Gilts vs sow piglets - a performance check - short article
At birth tag 11 litters of gilt piglets with small blue ear tags and 10 litters of 3rd to 6th parity sow piglets with green ear tags. Even up between batches.
Manage the piglets as normal including fostering protocols etc. Monitor the finishing pigs as they leave the farm.
Additional rows may be needed if clearing the batch takes more than 6 weeks.
Complete the yellow boxes. Download the spreadsheet
The default mode is the results from one trial.
FCR can be extremely difficult to calculate without careful monitoring of feed usage but it is hoped that the above trial will demonstrate the often underrated differences in gilt and sow offspring.
The cost of gilt litters on performance