in four pig farms in the tropics of Mexico

• Published in: Tropical animal health and production 2011-08, Vol.43 (6), p.1191-1194
• Main Authors: Segura-Correa, José C., Ek-Mex, Enrique J., Alzina-López, Alejandro, Magaña-Monforte, Juan G., Sarmiento-Franco, Luis, Santos-Ricalde, Ronald H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal Husbandry - methods; Animal Husbandry - statistics & numerical data; Animals; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Farms; Female; Least-Squares Analysis; Life Sciences; Litter Size; Longevity; Mexico; Original Research; Parity; Pregnancy; Pregnancy, Animal; Reproduction; Survival Analysis; Sus scrofa - physiology; Tropical Climate; Tropical environments; Veterinary Medicine/Veterinary Science; Zoology
• ISSN: 0049-4747; 1573-7438
• DOI: 10.1007/s11250-011-9824-2

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of some factors on the length of productive life (LPL), the number of parities (NP), and the culling interval (CI) of sows. The information from 2003 to 2009 of 3,746 sows with LPL and NP records and 5,819 sows with CI records from the four farms of Yucatan, Mexico was used. LPL was defined as the number of days between the first farrowing and culling or death and CI as the number of days between the last farrowing and culling. To determine the effects of farm, litter size at first farrowing (LSF1) and age at first farrowing (AF1) on LPL and NP, and of farm, LSF1 and culling reason on CI general linear models were used. Means and standard errors for LPL, NP, and CI were 496.4 ± 8.42 days, 3.35 ± 0.04 parities, and 48.3 ± 0.52 days, respectively. All factors had significant effects ( P