Heat stress can have a major impact on sow

Heat stress can have a major impact on sow

Heat stress can have a major impact on sow performance and longevity and sows may feel heat stressed at temperatures lower than one might think. As temperatures surpass 70º F, depending upon humidity, sows can start to experience adverse effects from heat stress, such as reduced feed intake. Changes in the ration can help sows continue to consume the nutrients they need to maintain performance and body condition levels.
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Heat Detection

heat-detection

 Poster copy and cutlines by Colin Johnson and Dale Miller, Photos by Dennis Wolf, Designed by Jim Bauer

In the natural mating environment, the boar has free access to the sow or gilt, which allows him to stimulate her with sight, sound, smell and touch. The boar’s role is to elicit a standing response whether she is artificially inseminated or bred by natural service. Early in the stimulation process, the boar secretes pheromones (a chemical secretion; scent), which stimulates the release of oxytocin in the estrus female. The oxytocin release causes surging contractions in the female’s uterus, which aids insemen transport, and strong muscle contractions expressed as a standing reflex.

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Sow Body Condition Scoring Guidelines

Sow body condition scoring is more important than ever as producers move toward putting sows in groups as part of a move toward more pen gestation systems. In order to effectively assign subjective (visual) body condition scores, sows should be analyzed and scored early in gestation. It is critical to understand the points of evaluation on the animal and to be able to distinguish between fat and muscle. Begin by locating the ribs, the backbone and the hips.

An inexpensive, low-labor means of estimating sow weight was developed by Kansas State University using a cloth tape measure (see photo and caption).

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