Analysis of culling reasons during the breeding cycle and lifetime performance: The strategy to remove crossbred Landrace and Large White sows under tropical climate

Vet World Vol.14 December-2021 Article-15

Research Article

Veterinary World, 14(12): 3170-3174

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2021.3170-3174

Ratchadaporn Boripun^1,2, Watcharapong Mitsuwan^1,2,3, Pawinee Kulnanan^1,2, Thotsapol Thomrongsuwannakij^1,2, and Warangkana Kitpipit^1,2,4

1. Akkhraratchakumari Veterinary College, Walailak University, Nakhon Si Thammarat, 80160, Thailand.
2. One Health Research Center, Walailak University, Nakhon Si Thammarat, 80160, Thailand.
3. Research Center of Excellence in Innovation of Essential Oil, Walailak University, Nakhon Si Thammarat, 80160, Thailand.
4. Food Technology and Innovation Center of Excellence, Walailak University, Nakhon Si Thammarat, 80160, Thailand.

Background and Aim: Sow culling is an important practice in commercial swine production because it is directly associated with the economic efficiency of the breeding herd. This study was conducted to analyze the reasons for sow culling and quantify the factors affecting culling in crossbred Landrace and Large White sows under tropical climate.

Materials and Methods: A total of 4887 culled sows from one parent stock farm located in Ratchaburi province, Western Thailand, were examined in this study. Culling reasons were grouped into the following eight categories according to farm management: (1) Reproductive disorders, (2) old age, (3) low performance, (4) diseases, (5) lameness, (6) udder problems, (7) body condition, and (8) other illnesses. Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the relationship between culling sows and environmental factors. Effects of parity and season of culling were considered as fixed effects in a statistical model.

Results: Descriptive statistics indicated the following factors accounting for sow removals: Old age (34.93%, n=1707), reproductive disorders (29.32%, n=1433), low performance (12.62%, n=617), lameness (12.56%, n=614), diseases (4.8%, n=235), body condition (4.68%, n=229), udder problems (0.79%, n=39), and other illnesses (0.26%, n=13). Parity and season of culling were also found to have a significant effect on sow culling (p<0.05). The majority of culling sows in this population were of old age and high parity.

Conclusion: This study indicated that the purposeful culling of sows on this farm was within the targeted range. However, the incidence of reproductive disorders was too high and required further investigations. Keywords: culling, parity, season, sow, tropical climate.

Keywords: culling, parity, season, sow, tropical climate.

How to cite this article: Boripun R, Mitsuwan W, Kulnanan P, Thomrongsuwannakij T, Kitpipit W (2021) Analysis of culling reasons during the breeding cycle and lifetime performance: The strategy to remove crossbred Landrace and Large White sows under tropical climate, Veterinary World, 14(12): 3170-3174.

Received: 29-07-2021 Accepted: 27-10-2021 Published online: 26-12-2021

Corresponding author: Warangkana Kitpipit E-mail: warangkana.ki@wu.ac.th

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2021.3170-3174

Copyright: Boripun, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.