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Prairie Swine Centre is an affiliate of the University of Saskatchewan
Prairie Swine Centre is grateful for the assistance of the George Morris Centre in developing the economics portion of Pork Insight.
Financial support for the Enterprise Model Project and Pork Insight has been provided by:
PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF AI TECHNOLOGY
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on May 12, 2017
PAST
By the mid 1990s the US industry was interested in AI, and estimates were that 20-25% of sows were being mated with the technology. AI still offered the benefits to health, genetic access, etc. that it did 25 years earlier.
Within ten years the industry embraced the technology such that survey data showed over 90% of sows were being mated by AI by the late 1990s.
In 2001 Extension swine specialists shared European data about how sperm numbers could be reduced (cut in half) by adopting a catheter that by-passed the cervix and deposited semen directly into the uterine body; intrauterine insemination or IUI.
PRESENT
It is estimated that today 1/3 of sows are mated using IUI, though it is often referred to as PCAI (post-cervical insemination) and using half the number of sperm cells used previously.
FUTURE
OvuGel (JBS United Animal Health in the US; Elanco Animal Health in Canada; approved for use in the US on weaned sows) allows for a single fixed-time insemination in sows.
The ability to further reduce the number of sperm cells in 80% of matings could again profoundly impact progeny performance by allowing higher selection intensity of sires.
Incorporation of this technology allows less time (or no time) to be spent on detection of estrus, and only half as many sow matings to be performed.
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