Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 126, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 May 1915 — Aged Sows Best for Breeding [ARTICLE]

Aged Sows Best for Breeding

An investigation at the lowa Experiment Station to discover the influence of the age of sows upon their prolificacy and the weight and growth of the pigs they produced gave some interesting results. It was found, for example, that fifteen sows bred at eight or nine months, averaged seven and two-thirds pigs per litter, while 14 sows about 24 months old averaged nine and six-tenths pigs per litter, and aged sows averaged ten and sixtenths per litter. Pigs from the younger sows weighed on an average 2.39 poungs per pig; from the two-yaar-old sows 2.63, and from the aged sows 2.61 pounds. When about six weeks old the pigs from the young sows made an average daily gain of .32 pounds, while the pigs from the two-year-old sows gained .40 pounds. No data is given on the gain of the pigs from the aged sows.

Stated in another way it was found that the two-year-old sows farrowed 24 per cent more pigs than the young sows, while the old sows farrowed 30 per cent more. The weight of the pigs from the two-year-old sows was 9 per cent greater than that of the young sows, while the pigs from the old sows were 12 per cent larger than from the young sows. The pigs from the two-year-old sows made a more rapid gain than those from the young sows, amounting to 26 per cent. In each instance the older sows farrowed more pigs per litter, heavier pigs at birth, and their pigs made the most rapid growth after birth. —From Coburn’s Swine in America.