Effective gilt management programs that will meet replacement targets from a smaller pool of gilts with improved lifetime breeding performance are urgently needed. More efficient gilt management improves both the utilization of space and labour, and actually achieves a flow of gilts within the design specifications of the gilt facility. This will ultimately reduce annual replacement rates, improve sow condition, decrease sow death losses, and increase labour efficiency and space utilization. Effective gilt pool management strategies allow producers to achieve desired bodily and physiologic targets for gilts at first service. It also maintains economic efficiencies of a small, well-managed gilt pool. Achieving desired body and physiological targets is essential for maximizing lifetime productivity of the female. Gilts should be bred at a target weight of 135 to 150 kg regardless of age and back fat level. Measuring back fat will not provide a meaningful measure of sow body condition in terms of impacts on longevity and lifetime performance. Gilts should be bred at second estrus (if the body weight is at least 135 kg). Proper selection and management of these replacement gilts should be an integral part of any breeding herd. Only gilts that have been chosen as \u2018select gilts\u2019 should be bred to enter the sow herd. The overall targets of any gilt development program should be 80% of gilts selected within 28 days, 100% gilts bred at second estrus, 100% bred at target weight, and 85% bred during a 5 day period. On a daily basis starting at about 170 days of age, gilts should be removed from their pens and taken to a designated heat-checking area to allow full contact with a team of mature, active, vasectomized boars. As gilts exhibit an HNS, they must be weighed and back fat\/loin eye must be checked. If they can be bred at their second estrus they should be taken to an individual stall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Effective gilt management programs that will meet replacement targets from a smaller pool of gilts with improved lifetime breeding performance are urgently needed. More efficient gilt management improves both the utilization of space and labour, and actually achieves a flow of gilts within the design specifications of the gilt facility. This will ultimately reduce annual […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[930],"tags":[10821,11119,11811,8882,27136,5162,785,2471,5117,2349,2344,1972,9628,25122,527,2851,18888,26878,20007,105,11979,7781,23792,22197,23139,26566,22012,3322,269,13370,6559,48,10859,26215,63,16262,17743,18599,19612,12242,104,21955,9730,24939,51,4599,10101,20911,1301],"class_list":["post-3883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-production","tag-28-day","tag-28-days","tag-age-gilt-service","tag-al","tag-back-fat","tag-boar","tag-boars","tag-body-condition","tag-body-weight","tag-breed","tag-breeding","tag-condition","tag-contact","tag-eet","tag-efficiency","tag-fat","tag-george-foxcroft-gilt-development","tag-george-foxcroft-gilt-management","tag-gh","tag-gilt","tag-gilt-age-service","tag-gilt-development","tag-gilt-development-george-foxcroft","tag-gilt-development-program","tag-gilt-management","tag-gilt-management-foxcroft","tag-gilt-pool-management","tag-gilts","tag-heat","tag-ken","tag-longevity","tag-management","tag-nat","tag-non-negotiables-in-gilt-development","tag-performance","tag-pl","tag-prod","tag-replacement","tag-replacement-gilts","tag-service","tag-sow","tag-sow-body-condition","tag-sow-condition","tag-sow-death","tag-space","tag-stall","tag-start","tag-t","tag-weight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3883\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}