Robustness contributing to higher pig uniformity
As the pace of genetic improvement increases, breeding robust pigs has become more important than ever before. High performance can easily be disturbed and slight disturbances can lead to a fallback that is tough for animals to compensate. Robustness leads not only to high survival but also to higher uniformity.
Genetic progress is greater than ever before. Feed composition has never been more precisely fine-tuned to the needs of the pigs than it is today. The same can be said for farm management and animal health control. All of these factors together make high performance possible.
As such, making modern pigs perform can be quite rightly compared to high-performance sport. But just like top athletes, things can easily go wrong, sometimes with severe consequences. Even a slight disturbance means a drop in production and less uniformity, not to mention the effect of major events like a disease outbreak.
Therefore, implementing balanced breeding, including vitality and robustness, ought to be a more important element in breeding programmes than ever before. That is vital to the success of producers.
Robustness: an important trait
Robustness is an important trait that pigs must possess to minimise the effects of disturbance. It helps them to cope better with production challenges, such as less optimal climate conditions, disease or feed that does not have the optimal nutrient composition.
More robust pigs are better at overcoming challenges. As a result, these pigs are less affected by these challenges and recover faster, leading to minimal disturbance and less loss of production, thereby ensuring that performance remains at a high level. Because the pigs recover more rapidly and are less affected by challenges, the group stays more uniform. When delivering finisher pigs, a pen can be emptied faster and in fewer rounds. That saves labour, increases the turnover rate, and reduces housing costs per kg of meat produced. And during processing it also means less costs, as the quality is higher.
The good start pigs get also pays off in finishing because it contributes to high production in this phase and less mortality. But, in the event of a less optimal environment or feed or a disease outbreak, the robustness of the pigs means that it is easier for them to overcome these challenges, fallback in production is less, and a group of pigs achieves slaughter weight more uniformly even when the going gets tougher.
Uniformity
Taking the robustness of pigs into account has led to a balanced breeding approach. It has led not only to higher preweaning survival and stronger piglets but also to stronger and more uniform finishers.
Uniformity is crucial for success throughout all phases of pork production. It leads to problem-free, undisturbed production from rearing gilts to processing. Labour, animal welfare, efficiency and quality are all influenced by uniformity. In slaughter and processing, uniform pigs and carcasses facilitate more rapid and easier automated processing. Uniformity also reduces losses and makes it possible to deliver more uniform quality to retail.
Practical benefits of robustness
Over many years of balanced breeding, Topigs Norsvin has discovered that breeding for good sows and vigorous pigs not only shows pre-weaning benefits with higher survival rates and higher gain, but it also pays off in finishing.
Breeding for robustness is one of the company’s priorities. In the 1990s, the breeder started selecting strong families based on data gathered in production environments; and, about 25 years ago, breeding and selecting started for maternal abilities and piglet vitality. The breeder began measuring individual birth weights of piglets and recording maternal abilities. Later, factors were included such as individual weights of piglets at weaning. Five years ago, the genetics company implemented selection for finisher survival.
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