Lifetime reproductive and financial performance of female swine

Objective-To evaluate reproductive and financial performance for commercial swine herds grouped on the basis of pattern of removal of female swine. Design-Cohort study. Sample Population-25 swine herds. Procedures-Lifetime reproductive productivity was summarized as number of p igs weaned per herd day per mated female and as number of herd days per pig weaned per mated female. Factors associated with these 2 measures were det ermined by use of linear regression. Financial data from a commercial datab ase were used to estimate maximum number of parities at removal associated with profitability. Sensitivity analysis was used to simulate how variation s in daily maintenance cost and value per weaned pig would influence profit ability. Results-Mean number of pigs weaned per herd day per mated female was 0.054; mean number of herd days per pig weaned per mated female was 20.2. Both th ese measures were associated with proportion of nonproductive days during h erd life, preweaning mortality rate per litter weaned, mean lifetime number of pigs born alive per litter weaned, and mean lifetime lactation duration . Maximum parity at time of removal associated with profitability ranged fr om 5 to 8. Daily maintenance costs per female had a greater impact on lifet ime profitability than did value per weaned pig. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance-Results suggest that lifetime reproducti ve and financial performance is optimized among swine herds that have highe r proportions of high-parity females.